Departure with a Belly (Alaric and Victoria) novel Chapter 440

Chapter 440 

Victoria set her phone aside and lost all interest in the food in front of her. She had 

planned to leave the house, but there was no need for that now that she was aware of 

the situation at hand. 

“Miss Selwyn?” Her emotions were on a rollercoaster ride while she was on a call 

earlier, so the servant in a corner didn’t dare to make a sound. However, when the staff 

noticed that she hadn’t touched a single morsel on her plate after ending the call, she 

tentatively reminded Victoria, “The food is getting cold.” 

Victoria lowered her head and glanced at the food before turning to the servant. Her 

lips parted and she wanted to tell the woman to take it away because she couldn’t 

stomach anything right now. After a few moments, she turned her attention back to the 

food and decided to finish it in a few mouthfuls before leaving the room instead. She 

had to set an example for the children as she was always telling them not to waste 

food. 

Then, she returned to her room and dialed Alaric’s number. Although she heard from 

Terrance that due to the bad reception in Alaric’s area, her calls wouldn’t be answered, 

she simply couldn’t find it in herself to give up so easily. 

Beep, beep. 

The call beeped twice before disconnecting and there was no notification that Alaric 

Chapter 440 Not Daring to Make a Decision 

had switched off his phone; it was simply not connecting. As she listened to the 

monotonous dial tone, she couldn’t help but wonder, What exactly is happening? 

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Just then, her phone started ringing across the quiet room, which made her jump in 

surprise. She thought it was a call from Alaric but was disappointed when she saw the 

caller ID. 

“Hello.” 

“Miss Selwyn, why do you sound so sad?” Henry’s voice echoed into Victoria’s ears 

since the last time she heard it days ago. 

Right now, besides Alaric, anyone else who called her couldn’t bring her any joy. So, she 

replied to his question in a sad, dejected voice, “It’s nothing. What’s the matter?” 

“What else could be the matter? Miss Selwyn, when was the last time you came to the 

office? You weren’t answering your phone earlier and I wouldn’t have found out that 

you’re out of the country if I hadn’t asked Mr. Levane about your whereabouts.” 

Office… That’s right, I still have a company to run, she recalled absentmindedly. A long 

time had passed since she was kidnapped by Bane, and she hadn’t made a single trip to 

the office since that fateful day. 

“I’m sorry. Recently, I’ve… I’ve got a lot to deal with.” As she didn’t plan to tell him the 

truth, she fabricated some random excuse. 

Chapter 440 Not Daring to Make a Decision 

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“Okay, I can understand that you may be busy, but when do you plan to come to work? 

Although I’m experienced, I’m not the boss of your company, and can’t make certain 

decisions without you giving the green light. Why don’t you free up some time and pop 

over to check things out?” 

“I’m coming right now.” After she hung up, she left the house quickly. When she arrived 

at her office, she happened to bump into Henry discussing a collaboration with 

someone. 

Henry immediately caught sight of her after sending the guest off, told her about the 

details of the collaboration, and passed the agreement to her. “This project is not bad, 

but there are some things that need your personal touch as I don’t have the authority to 

agree to them without getting your approval. So, you should look it over personally.” 

“Okay.” She took the file from him and flicked it open. Even though her eyes were 

staring at rows upon rows of dizzying words, her mind was preoccupied with images of 

Alaric’s face. 

Next to her, Henry was looking at her expectantly as she stared at the first page of the 

agreement in her seat. One minute passed, two minutes, and then, five minutes, but 

she didn’t even flip the page. As he found her behavior odd, he tilted his head and 

looked into her eyes. He quickly noticed that they weren’t even focused on the words in 

front of her. Thus, he reckoned that her mind should have wandered elsewhere. Oh, she 

seemed professional at first glance, but she was clearly not ready to handle work at the 

moment. 

Chapter 440 Not Daring to Make a Decision 

Nevertheless, he rapped the table and said, “Miss Selwyn?” He repeated her name 

several times before Victoria finally snapped back to her senses. 

After that, she stared at his exasperated face, feeling incredibly sorry. “I’m sorry. My 

mind was elsewhere.” 

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“Miss Selwyn, I know that there’s a good reason behind your strange behavior right now, 

but… all I need from you is to spare some time to go through this agreement. Your mind 

can go wherever it wants once you’re done reading this. Is that okay?” 

She twitched her lips into an approximation of a smile and nodded wearily. This time, 

she had an iron grip on her traitorous mind, focusing on the agreement instead, and left 

her signature at the end once she was done with the whole thing. Then, she returned 

the agreement to him. “Thank you for your hard work for the past few days.” 

“Don’t mention it. I’m your administrator, you know?” He smiled and was just about to 

leave with the agreement in his hands but couldn’t stop himself from gossiping one 

second before he left. “Miss Selwyn, are you having a problem in your relationship?” 

However, his question received no reply because Victoria had slipped into her own 

thoughts yet again after handing the document to him. 

In the end, he could only stare at her and sigh helplessly as he mumbled, “Forget it. 

Watch out when you’re going home later and don’t run into any accidents.” 

Chapter 440 Not Daring to Make a Decision 

He turned around and walked away but was surprised to run into half a dozen tall and 

bulky men in black suits and sunglasses at the door. 

“Who are you guys?” 

The man who was the leader glanced at him coldly. Nonetheless, he was aware that 

Henry was a manager in the office, so he was rather polite to Henry. “Hello, we’re Miss 

Selwyn’s bodyguards.” 

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Henry was dumbfounded. Victoria reappeared with so many bodyguards around her 

after her brief disappearance. Even though she hadn’t told him what happened to her in 

the past few days, given his intelligence, he could tell from the current situation that