Chapter 119: Chapter 119

Victoria Sinclair’s words were like a heavy bomb, exploding with a "boom" beside the bonfire.

In an instant, everyone’s gaze, like searchlights, focused intently on Eugene Vaughn and Victoria Sinclair. Thɪs chapter is updated by Novᴇl_Fire(.)net

The originally lively bonfire party now carried an atmosphere as heavy as the dead silence before a storm, suffocating and overwhelming.

Eugene Vaughn’s face turned as dark as the night sky during a storm, frighteningly black.

His eyes were filled with tumultuous emotions, a mix of shock, agitation, and an indescribable pain so complex it tugged at the heart.

He slowly stood up, each movement seeming to bear a thousand pounds of burden.

His gaze was fixed intently on Victoria Sinclair’s face, as if he wanted to see through her.

On the surface, Victoria Sinclair maintained an appearance of calm and composure, but her slightly trembling fingers betrayed her completely.

Inside her, waves of tumultuous emotions were rising.

"Victoria, you..." Eugene began, his voice low and hoarse, as if it had been harshly sanded, each word suppressing a myriad of complex emotions.

Victoria Sinclair looked up, meeting his gaze, her lips pulling into an extremely forced smile, softly asking, "Are you angry?" That smile was more heartbreaking than tears.

"Not angry, Victoria, let’s talk privately." Eugene restrained his emotions with difficulty, his voice still warm yet carrying an unmistakable note of insistence.

Victoria unhesitatingly shook her head, saying firmly, "I don’t want to talk."

A flash of unmistakable pain crossed Eugene’s eyes, as if he had been stabbed hard.

He stepped forward, urgently reaching out to grab Victoria’s wrist, wanting to hold her back, but she casually dodged, avoiding his touch.

The seemingly casual movement carried an edge of desperate finality.

"Victoria, don’t be ." Eugene’s voice carried a hint of humble pleading, "We really need to talk things out between us."

Victoria’s eyes were filled with a storm of emotions, pain, struggle, reluctance... but soon she forcibly suppressed them, returning to a state of dead silence.

She coldly said, "There is no need anymore." Her voice seemed to come from a distant place, filled with endless despair.

Eugene’s face turned even more unsightly, seemingly covered with a layer of frost.

He stepped forward again, suddenly grabbing Victoria’s wrist, forcefully dragging her, intending to leave this place of contention.

At this moment, Ethan Vaughn suddenly stood up, moving as fast as lightning, quickly grabbing Victoria’s other wrist, forcefully pushing Eugene’s hand away, and then stood in front of Victoria like a wall.

Eugene turned around, seeing Ethan interfere in their matter, his face changed, turning so dark it seemed like water could drip from it.

Ethan’s attitude was cold and aloof, his tone firm: "Brother, Victoria Sinclair’s attitude is already very clear, it’s over between you two, she doesn’t want to talk about this topic."

"This is between her and me." Eugene gritted his teeth, his voice sharp like a cold wind from an ice cellar, "It’s none of your business."

The two stood in confrontation , the air thick with gunpowder, undercurrents surging, as if a great battle was about to break out in the next second.

The atmosphere became increasingly serious, everyone else stood up nervously, not daring to make a sound.

Vivian Miller stood aside, watching everything, a flicker of barely noticeable satisfaction in her eyes.

She had long looked down on Victoria Sinclair, finally waiting for this opportunity to see her humiliated today.

Swivelling her hips, she stepped forward, feigning concern as she said, "Miss Sinclair, you and Eugene have a misunderstanding, why not take this opportunity to clear things up? We’re all friends, no one will mind." That falsely concerned tone was nauseating.

Ethan snorted disdainfully, his face full of contempt: "Hmph, what misunderstanding is there between them? To put it plainly, my brother despised Victoria Sinclair, during the two years of their marriage, he was extremely indifferent to her, leaving her in a dead marriage for two years. In the end, it’s just that there’s no love."

Satisfaction flashed briefly in Vivian’s eyes, happily closing her mouth, silently pleased at how the drama became increasingly exciting.

Sarah Lowell’s face was filled with disbelief, her voice rising with malicious speculation: "Victoria Sinclair definitely lied, how could she still be pure? Back in school, so many men circled around her, and she often went to single male professors’ houses, staying overnight, even going to hotels with Nathan Austin!"

Renee’s lips curled into a sardonic smile, her tone mockingly sarcastic: "Yeah, with today’s advanced medicine, a restoration surgery is easy enough."

