Mr. Villain's Lovely Wife

Chapter 136

Chapter 136

Cecil slammed her hands on the desk, sending a stack of papers flying to the floor. Her chest rose and fell with sharp breaths as she grabbed the nearest glass vase and hurled it against the wall. It shattered on impact, glass fragments scattering across the floor. The sound wasn’t enough to drown out the words from the news broadcast still playing on the large screen mounted on the wall.

Her name was everywhere. Her foundation–her legacy–was being torn apart in front of the entire world.

She grabbed the remote and flung it at the screen. The device bounced off the glass harmlessly, but the headlines remained. More accusations. More so–called evidence. All those years of carefully crafting her image, of making sure every trace of her mistakes disappeared–it was all crumbling.

A maid hesitated near the door, hands clenched in front of her apron. She took a cautious step forward, eyes flicking to the broken glass on the floor.

“Madam, please—”

Cecil whirled around and grabbed the porcelain figurine from her desk. The maid barely had time to move before it smashed against the doorframe, missing her by inches. The woman flinched, backing away.

“Get out!” Cecil snapped. She didn’t need their pity. She didn’t need their nervous glances or their useless attempts to calm her down.

Another maid stepped in, trying to collect the shattered glass from the floor, but Cecil swept an arm across her desk. knocking everything off. Documents, pens, her phone–everything hit the ground in a chaotic mess.

“I said get out!”

The maids scrambled toward the door, hurrying to escape before she could throw something else. The heavy wooden doors slammed shut behind them, leaving Cecil standing in the middle of the wreckage. Her hands trembled.

This wasn’t supposed to happen. No one was supposed to find those records.

She dragged a hand through her hair, gripping the strands before letting go and pacing toward the window. San Francisco stretched out below her, but all she could see was her own reflection—the image of a woman who had just lost everything.

She spun back around, her gaze locking onto her secretary, who had been standing near the bookshelf, frozen in place.

“Did you find out anything?” she asked.

“N–nothing for now Madam we are waiting for- “

“Why the hell are you here, then? Find out who did this,” she demanded. “Now.”

The man barely swallowed before nodding. “I’ll make some calls.”

“Don’t call me until you have a name,” she snapped. “I don’t care what you have to do. Bribe someone. Threaten them. Dig until you find who leaked those files.”

The secretary nodded stiffly and hurried out.

Cecil braced herself against the desk, gripping the edge so tightly her knuckles turned white. No matter what it took, she was going to find the person responsible. And when she did, they would regret ever thinking they could bring her down.

“Where is Renard!?” she yelled.

“M–Madam-” a maid answered. “The Old Master is still in his office, and his–his secretary informed us that he will not be

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Chapter 136

for

“What?”

fingers curled into fists. Her entire body tensed with rage

isn’t he here when I

her head bowed as if waiting for another object to be

phone from the mess of papers on the floor and immediately dialed Renard’s number. She pressed

One ring.

Two.

Three.

Then–nothing.

even go to

the phone as

slamming her palm against the desk.

screen lit up with an incoming call, and for a split second, she thought it was Renard. But the number flashing on the

major news

she swiped to decline. Before another call could come through,

Her own reflection in the darkened TV screen looked nothing like the woman she

she was

the one person who was supposed to be

object–a

shards flying across the room.

maid near the door took another cautious

She had spent years perfecting her

yet, someone had just ripped it all

clenched them into fists

down like this.

turned toward the door, her eyes

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Chapter 136

laptop,” she ordered. “Now.”

maid rushed to obey, disappearing from the room.

no one was going to save her, she would have

the room, carefully setting the laptop on Cecil’s desk before

acknowledged her. She flipped the screen open, fingers flying across the keyboard as she logged

the subjects, her jaw

Financial Scandal –

Explanation – Board Meeting Called

Investors Pulling Out – Losses Expected

Pending Audit of Weiss

of the emails

Madam Weiss,

Weiss Foundation, stock prices for Weiss Inc. have dropped 17% within the last three hours. Investors are panicking, and multiple board members are requesting an emergency meeting to discuss damage control. The SEC has also issued

any public statements

trembled as she reached for the trackpad. She clicked over to the stock market

steep downward

stocks were tanking in real time. The red arrows, the flashing numbers, the sheer volume of shares being sold off -it was a massacre.