At Frost Corporation
The curtains had been pulled open, letting the late afternoon sun illuminate Zach's office. He was seated on his leather chair, a tablet in his hand and brows furrowed. His shirt sleeves had been rolled up to his elbows and he sat sideways, enjoying the feel of the warm sun. He adjusted his glasses as he read through the file.
He heard the doors pulled open and a familiar click of heels greeted his ears. Only one person could waltz into his office unannounced like that. Amusement shone in his eyes though he kept reading.
"Mother", he acknowledged.
"Hey. Are you busy?" Victoria asked as she walked towards his desk.
"I should be asking you", he said.
She scoffed. "I don't need this from you. I thought you knew better."
"It's because I know better that I'm telling you I don't approve of what you're doing", he said as he looked up at her.
The two fell in silence. She got his message loud and clear. A tired sigh escaped her lips as she sat opposite him. "Zach, not today. There's something important I need us to discuss."
"What is it?"
"It's about Amy", she said almost immediately.
Zach felt his heart skip a bit at the mention of her name. He found himself sitting up straight and grow more alert. What could have happened?
A good twenty minutes later, she exited his office leaving him in thought after what she said. Xavier was coming from a meeting and was walking to his office when he saw her familiar figure. He immediately ran after her as she got into the elevator.
"Mom!"
"Shoot!" She muttered when she saw him run towards her. She repeatedly pressed for the doors to close. She was not ready to deal with the drama that was Xavier.
"No! Mom-"
She stuck out her tongue at him as the doors closed in his face. He groaned in frustration and moved to hit the elevator but stopped himself. Why was she here anyway? His head whipped in the direction of Zach's office. He hastily made his way there and forgot to knock as he strode in. He was about to speak when he saw the serious expression his brother carried.
"Did something happen? I just saw mom. What did she want?"
Zach finally looked up at him before resuming his work. "You can call her."
"She blocked me", he said with gritted teeth in bitterness.
"You know where she lives."
"Dad's there", he grumbled.
Zach looked up at him then fell into a chuckle with a shake of his head. Not in the mood to be Zach's source of amusement, he stormed out in evident annoyance. Why did he belong to such a family?????
Meanwhile, Victoria was driven to a certain vineyard. The ladies had agreed to meet up there for wine tasting after hearing of how great the wine was there. They were already waiting for her inside the building and she was led over to the table they had settled.
It had a vintage feel to it from the decorations to the dimly lit room. It gave off a romantic and relaxed vibe. They exchanged kisses before she settled down.
"It's so beautiful here", Victoria marveled.
"I hear they have horses too. We can ride them when touring the vineyard", Stephanie answered.
"But I'm not prepared", she whined as she gestured at her dress and looked around to see she was not the only one. Now that she noticed, "Where's Kris?"
"Bathroom", Rebecca answered.
"You should try this wine. I swear it feels like it's making love to you!" Adelaide said while raising her hand for the waiter.
"Addie!" Rebecca said with a chuckle as the rest did.
"You know it's true", Adelaide argued.
Victoria shook her head in amusement as she sat back. The waiter served her the wine before he left. She took a sip and immediately sat up straight looking at the drink in surprise.
"Told ya!" She said with a wink.
"You're late", Kris said in clear displeasure when she arrived as she sat down.
"Right. Sorry, I had to stop by Zach's office for something", she smiled mysteriously piquing curiosity from the ladies.
"What? What is it? I'm sure it's something good!" Becky pushed in eagerness.
"You'll find out soon!" She answered with a smile.
"Oh! But I think I already found out", Kris said with a smirk playing on her lips. Victoria had a bad feeling about what was about to come out of that mouth. "You've been quite busy lately, Torrie."
"With what?" Her brows furrowed showing her annoyance.
"You tell me, just last night you were at Renée's having dinner", she said with a nonchalant attitude though openly provoking her. Victoria's face, had indeed, grown ugly from that statement.
"Were you with your husband? Are you guys working things out?" Stephanie asked in curiosity.
"Her husband?" Kris let out a humorless chuckle. "Oh! But he looked too young to be the Henry we know."
The three ladies gasped and looked at Victoria who had kept quiet. She was glaring at Kris. How on Earth did she find out about last night? And Kris was not done.
"And it turns out your son had followed you there where he had a fight with his girlfriend. Oh! And your husband followed you too but he left immediately! Tsk! Tsk! Tsk! Your family is such a mess! I'm worried about you, Torrie."
"Torrie, what's going on? Are you alright?" Rebecca asked with evident worry.
"Is this true? Torrie, I would support you but not when you're still married. No matter the reason, it's not right", Stephanie said as Adelaide nodded in agreement.
Kris seemed pleased when she saw the look on Victoria's face. It felt good to have the upper hand this time. Zach may be at the top, but if the Frost family was a mess, wouldn't people say the Howells were better in comparison? At least they have their shi-
Victoria suddenly laughed with clear amusement. "You're worried about my family, who's going to worry about yours? Definitely not me."
"What are you talking about?" Kris asked, annoyed as she carefully eyed her.
Victoria leaned forward, rested her elbows on the table and clasped her hands together. "You accepted so many deals from the hype of your son's engagement news, how's that going? You sure you have the finances for it?"
"We're doing just fine", she huffed out immediately and avoided eye contact from the rest. How did she know all this?
"Really? Isn't the situation so bad your stressing about it is stressing everyone out to the point of your daughter-in-law losing her hair. By the way, that's not a way to treat a daughter-in-law, can't the girl eat when she wants to? Tsk! Tsk! Tsk!" She shook her head giving her a look of disapproval.
If Victoria knew this much, who knows how much the story had spread? There was no point in denying it. This infuriated Kris but she fought to keep it together.
"You can tell me how to treat a daughter-in-law when you have one", she sneered.
"Who says I don't?" She threw her a mock smile.
"I wouldn't count Nicole as a daughter-in-law. She might just as well be using Xavier for his name and money."
"At least he has money", she countered with evident pride making Kris's face turn uglier.
"Our family is doing just fine! At least I'm not going around sleeping with a man child whilst my family is a mess", she scoffed and rolled her eyes.
"You're so focused on the surface when you don't even know what's underneath", she shook her head.
"What? Is there more to this than-"
Ugggggghhhhh!" Stephanie slumped back in her seat. "Enough you two!" She looked between Kris who looked snobbish with her arms crossed against her chest and Victoria who leisurely sipped on her wine. "Can't we hang out without having any of this? Is it fun?"
"Tell her, she started it", Victoria grumbled while throwing a glare at Kris.
"You-"
"Okay!" Rebecca stepped in. "We came here for the wine tasting and not to be updated on your family drama. I personally came here to escape mine so do me that favor, alright?"
"I enjoy it!" Adelaide said with a shrug before sipping on her wine.
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