Chapter 32: Left With Nowhere to Hide

The whispers that filled the hall in their wake were not kind.

"Miss Rong knows Mrs. Hartwell personally. And Mrs. Hartwell stood up for her without even asking a single question. That's not a casual acquaintance."

"Crystal Kim humiliated herself completely. Falsely accused someone of theft, offended someone she absolutely should not have offended. If I were her right now, I'd be looking for the nearest exit."

"And that's not even the worst of it. Did anyone else catch what was said earlier? Something about stealing people as a child and stealing things as an adult? Whoever said that, now that it turns out the girl was set up, those words are coming right back around. Someone's face must be absolutely burning right now."

The voices weren't loud. They didn't need to be.

Margaret Rong stood at the edge of the grand hall and cycled through colors, from white to green to a shade of purple that had no flattering name, with the helpless visibility of someone standing under a spotlight they hadn't chosen.

Beside her, Rebecca's expression had gone very still.

Her eyes were fixed on the door through which Vivian had just walked out, arm in arm with Victoria Hartwell, unhurried, unruffled, head up and the look in them was the particular kind of stillness that precedes a decision.

Victoria Hartwell.

Of all the branches to climb, Vivian had somehow found the tallest one in the room. Rebecca's jaw tightened almost imperceptibly.

She needed to move faster. She could not afford to leave Vivian room to keep building.

"Hmph." Margaret's voice came out sharp and shaking. "She was sent by the heavens specifically to spite me. I invite Mrs. Hartwell as my distinguished guest, go to considerable effort to secure her attendance and that girl walks out with her like it's nothing. Like she arranged it." Her voice climbed. "For all we know, the whole necklace thing was staged. Manufactured from the beginning just so Mrs. Hartwell would step in and make a scene of standing up for her. She wanted everyone to see. She wanted everyone to know she's back."

Her grip on Rebecca's arm tightened, fingers pressing hard enough to leave marks.

"Weiwei." Her voice dropped into something fierce and private. "Don't worry. As long as I'm here, I will not let her succeed. Whatever she's come back for, whatever she's planning, she will not get it. I will always be on your side. Always."

Rebecca's arm ached where Margaret's fingers dug in.

Her mouth curved into a soft, grateful smile.

"Mom," she said warmly. "You're far too good to me."

---

Outside, the evening air was clean after the stifling heat of the hall.

The moment the hotel doors closed behind them, Vivian gently unthreaded her arm from Victoria's and turned to face her.

"Mrs. Hartwell." She kept her voice even, but the words came from somewhere unguarded. "Thank you. For what you did in there."

She had not expected it. That was the truth of it, she had stood in that hall with Crystal's trap closing around her and Margaret's voice carrying over the noise and years of practiced endurance telling her to absorb it and wait, and then Victoria Hartwell had appeared out of nowhere and simply, completely, without hesitation, taken her side.

No questions. No qualifications. No tell me what happened first.

Just, her side.

Vivian had learned a long time ago not to expect that from people. The unexpectedness of it now sat in her chest in a way she wasn't entirely sure what to do with.

Victoria looked at her for a moment, then reached out and took her hand again, patting it twice with the brisk, genuine warmth of someone who found sentiment more comfortable in action than in words.

"I trust your character," she said simply. "I've seen enough of people to know." A beat, and then a glint of something lighter entered her eyes. "Besides, you're the first young woman Ethan has ever brought through our front door. And you helped Rosie. If anyone should be doing the thanking here, it's me." She tilted her head. "Unless that was your way of reminding me I still owe you a proper lunch?"

Vivian blinked. "That is absolutely not what I"

Victoria laughed, warm and real and tucked Vivian's arm back through hers with the comfortable authority of someone who had made a decision and was not revisiting it. "I know, I know. I'm teasing you." She began steering them toward the waiting car at the curb. "No more thanking each other back and forth. It's exhausting and neither of us means to stop. Let's just agree we're even."

She glanced sideways. "Your name is Vivian, isn't it? I've been calling you Miss Rong in my head and it feels terribly formal given the circumstances. May I call you Vivian?"

"Of course."

"Good." A pause. "And you must stop calling me Mrs. Hartwell. I'm Victoria. Or just Mrs. V if you prefer, Rosie has taken to that one."

Vivian felt something shift in her chest, a warmth, uncomplicated and quiet, the kind she hadn't felt directed at her from a maternal figure in so long that she'd almost forgotten what it felt like.

She took a small breath.

"Victoria," she said.

"There." Victoria beamed and squeezed her arm. "Was that so difficult?" She picked up her pace toward the car. "Now come, we've wasted enough of the evening. Rosie is home and she has no idea you're coming and I cannot wait to see her face."

The driver had the door open before they reached it.

Victoria swept Vivian in ahead of her, settled in beside her, and the car pulled smoothly away from the curb before Vivian had fully registered that she had just been efficiently collected and was now heading to the Hartwell estate for the second time in a week.