Chapter 4 Debut and Disrespect

"This is such a bad idea," Victoria spits out between laughs, mocking the thought of dating a billionaire, which Andy just jokingly suggested as she was helping her get ready for the anniversary dinner.

"What? you could totally seduce one or do the infamous baby trap" An replies as she straightens her bestfriend's hair. Deep down she wasn't joking and hoped Victoria would meet a decent guy tonight.

"We both know I don't want kids," Victoria sighs. She has never wanted kids. She loves her free life too much to be responsible for someone else's, and she wasn't sure she'd ever get married at this rate. She'd just be a third wheel for the rest of her life, and she was more than okay with that, as she was tired of the trauma that dating had given her.

"So I will never be an aunt?" An sighs.

"Pretty much," Victoria replies between giggles as she grabs her purse, pen, and notebook. Most writers of this age used a notepad and light pens to document their work, but Victoria was a strong believer that it works perfectly fine; why change it? Moreover, she could not comfortably afford any of that as she had exhausted most of the money her parents kept to set up her adult life on reckless travelling in her early 20s.

'Throwback to 24-year-old Victoria in the Maldives, high and just got into it with her parents...'

"There is no way in hell we are funding any more of your reckless decisions Victoria!" her mom yells, aggravated as she exhausted all the money they had saved for her to be able to kick start her adult life, they were not exactly wealthy, but they were comfortable and smart enough to keep money to help her later but clearly Victoria was too cuddled to know how to spend wisely and spent most of it recklessly on trips and weed, she was greening out every other day and her and her father were worried but they just had to trust her judgement.

"Mom, I'm in debt," Victoria sluggishly says as she was about ot collapse. She owed a lot of people money as she was always maxing out credit cards, sustaining injuries, and paying for another trip with boyfriend after boyfriend, not taking advice from anyone either.

"You are a twenty-four-year-old that's high every weekend in another fucking country and i am sick of it, you have exhausted every single dime we left in your trust fund account and I am so sick of paying for every new injury you sustain in one of your silly quests. Get your fucking life together Victoria, you are not a child. You are a grown ass graduate" Her mom yelled back in anger. She was truly over it all and blamed her father for being her atm even though they were both retired at this point.

"Mom, I'm in deb.." she trails off and collapses and blacks out.

"VICTORIA???/" Her mom yells.

"VICTORIAAAA" Her mom repeats again and the line goes blank, worried now she rushes to go get her husband and they book a flight to miami where Victoria was, as her mom was convinced something terrible had happened to their only child, she was reckless but she was their daughter regardless.

It took a day to get to Miami as they booked the next night's flight as she was completely unresponsive and her phone was dead. The situation seemed terrible; they both thought the worst had happened to her, as Andy was not picking up her phone either.

They landed and tracked her phone's last location to a club in the outskirts of miami, her parents argued with each other all the way there, mad at each other for leaving her to learn her lesson thinking it would help, on getting to the club it was 9 in the morning and they saw a young woman that looks around her age cleaning up, "that ungrateful brat doesn't have this life and she is still partying away her future.

"Good morning," Her dad greets while tapping the young woman on her shoulders, in turn startling her.

"Morning. Sir the club is only active from 10 pm, mornings we clean up" She quickly responds.

"No, I am not here for that. Uhh I haven't heard from my daughter and her bestfriend for almost a day now and their last location was this night club" He quickly retorts.

"Yes, here is a picture of what she looks like" Her mom says and swiftly shows a picture of her daughter.

"Ohhhh. Yeah, she was rushed to the hospital yesterday, with a blonde girl. A fight broke out over some money and they were on the receiving end of hits" The cleaner retorts somewhat feeling bad for the parents cause they look so tired and are scared for their daughter's life..

The parents got the address and went to the hospital to see their daughter, and the scolding her mom gave her made her sober up. Since then, it was the tears in her mom's eyes seeing her in such a weary state, and her dad yelling at her, which he rarely did, but when he did, it was more painful than any physical injury to her.

Victoria gets a call from Ethan, surprised, she picks up the call cause she expected Bo to take her as she had never spoken to Ethan over the phone.

"Are you ready?" Ethan calmly says as he pulls up to her driveway.

"Who is this?" Victoria teases, thinking it would be funny to unacknowledge him.

"Your boss. Now answer," Ethan replies, agitated as he rings the doorbell.

"Well, I am not. So fuck off" Victoria says without thinking and she regrets it as it leaves her lips.

"Too bad. I'm outside," He repeats as he rings the doorbell again.

Andy rushes to open the door, excited to meet Ethan, as he was a celebrity and she thought she could get him to hire Gray, and they'll be set for life.

"Hiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii" Andy says excitedly as she opens the door. she was taken aback by his wonderful scent, he smelt so good and expensive, looked even better than his pictures and she pondered a little as to why her bestfriend would hate such a charming man.

"Oh. I thought only Victoria lives here," Ethan says as he comes in and examines the place. he notices they have interesting-looking furniture and so many pictures of them hanging on the wall, he concludes that they are scissors sisters.

