V Halfway through giving my statement , the landlord who'd heard the news showed up . He looked around at everything , then said to me with a grim expression : " I'm refunding your rent . I'm not leasing this place anymore . " The tears I'd just stopped started flowing again . I opened my mouth to say something , but in the end I could only agree helplessly . The landlord had a point , after all . I couldn't guarantee I'd always be running a business here . If this kind of thing kept happening every few days , people would think the place was cursed or something . If I left , it would be really hard to rent out again . And even if someone did rent it , they wouldn't pay much . Better to just cut losses now . With the police mediating , the landlord agreed to give me a few days to clean up . After he left , the officer continued questioning : " You really have no idea who might have had a motive to do this ? " I knew exactly who . But I couldn't tell him Victoria's name . The Rockefeller family was loaded and powerful . Forget whether Alex would defend her once he knew everything - I couldn't afford to mess with the Rockefellers alone . Plus , I hadn't even seen Victoria face - to - face since coming back . If I just randomly accused her , she could easily sue me for defamation . So I had to swallow my grievances and hope the cops could find whoever Victoria had hired to do this through security footage . Maybe I could recover some of my losses that way . Shortly after the police left , Lucas showed up . He'd been checking on the restaurant regularly lately - Alex must have told him to help me out . Seeing the place trashed beyond recognition , Lucas frowned deeply : " Miss Morgan , did you call the police ? What did they say ? " What could they say ? If the security cameras didn't catch anything , I'd just have to suck it up and deal with it . Swallow this humiliation . " Mr. Winters ' phone got water damage . When he saw you'd called several times this morning , he specifically sent me to check on the restaurant . e I really didn't expect something like this to happen . " I had zero reaction to that explanation . I'd regretted calling Alex the moment I hung up .. What could he have done even if he'd answered ? And if his phone really was water damaged , couldn't he have borrowed someone else's phone to call me back ? Bottom line : Alex didn't think I was worth the trouble . I told Lucas about the landlord's demand to restore everything as much as possible : " Help me find some cleaning crews , okay ? Let's get this place back to whatever condition we can so no one can complain . " After working all day yesterday plus barely sleeping last night , I felt completely lightheaded . Every word took all my energy to get out . After explaining how to handle wrapping things up , I left without looking back at the place where I'd put all my hopes . I wandered aimlessly through the streets . Looking at the college campus nearby , at all those bright , energetic young faces , I suddenly remembered my own past that I'd buried deep in my memory . Before I met Alex , I was just an ordinary community college student . Unlike my classmates who ended up there because they'd slacked off or choked on their exams , community college was actually the best path I'd managed to carve out for myself after over a decade of hell . I was born in a rough part of town . I was the oldest of four kids . My dad was a complete mess - drugs , alcohol , you name it . When he got wasted , which was pretty much every night , we were his punching bags . As the eldest , everything fell on me . I worked whatever jobs I could find to keep food on the table and keep my three younger siblings fed and in school . འཇ་ ཇ་ ཉ Just like that show everyone used to watch - I was basically Fiona to my own dysfunctional family . So starting when I was five , I never got a full meal again . Chapter 8 Discover our latest featured short drama reel. Watch now and enjoy the story!