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

calls for

“What?”

with

his wife!” she snapped. “Why isn’t he here when I need

as if waiting for

number. She pressed the device to her ear, her other hand shaking as it hovered over the

One ring.

Two.

Three.

Then–nothing.

go to

grip tightened around the phone as she redialed. The same

she hissed, slamming her

for a split second, she thought it was Renard. But

news outlet.

decline. Before another call could come through, she powered the phone off

suffocating. Her own reflection in the darkened TV screen looked nothing like the woman she was supposed to be–poised, powerful, untouchable.

was

Renard, the one person who was supposed to be on her side,

nearest object–a heavy glass paperweight–and hurled

impact sent shards flying across the room.

took another cautious step back, barely breathing.

years perfecting her image, controlling every single

yet, someone had just ripped it all away.

trembled before she clenched

down like this.

toward the door, her eyes

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+23)

Chapter 136

my laptop,” she

obey, disappearing from the

steadying herself. If no one was going to save her, she would have to save

room, carefully setting the laptop on

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

skimmed through the subjects,

Foundation Financial Scandal –

Demanding Explanation – Board

– Losses Expected to Escalate

Audit

of the emails from Weiss Inc.’s

Madam Weiss,

Investors are panicking, and multiple board members are requesting an emergency

refrain from making any public statements until

the trackpad. She clicked over to the stock market reports, and the moment the

downward plunge.

time. The red arrows, the flashing numbers, the sheer