From Damnation to Dominance: Revenge of the Abused Heir

8. Forgotten

Catherine’s face was a mask of cold horror. She took a step forward, as if to physically block him from contaminating her perfect party. 

Her gaze washed over him in disdain, and scoffed contemptuously, “Don't tell me you couldn't wait to complete your sentences and flee away from prison! Is that how desperate you are?” 

She continued maliciously, “If you have not committed murder, you won't have any reason to be in prison! You are nothing but a disgrace to the Potter family. 

The Potter family are known for giving birth to a murderer! You bring nothing but disgrace!” 

Victor's countenance changed drastically, his eyes burning with rage. He clenched his fist angrily as hot adrenaline flow in his veins. 

He tried walking towards his stepmother and gave her a resounding slap but he was held by a hand. 

His cold gaze went over to his arm, and saw Sandra pleading with her eyes. 

“Victor, calm down! She is still your mother!” 

He glared at her coldly and pushed her away, not minding if she get hurt or not. 

“Get away from me! I don't care about what you think!” His voice coming out in furious tone. 

They've totally labeled him as a murderer in front of everyone whereas, Frank was truly the murderer. 

He glared dangerously at Catherine, worked on his temper, and said nothing. 

“Are you trying to hands on me? Guards!” she hissed, her voice low and venomous. “Someone call the authorities! He’s a convict, he must have escaped from the prison!”

Victor didn’t move. He simply stood there, his hands still in his pockets, his gaze sweeping over them with an unnerving, icy calm. 

He let their panic hang in the air for a moment, let them fully inhabit their assumptions.

“No one needs to call anyone,” he said, his voice quiet, yet it carried through the vast hall with a strange, penetrating clarity. 

It was a new voice—deeper, steadier, devoid of the frightful voice they would have expected. 

“My sentence is complete. Today was my release date.”

The statement landed not with a bang, but with a profound, uncomfortable silence.

Tobias’s bluster deflated. He blinked, his mind visibly scrambling through calendars. 

The realization dawned on him, bringing a flush of embarrassed crimson to his neck. He had forgotten completely.

Catherine’s lips pressed into a thin, white line. She hadn't just forgotten; she had never cared to know.

Frank, on the other hand, seems not to care also. He wished him dead anyways. 

But it was Sandra’s reaction that was the most profound. The guilt on her face deepened into something like anguish. Her eyes welled with tears that were, for the first time, entirely genuine. 

She took a half-step towards him, her hand outstretched in a futile gesture. “Victor… I… I’m so sorry. We are just so busy with the party…”

Frank, ever the opportunist, was quick to seize the narrative. His expression melted from triumph into one of pained, brotherly concern. 

He placed a comforting hand on Sandra’s arm, pulling her back to his side.

“Brother! Victor, we are so sorry!” Frank said, his voice laden with a theatrical grief. “It’s just today is my birthday. You understand how it is. Due to the preparation, it completely slipped our minds that it was also your day. Please, you must forgive us. It was a simple, terrible oversight.”

Every eye in the room was on Victor, waiting for the explosion. They expected the wild, emotional boy to erupt in a fit of righteous anger. 

They were prepared for screams, for accusations, for a scene that would justify their perception of him as unstable, ungrateful, and crude.

Victor glanced at the group—the flustered father, the vicious stepmother, the treacherous brother, and Sandra, his fiancée. 

He saw them not as family, but as a collection of flaws and weaknesses. A slight, almost imperceptible smile touched his lips. 

It held no warmth, no humor. It was the smile of a chess player who has seen his opponent’s entire strategy laid bare.

He chuckled slightly, and waved his hand dismissively. 

“There is nothing to forgive,” he said, his tone flat and final, cutting through Frank’s performance like a scalpel. “Your celebrations, your birthday, none of it concerns me.”

Frank's face fell instantly, he never expected him to say such a thing. He clenched his fist angrily as he watched Victor took a step further into the room, and the crowd parted instinctively before him.

“I am only here to collect the last of my belongings,” he continued, his gaze now fixed on Tobias. “My identification documents, and some things you held onto. Once I have them, I will be severing all ties with the Potter family permanently.”

The silence that followed was absolute, broken only by the soft, determined sound of his footsteps on the marble floor as he moved towards the staircase, leaving them astounded.

He had just shown them how utterly insignificant they had become to him.