SWNOVELS Departure with a Belly Chapter 380
Chapter 380
When Bane looked at her plate, his brows creased.
“You barely had a few bites, Victoria.”
She didn’t answer.
Bane could tell that she didn’t want to be in his presence.
He pressed his lips together. Upon thinking of something, he said, “Fine. You probably
don’t like the food. It’s alright. We can eat something better once the plane lands.”
He got someone to clear the plates.
Then, he brought over a glass of red wine. “Want some?”
“No thank you.”
Bane raised the glass and slowly downed it.
Once he was done, he quietly stared at Victoria. However, she wasn’t looking at him.
Her eyes were closed, and her hands were crossed in front of her. It looked as if she
had fallen asleep.
Bane kept staring in silence for quite a while. At last, he sighed.
It’s fine. Once we settle down, I’ll take good care of her.
Amid everyone’s complicated feelings, the plane landed safely in Mauldin.
Due to the time difference between Mauldin and Corynthea, it was daytime over here
even though it was late at night back there.
“We can wash up and rest at the hotel near the airport first. Once you three are
well–rested, I’ll take you to the house.”
Bane had everything all set up over here.
He would’ve brought them straight to the house if it hadn’t been because he wanted to
be considerate of the fact that Victoria barely got any rest on the plane.
Victoria didn’t move. “It’s been hours. Have you still not thought things through yet?”
“I gave it a lot of thought before I came to this decision, Victoria.”
Bane smiled and took her arm. “Come. Let’s get off the plane.”
Victoria didn’t move from her seat.
“I thought we were friends, Bane.”
3/8
“Of course.” Bane nodded. “From now on, I can be your friend and the one who has the
most intimate relationship with you.”
Victoria flung his hand off. “You’re crazy.”
Bane simply glanced at his hand. He wasn’t upset.
“Let’s not talk about this for now. Can we get off the plane first?”
“What if I refuse to?” Victoria retorted.
Bane adjusted his glasses.
“If you’re too tired to move, I can always carry you off the plane myself. I’m not tired. If
that doesn’t suit you, I’ll just have to get Nate and Nicky to convince you instead.”
Victoria was speechless.
She looked at the handsome man in front of her. It took her every ounce of patience
she could muster to stop herself from flaring up. If Nicky and Nate came over…
While Victoria was still thinking, Bane took a few steps forward to scoop her up into his
arms.
Victoria jumped in fright. She fled backward and smacked Bane’s hands away from her.
His hands froze in the air once more.
The atmosphere grew tense.
A moment later, Bane withdrew his hands.
“You don’t want me to carry you off the plane?”
“No. I can walk by myself.”
Victoria took a few steps forward before saying curtly, “Please step aside.”
Bane looked as calm and gentle as ever as he took a few steps back to get out of her
way.
Victoria walked off. Upon seeing that he was following her, she hastened her steps to
stay further away from him. She didn’t notice the flash of dejection in Bane’s eyes.
Once she got off the plane, she saw Nathan and Nicole standing outside with Ethan. As
soon as she saw the children, she began to consider how she could escape with them.
There were two other middle–aged men apart from Ethan. They looked like they were
trained in combat.
She couldn’t even escape by herself, let alone with the children.
In any case, Bane still had her phone.
Since he dared to take me here, he must’ve gotten a hold of my passport and
documents. How on earth did he do it? Did he search my room when I was cooking?
Victoria thought to herself.
Once Bane came over, Victoria asked, “Where’s my phone?”
Afraid that he would renege on his word, Victoria reminded him, “You told me you were
going to give my phone back to me once we get off the plane, right?”
“That’s right.” Bane kept his word. He took a phone out of his pocket and passed it to
her.
Victoria was a little taken aback as she took it from him. Did he really just give my
phone back to me? Is it because of what I said on the plane? Did he actually listen? He
didn’t listen to all of it, though.
However, as soon as she turned the phone on, she noticed what was going on.
Her original SIM card had been removed. The one in her phone right now was probably
a local SIM card.
It meant that there was no point in getting it back at all.
Victoria stared at Bane.
“How could you change my SIM card without my permission?”
As soon as she asked that question, she realized how stupid the question was.
Why did I bother asking him that? He even brought me to a different country without
my permission. Why would he ask for permission to change my SIM card?
“You can’t use your Corynthean SIM card here,” Bane calmly explained. “That’s why I
changed it to a new SIM card for you. You won’t have any problems with this one.”
Victoria opened WhatsApp and realized that all her apps had been deleted and
re–downloaded. All the accounts were new ones, and she only had two contacts listed.
One was Bane and the other was Ethan.
There wasn’t anyone else’s contact information.
Even her call logs had been wiped clean. Basically, her entire phone had been reset.
Victoria couldn’t stay calm anymore. She was just about to explode when…
“Mommy?”
The children grew impatient and called out to her. She looked down and saw two pairs
of curious eyes looking back at her. That was all it took for her to stamp out the flames
in her.
I mustn’t get angry in front of the children! I mustn’t get angry in front of the children!
After repeating the mantra to herself several times, she was finally able to put a lid on
her rage and stop herself from flaring up in front of them. She stuffed the phone into
her pocket and walked over with a smile.
When they got into the car, she sat with the children and kept them right beside her.
She instructed them to stick close and never to leave her side.
Her tone was extremely stern, so the two children obediently clung to her.
Bane tried to help out with them a few times, but Victoria grasped them tightly and
refused to let him touch them. She gave a half–hearted excuse. “It’s Mommy’s first time
in this country and Mommy’s a little scared. You two need to keep Mommy company.”
Since she put it that way, the children stuck to her and ignored Bane.
Bane felt a little helpless. She was starting to rebel against him.
However, he wasn’t surprised. From the day he made this decision, he knew he had an
uphill battle ahead of him.
He was able to take on all the challenges life threw at him, but when it came to her… All
he could do was take it one day at a time.