The Heir

chapter 11

“Max, let’s go.” Victoria held him by the hand and tried to pull him out of the study.

“Wait,” he said and pulled his hand from his wife. “Let me hear him out. Go on, tell me, Franklin.”

“Let’s have a bet if your wife…” Franklin turned his gaze to Victoria and back to Maximillian. “Will succeed or not.”

“I guess you will bet that she wouldn’t.” He put his arm around Victoria’s shoulders and pulled her closer to him. “So, what’s the catch?”

“Whoever lost will kowtow and admit his mistakes.” Franklin sneered.

Maximillian lowered his gaze on his wife, who was looking at him intently at that moment.

“Deal,” he muttered.

“Great.” Franklin pocketed his hands on his jeans and walked away.

Victoria clenched her hands against the fabric of his shirt.

“Why did you do that, Max?”

He cupped her face and brushed his thumbs on her cheeks.

“It’s all right, love. I have nothing to lose. It does not even involve money—”

“I am not feeling good about this, Max.” She let out a long sigh as she put her hands down.

“Cheer up, Victoria. I believe in you. You can win this war and prove yourself to everyone. You have it in you. It’s just that they always take your chance away. But I promise you, it won’t happen again…”

Maximillian planted a kiss on his wife’s forehead, then to the tip of her nose, before kissing her on the lips.

“If… I fail on this project… and I lose everything—”

Maximillian placed his finger above her lips to silence her. “There is no way you will lose everything because I am here for you… always.”

“Oh, Max… thank you. How sweet of you.” Victoria wrapped her arms around his waist and leaned her head on his chest. “If I ever lost my job, we would leave this town, find a new place and start all over again.”

“I love that idea,” he agreed. “And maybe, when you are finally free, we can focus on building our family.”

Victoria smiled. “Of course.”

“SHOULD I cook for dinner, or we should just have it delivered?” Victoria asked when they reached home. Contentt bel0ngs to N0ve/lDrâ/ma.O(r)g!

“Maybe we should check first if your mother cooked something for dinner,” he said as he got off the car.”

Victoria got off swiftly on her own before he could open the door for her.

Holding each other’s hands, they headed to the main door.

Laura, his mother-in-law, was already standing by the foyer when they got inside the house. It seemed that she had been waiting for their return.

“Mother.” Victoria approached her and kissed her on the cheek. “Max and I were thinking if we should cook or order food for dinner—”

“How’s the meeting?”

“O-oh.” Victoria glanced at him. “Well, Grandma wants us to get that billion-dollar estate project of the LS Group.”

“And?” Laura looked at her daughter intently.

“No one dares to take the project.”

“Well, it is indeed risky for our company, though—”

“And I volunteered.”

“You what?” Laura did not sound proud of her daughter’s bravery.

“I volunteered. Grandma gave me her blessing.”

“You’re crazy, Victoria!” Laura grasped her daughter’s arms and shook her. “What’s gotten into you, huh? You will just put yourself in vain!”

Maximillian got in the way. He removed his mother-in-law’s hands and pulled his wife away from her. Until now, he still could not imagine how Victoria managed to live her life under the pressure of her family. Laura seemed to not have any maternal affection for her child. For her, it seemed like Victoria was just a pawn. And he despised that.

“You have nothing to do with this, Max. This is between my daughter and me—”

“But I am her husband,” he said through gritted teeth. “I have the right to meddle in her affairs.”

“You…” Laura’s face turned red.

“You know what, I think you should be asking yourself what’s gotten into you.”

Laura sneered. She put her hands to her sides and held her head up high.

“Oh, Maximillian! Here you go again!” His mother-in-law slowly shook her head. “You always prove yourself to be an arrogant son-in-law—”

“I don’t care what you think about me. But I could not stand how you treat my wife. You are her mother. But instead of taking care of her, you were always the one to belittle her when you have no place in the Griffith group—”

Laura’s palm landed on his cheek. “How dare you talk to me like that! You may be my daughter’s husband, but you don’t have the right to question my ways of—”

“Victoria will succeed on this project!” he snapped. “Put that in your mind!”

“Mother. Max. Please, let’s end this now. This won’t—”

He pushed Victoria to the side when she tried to pull him away.

“You must put your trust in her, Mother. And if you don’t, the door is always wide open for you to leave,” he said firmly.

Laura’s eyes widened. “You—are you kicking me out?!”

“No. I am not. It’s always up to you, Mother.”

Maximillian grabbed his wife’s hand and tugged her to their bedroom.

“Max, you shouldn’t—”

“I am doing this for you, Victoria. Aren’t you tired of how they treated you all this time?” He halted and turned to face her. “I know this fight is a hard one because they’re your family. But if we don’t do this now…” He tucked her hair behind her ears. “The way they see you—us will never change.”

Victoria brought his knuckles to her lips and kissed them.

“You are braver now, Max.”

He smiled and embraced her tightly.