As soon as these words were spoken, it was like a stone thrown into a calm lake, stirring waves upon waves.

The atmosphere grew increasingly stagnant, the surrounding men were frightened by the explosive tone, not daring to speak up.

Eugene’s gaze remained firmly fixed on Victoria Sinclair, deep and complex.

The surrounding doubts about Victoria Sinclair at this moment were like a sharp dagger, directly stabbing into his chest, making it painful for him to even breathe, unable to utter a word.

At this moment, he didn’t care what others said, in his world, there was only Victoria Sinclair.

Her every glance, every movement, could tug at his heart.

Ethan stood like an unbridgeable chasm, standing between them.

Whether she walked away with him, or stayed behind Ethan, Victoria Sinclair’s choice was more important to Eugene than anything else, it was his last hope.

"Victoria." Eugene’s voice was hoarse and low, like it had been sanded down, his desolate gaze holding a hint of humble pleading, "Come with me." That voice was filled with exhaustion and helplessness.

Ethan hurriedly turned his head, saying to Victoria Sinclair, "Don’t listen to him."

Victoria’s heart was clear as a mirror, knowing who mattered more.

Among those present, in terms of relationship, Eugene was the closest to her, after all, he was her ex-husband of two years, the man who let her use him without complaint.

Even though she didn’t want to mention those unpleasant past memories because everything was settled, there was no point in talking about it again. But she would never purposely humiliate Eugene to save face for Ethan.

Victoria Sinclair took a deep breath, slowly stepped out from behind Ethan, looked toward him, and said seriously, "Our matters indeed have nothing to do with you."

Ethan’s face instantly darkened, as if someone had poured a bucket of cold water over him, his heartfelt concern instantly turning into disappointment.

Victoria Sinclair stepped forward to Eugene, her clear eyes quietly gazing at him, softly asking, "Where to?"

She was calm without a ripple.

Eugene, like clutching at a lifeline, urgently held her hand, turned, and walked toward the dark seaside under the focus of everyone’s eyes.

The waves slapped against the shore, making a dull sound, making this night even more lonely.

The sand was soft and fine, every step Victoria took felt like she was sinking into endless memories, sinking deeper and deeper.

The two walked side by side, their silhouettes gradually swallowed by darkness.

Eugene’s voice sounded in the night, filled with endless regret: "Victoria, I’m sorry, I truly should slap myself hard or kneel before you, begging you to forgive my past mistakes."

His voice was full of self-reproach and pain.

Victoria bitterly pressed her lips, even though those pains were slowly being released, but remembering those countless nights of crying alone for two years, her heart couldn’t help but sting: "No need to apologize, it’s not your fault, we were both manipulated by Nathan."

She seemed to be comforting Eugene Vaughn, yet also comforting herself.

Eugene Vaughn’s lips curled into a bitter smile, filled with self-mockery: "Reaching this point today is all my own doing. If in the beginning I had laid everything bare, perhaps... perhaps everything would have been different."

Victoria Sinclair interrupted him, her voice calm but undeniably resolute: "Regretting now carries no meaning. Eugene, let’s let go of the past and look forward."

After speaking, she slightly tilted her head, gazing into the pitch-black night sky, trying to hide the sting in her eyes.

"I can’t let go, Victoria, I really can’t let go." Eugene’s voice trembled, suppressed by long-standing pain and reluctance.

Victoria gently exhaled, as if trying to release all her helplessness, slowly lowered her head, with her long hair falling down, hiding the complex expression on her face.

"When did you find out about the misunderstanding between us?" Eugene pursued, his voice urgent, as if trying to grasp the last bit of hope.

"Before the divorce." Victoria’s reply was short and decisive, yet like a pebble, it stirred a thousand ripples in Eugene’s heart.

"Why didn’t you tell me?" Eugene’s urgent voice carried some confusion and grievance.

"I didn’t want to say." Victoria turned her head, avoiding Eugene’s gaze, a hint of fatigue in her tone.

"Do you like Nathan Austin?" Eugene’s voice quivered slightly; this was the question he feared facing the most.

"I don’t like him." Victoria answered without hesitation, her voice crisp, as if cutting through all misconceptions.

Eugene fell silent, the air seemed to freeze at that moment, with only the sound of waves crashing onto the beach, again and again, echoing between their hearts.

After a long time, he asked heavily: "What about me?"

Victoria’s body stiffened slightly, a pang of bitterness arose in her heart, she opened her mouth but something seemed to choke her throat, after a while, she finally managed to utter five words: "I don’t like you anymore."

