Chapter 6

'Oh my God, don't tell me I've flash-married a billionaire CEO?' Victoria gasped.

Seeing her wide eyes, Jax paused.

His fingers tapped absently on the car door, and then he said in a perfectly natural tone, "Yes, it's my boss's car. He asked me to take it in for servicing today."

"Oh, I see." Victoria nodded in understanding.

She laughed at herself for reading too many cheesy romance web novels.

After all, real rich people just had a lot of money. They weren't stupid.

With their status, they'd never marry some random woman off the street.

Rich people had money, not missing brain cells.

Once they got in, the car slowly pulled away.

Sitting in the passenger seat, Victoria remembered something and turned to Jax. "Um, can I ask where your place is?"

She desperately needed to move out of her family's house.

She'd been apartment hunting for the past couple of days, but since she didn't have much money, there weren't many options, and she hadn't found anything suitable yet.

Jax frowned, mentally sorting through the villas and luxury penthouses under his name, trying to figure out which one would work for the two of them to live in.

The answer was none of them, really.

He searched his memory for residential complexes downtown and blurted out the only name he remembered. "Westbrook Gardens."

He remembered that his assistant, Brett Sanders, had bought a place in that neighborhood. So it should be the kind of place an ordinary Titus Group employee could afford.

Victoria was a little surprised. Westbrook Gardens?

That was the best residential complex downtown, in a prime location with easy transit, and in a top school district too.

Units there went for nearly a thousand dollars a square foot.

He really did work at a big-name company. He had real means.

Victoria nodded. "That's really close to my office. Um, can I ask when I could move in?"

Realizing she was being a bit forward, she quickly added sheepishly, "Uh, I, I can pay rent or help you with the mortgage."

She just wanted to get out of her family's house as soon as possible.

Jax tapped lightly on the steering wheel. "In a few days. I'll come pick you up then."

"Okay."

Just then, Victoria's phone rang in her purse. She took it out, glanced at it, and declined the call.

But almost immediately, it started ringing again.

She glanced sideways at Jax, who was focused on driving, then swiped to answer.

As soon as the call connected, even without speakerphone, Rhonda's deafening roar filled the quiet car.

"Victoria, Mr. Owen says you not only turned him down, you had some pretty boy beat him up?"

In the driver's seat, Jax felt slightly offended.

What about him looked like a pretty boy?

"Don't you know what kind of creep you set me up with? He's old, fat, and a pervert, and he actually groped me!"

Just thinking about Larry made Victoria furious all over again.

Rhonda shouted at the top of her lungs, "So what if he's a little older? Older men know how to take care of a woman. A little weight means he's prosperous. And lecherous? What man isn't?

"Don't throw my kindness back in my face! You're my daughter. Would I ever do anything to hurt you?"

Victoria laughed coldly. "Since you're praising him to the skies, why don't you let Kelsey marry him? I don't want that kind of luck..."

"What nonsense are you spouting? Kelsey's still young. She's still in school!"

"Hah. Now she's 'still young'? After she slept with Levi that night, weren't you pestering him about when he'd marry her?"

Rhonda was caught off guard for a moment, then said, "Enough, stop changing the subject. You're already twenty-seven. If you don't marry soon, you'll be an old maid, and then what rich man will want you?"

"Who said I want to marry a rich man? Rich people are all garbage. I have two hands and two feet. I can support myself."

Levi, a rich kid with a bit of money, and Larry, a new-money type, had both left her deeply scarred.

They'd only reinforced her stereotypes about rich people.

She'd thought Levi was different from those other spoiled, pleasure-seeking rich boys, but he wasn't.

Victoria hung up and tossed her phone into her purse.

She turned to look out the window at the busy traffic, feeling irritable.

"You really hate rich people?" Jax's voice broke the silence in the car.

Victoria snapped out of it and realized Jax was still there.

"I wouldn't say I hate them. My mother's just dead set on marrying me off to a rich old man, and I don't want to give her what she wants."

Jax said, "Actually, your mother isn't entirely wrong. In this world, you can't do anything without money..."

Victoria cut him off, her tone firm. "No. Most rich people are polished egotists. To them, women are like clothes, something to play with and toss aside."

Jax fell silent and didn't say another word, but his face darkened a few shades.

…

At the entrance of the Larsens' rundown apartment complex.

A man's worried voice said, "Kels, are you sure you don't need to see a doctor for your ankle?"

The girl's voice was sweet. "No need. Just seeing you makes my ankle stop hurting."

Then she stood on her tiptoes and planted a big kiss on his cheek.

The man liked that very much and gave her a light pat on the butt. "Okay, go on up. I have to head back to the office for a meeting."

Pouting, the girl hugged his waist and wouldn't let go. "But Levi, I don't want to be apart from you..."

Now that they could finally be together out in the open, she wanted to be with him from morning to night.

A shocked cry came from nearby. "Kelsey, w-why are you hugging your sister's boyfriend?"

Their elderly neighbor, Agnes Walker, had just come back from grocery shopping and was dumbstruck at the sight of the two of them embracing at the entrance.

People nearby were drawn by her explosive remark and stopped to look.

Loving gossip was human nature.

Levi often waited for Victoria at the entrance in his Maserati, and the handsome couple turned heads wherever they went, so all the neighbors remembered them.

Who would have thought this seemingly mature, steady man was two-timing?

Under everyone's disapproving stares, Levi awkwardly pried Kelsey's arms off his waist.

But Kelsey didn't care and wrapped her arms around him again. "Agnes, Levi loves me. He broke up with Victoria..."

Agnes's eyes were full of shock. In the end, she said nothing, just shook her head and walked off.

The passing neighbors also eyed them strangely, only a step away from pointing fingers.

Levi just wanted to get in his car and leave. Then his phone rang.

"Hey, Mom."

His mother, Sandra Hawke, spoke gently on the other end. "Levi, don't forget, tomorrow's my birthday. Remember to bring Vicky to dinner tomorrow night..."

Kelsey, still in Levi's arms, was ready to explode. She tilted her head up and glared at him.

Levi cleared his throat. "Uh, well, Mom, Vicky might not be able to make it tomorrow night..."

"Why not?" Sandra was a little puzzled. Victoria was usually so devoted to her and her husband, always checking in on them and buying them gifts.

There was no way she'd skip dinner on Sandra's birthday.

Levi's father, Arthur, adored Victoria just as much as Sandra did, and both saw her as their future daughter-in-law. The girl didn't come from much, but she was poised and gracious, neither servile nor arrogant, strong and independent, and not the least bit high-maintenance.

Then something occurred to Sandra, and her expression changed.

"Don't tell me you had a fight with Vicky? Let me tell you, don't you dare drive away such a wonderful daughter-in-law! I don't care what it takes, you get Vicky back for me..."