"Nah, I am her best friend and Housemate," Andy quickly responds. She felt intimidated by his presence; he looks and acts like the world answers to his every command, she concluded that she hates him in solidarity with her best friend.

"Okay. Can you tell her to hurry up? The world doesn't stop for her to dress, you know," He rudely retorts. Their couch was a bit uncomfortable, and he was tired of sitting in her house, as her taste in furniture was very questionable to him.

"I do things at my own pace, the world will wait," Victoria yells as she comes down, feeling like she just silenced him and made a grand entrance.

"Can you afford the luxury of that?" Ethan swiftly responds while assessing her looks. The guys were not wrong; she was exceptionally beautiful, and this dress on her makes her look so fiery and desirable. He thinks to himself then mentally kicks himself cause she was still an annoying bitch.

"I can certainly afford the luxury to keep you, A BILLIONAIRE, waiting." She snaps back. Who does this out-of-touch fool think he is, brokeshaming me? Heck, he needs me to write his stupid biography of his miserable life to get the public to like him or he will go broke like me, she thought as she imagined herself kicking his entitled ass.

"Who pays you for that?" He snaps back again. Okay, that comeback was a little bit good and spicy, just like she looks in this breathtaking dress. He thought as he turned to leave to avoid thinking about her beauty again.

"Meet me in my car," He retorts and leaves for his car, not giving room for a comeback. Andy teases Victoria about the conversation they just had and she rolls her eyes to join this piece of shit in his car, she begins to miss Bo and their nice conversations.

The car ride to the venue was very silent, and you could even hear a pin drop as it was just uncomfortable silence throughout.

"Do you know how to use a fork and knife?" Ethan asks, breaking the silence, It was a very high-profile event, and he did not need her embarrassing him, and he was not sure of her background and needed to be sure.

"Do you think I am fucking retarded?" Victoria snapped, annoyed at his question, as it seemed like he thought of her as underprivileged.

"It was just a question. Why are you so vulgar and sensitive?" Ethan responds, annoyed at her.

"Why are you so dense and out of touch. I am not some charity case for you take up or some underprivileged girl you need to ball. I am fucking educated and talented, you would know if you read my application yourself but no, like most out of touch billionaires you did not and you ask me dumb questions and expect an answer not as stupid as you" Victoria retorts, ready to let it all burn as she was fed up and decided that no job was worth being constantly put down and disrespected.

"Whoa. It was just a question, no need to get all aggressive," He retorts as he parks, Irritated at her response.

"No need to get all aggressive? I know I fucking work for you, but that does not give you the right to treat me like i am beneath you, just because we are in different social classes" She spits out as she angrily shuts the door and gets down.

"But we are-" He says unacknowledging her irritation.

Victoria tries to storm into the event, but remembers it is an anniversary dinner of another stupid fucking billionaire couple, she has an entire monologue cussing out billionaires in her head, whilst ignoring Ethan's calls.

"Fuck this job" Victoria says without thinking as she turns around to leave.

"Interesting choice of words" A familiar voice says to her as she turns to leave, she instantly recognises it was Bo, she jumps to hug him out of frustration.

"Easy there kiddo" Bo says hugging her back as she looked like she was having a horrible day.

"You have no idea how happy i am to see you" She says letting out a relieved sigh.

"I apologise on behalf of Ethan. He is not the easiest person to work with" Bo says ushering her into the anniversary dinner as he was sent by Ethan to "come get his angry bird".

Victoria stepped into the grand dining hall and nearly lost her breath-not from nerves, but from the intoxicating scent of roses, oud, and something faintly citrus that lingered like a whisper of old money. The room glittered like a jewel box, drenched in warm amber lighting that bounced off crystal chandeliers and gold-trimmed mirrors. Marble floors, soft jazz floating from a live quartet, and tables dressed in white silk with diamond-shaped napkin folds made everything scream decadence. Around her, the city's most obnoxiously rich gathered-billionaires in Tom Ford suits and their wives wrapped in couture that probably cost a year's tuition and both of her kidneys. Victoria, in a sleek red dress that cost more than she'd admit but less than anyone else's watch, tried to mask her disdain and shame cause this was not even bought by herself. Her skin crawled at the hollow laughter of men who had more money than morality, yet even she couldn't deny-the place was disgustingly, breathtakingly beautiful. It was, after all, an anniversary dinner. Shame it was infested with the elite she loathed.

"Brooo" A man that looked like he was straight out of the cover of vogue yelled and ran to the direction of Bo and Victoria.

"Williams, this is Victoria" Bo introduces her as he grabs a drink from the waiter moving and grabs one for victoria too, he figured she would need it cause of how frustrating the night is going to be.

"Yeah. I remember her from the groupcha-" Williams was about to say but Bo steps on his feet before he completes his statement.

"What groupchat?" Victoria annoyingly responds. Everyone is a fucking idiot she thinks to herself as she chugs down a glass and drags Bo's glass from his hand and chugs that down too.

"Damn that was sexy" Williams says as he observes Victoria's features and is in awe of her.

"You are stupid" Bo says as he hits williams and pushes him away and makes a mental note not to leave Victoria alone for the night.