Eugene chewed over those words repeatedly in his heart, his smile growing more bitter, as if he had tasted bitter herbs to the core of his heart.

The prelude to that sentence must have been that she once liked him, right?

It felt as if countless needles were pricking his heart.

The internal bitterness was about to drown him, a desperate urge to find a place to vent.

He abruptly tilted his head back, deeply inhaling the cold night air in an attempt to suppress the turmoil inside.

The sea breeze howled against his face, carrying a biting coldness.

Victoria couldn’t help but shiver, instinctively hugging her arms, gently rubbing them.

Upon noticing her movement, Eugene quickly reached to unzip, ready to take off his jacket to wrap around her.

Victoria noticed his actions and quickly refused: "I’m not cold, don’t take off your clothes."

Her voice trembled slightly in the wind.

Eugene’s motion of taking off his jacket froze halfway, as if he was immobilized.

Then, he slowly put the jacket back on, yet swiftly pulled the lapels open without hesitation, pulling Victoria’s petite body into his arms, wrapping her tightly in the coat, trying to warm her with his body heat.

Victoria’s body instantly stiffened, her heart in chaos. She panicked, struggling to escape the embrace that made her uneasy: "Don’t do this."

Her hands pushed on Eugene’s chest with some urgency in her voice.

However, the more she struggled, the tighter Eugene held her, as if letting go would mean losing her forever.

Eugene buried his face in her neck, as if he had found his last support, his voice hoarse and murmuring: "Victoria, I’m sorry, it’s my fault, all my fault."

His voice was filled with remorse and pain, like a heavy hammer, striking hard on Victoria’s heart.

At that moment, Victoria’s heart felt like it was being twisted by a knife, and her eyes inexplicably welled up.

In fact, over the past two years, wasn’t she the only one who got hurt?

Eugene must have been more painful and tormented than her, right?

Thinking from Eugene’s perspective, the pain of being betrayed by his wife had tormented him for two whole years. He hid, avoided, but never vented in front of her, always enduring till now.

No one felt worse than him.

Victoria stopped struggling, quietly nesting in his warm embrace, inhaling the familiar and pleasant scent on him, softly saying: "Eugene, I really don’t blame you."

Her gentle voice seemed to be soothing an injured child.

"Can we start over?" Eugene softly murmured, his tone filled with tender pleading.

"I said this today, not to start over with you." Victoria’s body remained rigid, standing in his embrace, her voice calm yet with a hint of resolution: "I just wanted to shut those people’s mouths, not to be slandered anymore. At the same time, I wanted you to let go of the past, cross the hurdle in your heart, and not grieve over this matter anymore."

Eugene’s arms still held her tightly, as if she might disappear from his world completely in the next second.

"Victoria..." His voice was hoarse, with a slight tremor, as though squeezed from deep in his throat, "Will you not give me even a little chance?"

Victoria’s eyelashes trembled softly, a thin layer of mist rose in her eyes, but she forced herself not to let the tears fall.

Her fingers unconsciously clenched the corner of her clothes, as if it took all her strength to stay calm.

"Eugene, between us... it’s already over." Her voice was light, yet like a sharp knife, piercing directly into Eugene’s heart, "The past misunderstandings, the injuries, are all irreparable. We... should both look forward."

Eugene’s breath caught, his chest felt like it was pressed down by a boulder, making it almost impossible to breathe.

His fingers trembled slightly, trying to grasp something, only to find nothing in his hand.

His world seemed to collapse in that instant, all hope, all expectation reduced to ashes in her calm and resolute words.

"But... I still love you." His voice was so low it was almost inaudible, like a final struggle, filled with endless humility and pleading, "Victoria, I still love you..."

Victoria’s heart suddenly trembled, and the tears in her eyes finally fell uncontrollably.

Her fingers clutched tightly to Eugene’s jacket, her fingertips deeply embedded in her palms, as if only by doing so could she stay awake.

Her voice choked, with a tremor that made it hard to hear, "Eugene, when did you ever love me?"

A flash of pain flickered in Eugene’s eyes; his fingers gently brushed against her cheek, wiping her tears away with such tenderness as if afraid of breaking her.

His voice was low and hoarse, filled with endless fatigue and helplessness: "Victoria, I know I was wrong... I know I hurt you too deeply those two years... But I really don’t want to lose you..."

Victoria’s tears flowed uncontrollably; her heart seemed to be torn in two, one half wanting to escape, the other wanting to surrender.