Chapter 6
Nineteen years ago, when Victoria was only five years old, her mother married into the Underwood family. Even though Vicky was very happy to have an older sister, Mara did not welcome her with open arms. Mara was only eight years old but was already bitter. Her mother had disappeared when she was only two years old, and no one knew exactly where she was. Some suspected that Greg Underwood had something to do with her disappearance. Her family searched for her but failed multiple times to locate her. Mara's grandmother even died of old age while waiting for her daughter to come back. Many thought she would return upon hearing about her mother's death, but still, there was no sign of her. This made Mara grow up as a bitter child because she thought her mother didn't want her.
When Helena and Victoria moved into the Underwood house, Mara's bitterness grew into hatred. Even though Helena wanted to treat Mara as her own, the child was always up to something. All her tricks led to Helena and Greg's failed marriage. They stayed together, but Helena was tired of Greg always being on Mara's side. It was as if he felt guilty and was overcompensating when it came to Mara.
At one point, everything fell apart. Greg started to treat Victoria badly. He hated her so much, perhaps for having a mother who would do anything for her, or because he knew what he did to Mara's mother. These are some of the thoughts Helena had when everything fell apart in her marriage. When Victoria came of age, Helena wanted nothing more than for her daughter to leave that house and stay somewhere safe.
Helena would have left a long time ago, but she had nowhere to go. Greg misused all the money she had invested in the Underwood Group. Greg was useless when it came to running a company, and he would take out his frustrations on Helena and Victoria every time he lost money. Sometimes, he would gamble all the money just to pay his debts, but he lost all that money too.
The Underwood home became so toxic, but Helena had no money. She was scared to leave with her daughter because she didn't know how they were going to survive. She hoped one day Greg would make her money back so she could start her life somewhere far away from him.
When Greg threw Victoria out of the house, it was bittersweet for Helena. She knew that even though her daughter would be far away from her, she would at least be safe. She was already plotting her own exit too. But Greg was a manipulative man, and she stayed there for four more years. He didn't want her to leave because he didn't know who would take care of Mara, as his daughter didn't even know how to cook a simple egg. Helena was the cook, the cleaner; she was basically their maid.
Victoria, on the other hand, found solace in Mark. She would spend every day with him just to escape from her house. Between school and Mark's place was where she spent most of her time during the day.
Mark loved Victoria, but he was an ambitious man. He wanted to marry into a rich family and hated being from an average family with all his heart. He thought Victoria's family had the potential to become rich, but he realized over time that it was just his wishful thinking.
That was when Mara decided to plot against her stepsister. She went to Sophia, who was from a well-off family, and convinced her to seduce Mark. Mara already knew Sophia had a crush on Mark, so the naive girl didn't need much convincing before she jumped on the bandwagon.
They planned their strategy for two months, and Victoria did not suspect a thing since she didn't care about anything that concerned Mara, and Sophia was her enemy. Though they were once friends, Sophia had always been envious of Victoria's beauty. She was loved by many guys since they were in high school. Boys would always drool when they saw her, and this eventually gained Victoria an enemy in Sophia.
The plotting between Mara and Sophia resulted in the eventful day Victoria caught Mark and Sophia in bed together. Mark was not in on it, but he was attracted to shiny material things. He was just happy that a girl like Sophia took interest in him. He was not attracted to her at all, but marrying into money was motivating enough for him to destroy his long-term relationship with his high school sweetheart.
He had thought if he convinced Victoria enough, she would agree to be his mistress. That's what he said to her after being caught; he wanted Victoria to understand he was doing all of this for her. But his ambition disgusted her the most. She cut all ties with him and blocked him on all her social media accounts.
She told herself that was the end of her relationship with this shallow man. Maybe he and the scheming Sophia deserved each other after all. Thinking about it more, she did see the signs and red flags, but she ignored them. She was heartbroken, but she thought their breakup was for the best.
Sometimes, bad things bring about the best results in someone's life. She just prayed that one day her life would be better. She wished her mother had never married Greg because she would at least find peace at home. Now she didn't know where she was going to hide away when things got messy at home
Victoria opted to limit her time at her best friend's residence, as she was hesitant to overstay her welcome and intrude on their familial dynamics. Despite the affection her friend's family held for her, Victoria was aware of their disapproval of Greg, a topic she preferred to avoid in conversation.