"Let me introduce you to Ethan's mom, she requested to meet you" Bo says in an attempt to change the topic.

"I would hate her I'm sure" Victoria spits out following his lead.

"You just need to adapt and get used to us i promise, we do not suck that much" Bo says as he leads her to Ethan's mom, hoping she was drunk or a bit tipsy so she can be more loose with Victoria.

Victoria had barely gotten near Ethan's mom when she sensed the air tighten around her like a corset. The corner, draped in velvet and silence, smelled faintly of lilies and old money, and at the center of it sat Ethan's mother, a vision of high-society elegance, sharp bob, pearls strung perfectly over her neck like a threat, and eyes that glittered with judgement.

"Ah," she said, rising with a smile that didn't reach her eyes, "you must be Victoria. The biographer." Her tone wrapped the title in silk, only to slice through it with diamond precision as she hated victoria upon seeing her picture cause she was more attractive than she thought and feared she would try to baby trap her son or cause an even worse scandal that will take him away from her claws.

"You're... not quite what I expected. I thought you'd be more understated, perhaps more... academic. But I suppose confidence comes in all forms." Her eyes flicked to Victoria's dress, a red dress with a slit- and then lingered, long enough to make it clear she disapproved.

"Nice to meet you, ma'am," she replied with polite restraint, even as her stomach coiled, her lips tightly pressed together from how nervous she was..

"Oh, let's not do the 'ma'am' thing. Makes me feel old. Call me Antonella, An for short." Then she leaned forward slightly, the false warmth in her voice dropping a few degrees. "So tell me, Victoria do you actually write anything original, or is it just biographies for rich men with egos to preserve? Seems like a rather convenient little hustle, listening to someone else's brilliance and jotting it down. Rather parasitic, isn't it?" Her smile widened, confident as she was sure she has scared the hell out of this woman and for her to know her son is not to be toyed with.

"I don't think there's anything parasitic about capturing a life with accuracy and integrity," Victoria said evenly as she stiffened, hating every moment of this interaction.

"And I wasn't aware that chronicling someone's story meant I didn't have one of my own." Victoria quickly added feeling like she had won the war of bitchiness.

Ethan stepped in, oblivious to the growing tension. "Everything alright here?" he asked casually, sipping from a crystal glass, clearly having missed the tone that had soured the conversation before his mother could respond.

"Perfectly fine," Antonella said sweetly, draping herself back onto the velvet settee. "We were just discussing your young writer's... unique approach to her craft." She sneakily adds in an attempt to disrespect her once more.

"Well, my mother doesn't always get the creative process. Don't take it personally." Ethan said and chuckled lightly as he reassured Victoria trying not to anger her after what happened earlier on in his car.

"Don't take it personally?" she repeated and blinked in an attempt to control herself but failed, as her voice was rising just enough to cut through the jazz playing softly in the background, she knew she was about to cause a scene but did not care at the moment as this was the most shitty day she has had in a while.

"Your mother just accused me of being a glorified tape recorder and insulted my profession to my face and you're laughing about it?" She spits just about to let hell break loose as the world around her slows down and she sees red.

"Victoria, don't be so sensitive. She was just making conversation. And frankly, if she has questions about who's telling my story, I think that's fair." Ethan responds while raising an eyebrow. He was thinking of the calmest way to get this under control without drawing attention to himself

"Oh, of course," Victoria snapped, her voice laced with fire now. "Why wouldn't the woman who probably thinks waiters are beneath her be the authority on literary merit? I forgot the credentials for writing were being born in a mansion and learning to condescend by age three."

The room went quiet. Ethan's expression hardened. "Don't speak to my mother like that."

"And maybe you should try defending the people who are actually doing the work that makes your pathetic story worth telling," she shot back.

Antonella stood, affronted, but before the clash could escalate, Bo stepped in like a quiet storm, eyes already fixed on Victoria hoping he could calm her.

"Excuse me,Victoria, there's a matter outside that needs your immediate attention," he said firmly, voice low but commanding. He didn't wait for permission just walked toward her with the subtle authority of someone who had seen enough.

Victoria hesitated, then followed, pulse hammering in her ears. They walked out through a corridor lined with gold-framed paintings, her heels clicking like gunfire on the marble. Once in the car, the silence settled until Bo finally said, "You handled that with more grace than they deserved. I'm sorry you had to. She's not used to real people. Just ones who fear her or flatter her."

"She made me feel like I didn't belong. Like everything I am means nothing." Victoria said almost tearing up, she was grateful for Bo but seriously hated getting disrespected every other day.

Bo glanced at her, then looked back at the road. "You do belong. She can't see past her own reflection long enough to recognize strength when it's not wrapped in her version of pedigree. I'll talk to Ethan. He needs to understand you're not just some hired pen, you're the only reason his story won't die in silence. And he should treat you that way." Bo felt sorry for her and wished people were kinder to her.

In that moment, with the night air rushing past and Bo's quiet loyalty filling the space Ethan failed to hold, Victoria didn't feel small anymore. She felt seen.