Chapter 137: Chapter 139: Poison in the Garden
Victoria Ashford had never been humiliated like this in her entire life.
She stood in her penthouse apartment overlooking Central Park, still wearing the Chanel suit from this morning’s disaster, her hands shaking with rage as she poured herself a third glass of wine.
That little bitch. That nobody. That former maid had made a fool of her in front of dozens of witnesses at Bergdorf Goodman.
The memory played on repeat in her mind like a nightmare she couldn’t wake from: the sales associate’s apologetic but firm voice explaining that the shoes were a custom commission for Miss Chen. The way other shoppers had started to whisper and stare. The realization that Damien had commissioned custom Louboutins for his pet project.
And the worst part....the absolute worst part....was the look in Aria’s eyes. Not triumph. Not gloating. Just... pity. Like Victoria was some sad, pathetic creature to be pitied rather than feared.
"How dare she," Victoria hissed, draining her glass and immediately refilling it. "How fucking dare she look at me like that."
Her phone buzzed. A text from her father: Victoria. My office. Now.
She closed her eyes, taking a deep breath. Of course he’d already heard. Harold Ashford heard everything that happened in their social circles within hours. Probably had three different people calling to tell him his daughter had made a scene at Bergdorf’s.
She changed quickly into a more conservative Armani dress.....her father hated when she looked "cheap" as he called anything too trendy....and fixed her makeup to hide the rage-crying she’d done in the car ride home.
Thirty minutes later, she was sitting across from Harold Ashford in his corner office at Ashford Capital, feeling like a child called to the principal’s office.
Harold was a handsome man in his late fifties, silver-haired and distinguished, with the kind of presence that commanded rooms. He’d built his hedge fund from nothing, married Victoria’s mother for her old-money connections, and raised Victoria to be the perfect society wife for an equally ambitious man.
A man like Damien Blackwood.
"Explain," Harold said simply, his fingers steepled in front of him.
"It was nothing. Just a misunderstanding at...."
"Don’t." His voice was sharp. "Don’t insult my intelligence by pretending I don’t know exactly what happened. Margaret Pemberton called me within the hour. Said you tried to buy shoes out from under Aria Chen and had a ’minor episode’ when told they were commissioned by Damien Blackwood himself."
Victoria’s jaw clenched. Margaret Pemberton. Of course. The old bat loved nothing more than spreading gossip.
"That girl," Victoria said, unable to keep the venom from her voice, "is a gold-digging nobody who infiltrated Damien’s life under false pretenses. She was his maid, Daddy. A maid who lied her way into his bed and is now....."
"Playing the game better than you," Harold finished coldly.
The words hit like a slap.
"I taught you better than this, Victoria. Emotional outbursts. Public scenes. This is not how an Ashford conducts herself."
"But you don’t understand...."
"I understand perfectly." Harold leaned back in his chair, his expression calculating. "I understand that Damien Blackwood, the most eligible bachelor in New York and a man I’ve been grooming you to marry since you were sixteen years old, has instead become infatuated with a girl who started as his household staff. I understand that despite every advantage I’ve given you....the education, the connections, the opportunities.....you’ve somehow managed to lose him to someone who should have been beneath his notice."
Each word was a knife, precisely placed to wound.
"It’s not over," Victoria said desperately. "Richard Blackwood is coming back in two weeks. He’s the one who really matters. If I can convince him that she’s unsuitable...."
"Richard Blackwood." Harold’s eyes sharpened with interest. "Now that’s the first intelligent thing you’ve said since you walked in here."
He stood, moving to the window, hands clasped behind his back as he looked out over the city.
"Richard is old-school. Traditional. He has very specific ideas about who belongs in the Blackwood family and who doesn’t. A former maid with no pedigree, no connections, no proper background..." He turned back to face her. "That would not sit well with him at all."
Victoria felt hope kindle in her chest for the first time since this morning’s disaster.
"So you’ll help me?"
"Help you?" Harold raised an eyebrow. "No, Victoria. I’m going to save you from your own stupidity. There’s a difference."
He returned to his desk, pulling out a leather-bound notebook and a fountain pen.
"Tell me everything you know about Aria Chen. And I mean everything. Background, family, how she met Damien, what she does now. Every detail."
Victoria leaned forward eagerly. "She infiltrated his estate as a maid under a false name.....Sarah Martinez. She was looking for some rare plant in his greenhouse to save her dying mother. Damien caught her, and instead of having her arrested, he... became obsessed with her."
"A plant?" Harold’s interest sharpened. "What kind of plant?"
"I don’t know exactly. Vitalis something. Damien cultivates it on his estate. Apparently it’s nearly extinct and has medicinal properties."
Harold made a note. "Interesting. What else?"
"Her mother was dying of some rare disease. The girl is supposedly brilliant.... medical knowledge. She went to MIT at sixteen on full scholarship. Graduated top of her class. But she dropped out of medical school when her mother got sick."
"Family background?"
"Mother is Chinese immigrant. Mei Chen. Works as a seamstress in Chinatown. Father unknown. They lived in a tiny apartment in a bad neighborhood. No money, no connections, no social standing whatsoever."
Harold continued writing. "And now? What does she do?"
"She’s his personal assistant at Blackwood Enterprises. Works in his office. He’s been... very public about their relationship lately. Taking her to charity events, introducing her to business associates. Julian Pierce seems to support the relationship, which doesn’t help."
"Julian." Harold’s expression soured. "That boy always did have romantic notions. What about Damien’s feelings? Is this just infatuation or something deeper?"
Victoria’s hands clenched into fists. "He’s in love with her. Completely. It’s disgusting how obsessed he is. He looks at her like she’s the only person in the room. He commissioned custom Louboutins for her, for god’s sake. Custom. He’s never done anything like that for anyone."
