The Abandoned Wife Dumped Him First (Victoria and Elias) novel Chapter 46

[Miss Sanger, we regret to inform you that your application for the Euro-American Architectural Design Awards has been rejected as it does not meet the competition's eligibility requirements. We look forward to seeing you at a future competition.]

The message was from The Euro-American Architectural Design Awards Organizing Committee.

Victoria stared at the message.

Doesn't meet the requirements?

How was that possible? The entry requirements for the awards weren't that strict; a Level 2 Architect License was sufficient, and she had a Level 1. There was no reason for her to be rejected.

Unless someone did it on purpose.

Victoria's heart skipped a beat. Could it be Elias? Did he find out she applied and had someone block her application?

Suddenly, her phone rang, pulling her from her thoughts.

Victoria looked down.

The name 'Genevieve' flashed on the screen.

The moment she answered, Genevieve's voice came through the line.

"Victoria," she said, "we need to talk. Let's meet."

-

Night fell over The Imperial Crest Estates.

As soon as Elias walked in, Anne came out to greet him, thinking it was Victoria. When she saw him, she froze for a second, blurting out, "Sir, what are you doing home?"

"This is my house. Am I not allowed to come home?" Elias's cold voice was laced with displeasure.

"No, that's not it." Anne rushed forward to take Elias's coat, asking timidly, "Sir, you probably haven't had dinner yet, have you? What would you like? I'll go prepare it..."

Elias slipped on his house shoes and walked into the living room, his eyes scanning the space. He cut her off, "Where is she?"

"She?"

It took Anne a moment to realize who he was asking about. "Sir, ma'am isn't back yet."

Elias frowned.

It was already seven-thirty, and she wasn't home?

"Is she always this late?"

Anne was puzzled. In the two years they'd been married, Elias rarely came to The Imperial Crest Estates, and when he did, it was usually just to shower and sleep. He had never once asked about Victoria.

Why was he so interested all of a sudden?

Not dwelling on it, Anne answered honestly, "Ma'am gets off work at five-thirty and is usually home around six. She must be working overtime tonight."

Working overtime?

The photo flashed in Elias's mind, and his expression darkened.

A flash of lightning lit up the window, and the computer screen flickered before going black.

Victoria moved the mouse, but the screen remained unresponsive.

She frowned, thinking she might have accidentally hit the power switch. She was about to bend down to plug it back in.

But before she could, all the lights in the office suddenly went out, plunging the room into darkness.

Startled, Victoria shot up from her chair, completely forgetting about the corner of the desk beside her. Her lower back slammed hard against it.

"Hiss!"

The pain was sharp, like someone had driven a spike into her back. She sucked in a breath, one hand braced on the desk, the other clutching the injured spot. It took a long moment for the pain to subside.

By the faint light of the lightning, Victoria looked out the window and realized the entire area had lost power.

Victoria turned on her phone. She had two unread messages, one from Anne and one from Sunny. Anne was asking her usual question about when she'd be home, while Sunny had sent a weather forecast.

She suddenly remembered Sunny saying something before she left.

At the time, she had been completely focused on the project materials and hadn't paid any attention. It seemed Sunny had been warning her about the storm.

Victoria opened the weather app. It showed the rain wouldn't stop for another two hours.

Her phone battery was at three percent, and there was no telling when the power would come back on.

With that in mind, Victoria decided to save her battery and turned her phone off. She fumbled her way out of the office in the dark...