"And she? How does she feel about him?"
"She loves him too," Victoria admitted bitterly. "Or at least she’s an excellent actress. They reconciled about a month ago after some kind of separation. Now they’re inseparable."
Harold sat back on his seat. "So we have a gold-digger who infiltrated his home under false pretenses, stole from him, lied about her identity, and now has somehow convinced him she’s in love with him. A girl with no proper background, no family worth mentioning, no social standing. A girl who should be serving at his dinner parties, not attending them."
"Exactly," Victoria said eagerly. "Richard will hate her. He has to."
"Probably," Harold agreed. "Richard has very specific standards. He believes the Blackwood name carries certain responsibilities. That marriages should be strategic alliances between families of equal standing. He was furious when Damien’s father married Catherine....thought she was too emotional, too soft. He only accepted her after she proved herself capable of handling the social obligations."
He tapped his pen against the notebook thoughtfully.
"But we can’t just rely on Richard’s natural disapproval. We need to ensure that Aria Chen reveals herself to be exactly what we say she is: an opportunistic gold-digger who manipulated her way into Damien’s life and doesn’t belong in our world."
"How?" Victoria leaned forward. "Tell me what to do, and I’ll do it."
Harold smiled....cold and calculating. "First, we need more information. I want a complete background check on Aria Chen and her mother. Everything. Education records, financial history, medical records if we can get them, employment history. I want to know every secret, every mistake, every vulnerability."
"I can hire a private investigator...."
"Already done. I made the call while you were on your way here." Harold glanced at his watch. "We should have preliminary information within forty-eight hours. But information alone isn’t enough. We need to create situations where she’ll expose herself."
"What kind of situations?"
"The kind where her lack of breeding shows," Harold said. "She may have learned how to dress and speak properly, but she’s still fundamentally a girl from Chinatown playing dress-up in a world she doesn’t understand. We need to put her in positions where that becomes obvious."
"Mistakes.....," Victoria said, understanding dawning. "If we can ensure she makes mistakes in front of Richard, shows she doesn’t belong....."
"Richard will see it himself," Harold finished. "No amount of pretty dresses or Damien’s infatuation will matter if Richard determines she’s unsuitable. And once Richard withdraws his approval, Damien will have to choose between his grandfather’s respect and his little pet."
"He’ll choose Richard," Victoria said with certainty. "He has to. Richard raised him after his parents died. Richard built Blackwood Enterprises into what it is today. Richard’s opinion is the only one that really matters to Damien."
"Exactly." Harold stood. "So here’s what we’re going to do. First, the background check will hopefully give us ammunition.....something we can leak at the right moment to maximize embarrassment. Second, we’re going to extend an olive branch."
"What?" Victoria stared at him. "Why would we....."
"Because right now, you look like a jealous, unstable woman who had a public breakdown over shoes. That’s not a good look, Victoria. We need to rehabilitate your image while simultaneously setting Aria Chen up for failure."
He moved back to the window, his mind clearly working through scenarios.
"You’re going to apologize. Publicly and graciously. You’re going to say you were having a difficult day, that you spoke out of turn, and that you wish Damien and Aria every happiness. You’ll be the picture of grace and maturity."
"Absolutely not....."
"You’ll do it because it serves our purposes," Harold said sharply. "Right now, everyone sees you as the villain in this story. We need to change that narrative. You become the gracious, mature woman who can admit her mistakes. Aria becomes the girl who’s in over her head, struggling to fit into a world she doesn’t understand."
He turned back to her. "Then, at the right moment....probably shortly before Richard’s arrival....we’ll have a social event. Something elegant, sophisticated, requiring extensive knowledge of high society protocols. We’ll invite Aria, of course. And we’ll create situations where her background becomes glaringly obvious."
"What if she handles it well? What if she’s learned...."
"Then we escalate," Harold said simply. "We have two weeks, Victoria. Two weeks to ensure that when Richard Blackwood assesses Aria Chen, he sees exactly what she is: a clever opportunist who doesn’t belong in his grandson’s life."
Victoria felt excitement building in her chest. This was what she’d needed....not her own emotional outbursts, but her father’s cold, strategic planning.
"What about Damien? He’ll protect her. He’ll see what we’re doing...."
"Damien is blinded by infatuation," Harold said dismissively. "Right now, he sees her through rose-colored glasses. But we’re not trying to convince Damien. We’re creating a situation where Richard makes the determination himself. And once Richard has decided she’s unsuitable, Damien will have to choose between his grandfather and his lover."
"And he’ll choose Richard," Victoria said again, more confident now.
"He’ll choose the family legacy," Harold corrected. "Blackwood Enterprises. The name. The reputation. Everything his grandfather represents. A man like Damien Blackwood doesn’t throw away generations of carefully built prestige for a girl he’s known less than a year."
He moved back to his desk, pulling out his phone.
"I’m going to make some calls. People who can help us create the right... situations. And you..... You’re going to get your emotions under control and start acting like the sophisticated woman I raised you to be."
"Yes, Daddy." Victoria stood, feeling more like herself than she had since this morning’s disaster.
"And Victoria?" Harold’s voice stopped her at the door. "No more public scenes. No more trying to buy shoes out from under her like a child fighting over toys."
"I understand."
"Good. Now go home. Clean yourself up. Tomorrow, you’ll send Aria Chen a handwritten apology... You’ll play the part of a woman who realizes she behaved poorly and is attempting to make amends."
"And then?"
Harold’s smile was predatory. "And then we wait. We watch. We gather information. And when the moment is right, we ensure that Aria Chen reveals herself to be exactly what we know she is: a gold-digger who doesn’t belong in our world."
