REBORN My Second Life I Became The Villianess (Nyxara) novel Chapter 14

I looked at my father, who was still kneeling in front of me with the antiseptic wipe in his hand. I saw the quiet, disgusted glance he shot toward Nysa’s retreating back. This is my out. I thought. 

“Excuse me, Father,” I whispered softly, keeping my posture timid and low. “I’ll go clean up.” 

He gave me a soft, sympathetic nod, putting the medical cap-back on the kit. “Go ahead, Nyxara. Get some rest.” 

I didn’t wait for another second. I slipped past them, keeping my head ducked down to hide the blood still smeared near my temple, and hurried up the sweeping staircase, putting as much distance between myself, Nysa, and the terrifying gravitational pull of Dario Valteri as I possibly could. 

After scrubbing the dried blood and antiseptic from my skin, I stood under the steaming water in the shower until the bathroom mirror was fogged over. I stepped out and I dried myself off. I pulled on a simple, high-necked cashmere sweater paired with tailored trousers, modest, unassuming, and covering the lingering bruises. 

Just as I was zipping up my boots, a sharp knock rattled my bedroom door. I pulled it open to find one of the junior estate maids standing nervously in the hallway. 

“Miss,” she said, keeping her eyes cast toward the floor. “Your father has called you down to dinner. Mr. Valteri is staying for the meal.” 

I gave a slow, measured nod. “Thank you. I’ll be right down.” 

Knowing Dario would be sitting at that table changed the math. I couldn’t walk down looking like a victim, but I couldn’t look like a threat either. I slipped back into my closet, swapped the sweater for a soft, long- sleeved cream knit that hugged my frame without drawing attention, and swept my dark hair over one shoulder to partially conceal the small, neat white bandage now resting discreetly on my left temple. 

When I reached the grand dining room and stepped inside, the atmosphere was suffocatingly tense. 

Dario was sitting near the middle of the long mahogany table. The second I walked through the arched doorway, his dark eyes snapped straight to me. They didn’t linger on my face, his eyes zeroed in with terrifying precision on the white bandage at my temple. 

I watched the muscles in his jaw clench so hard a sharp shadow cut across his cheek. His hands, resting flat on either side of his water glass, tightened until his knuckles turned bone-white. The air around him practically dropped several degrees, radiating a cold, coiled violence. But to my surprise, he didn’t utter a single word. He just stared at me, his gaze heavy, dark, and unreadable. 

I kept my chin tucked, quietly taking my seat at the far end of the table as far from him as possible. 

Nysa didn’t waste a single second. She was sitting right beside Dario, she leaned in close, flashing a blinding, practiced smile as she picked up her fork. 

“So, Dario, we really need to get the engagement party rolling,” She chirped, her voice dripping with artificial sweetness. “Let’s set an official date. Maybe in the beginning of August? What do you think?” 

Dario didn’t even look at her. His eyes remained locked on me, watching me unfold my napkin. 

“My mother will decide on the date during the weekend,” Dario replied flatly, his tone entirely devoid of warmth or interest. 

I kept my eyes lowered, picking up my cutlery and quietly beginning to eat, pretending I was completely invisible. But I didn’t need to look up to feel his heavy, burning gaze searing straight through my skin. 

Nysa’s smile faltered for a fraction of a second at his cold dismissal, but she quickly recovered, doubling down with a desperate, toxic edge to her voice. She dropped the real bomb across the table. 

“Well, we really need it settled fast,” Nysa pressed, pitching her voice just loud enough to command the room. “We have been together for three years now, after all. It is high time we finally get engaged.” 

A heavy, suffocating silence fell over the table. My father’s face hardened instantly. He slammed his fork down onto his plate with a sharp clatter. “Nysa, eat your dinner.” 

“I now have an official foothold in the family,” I whispered, keeping my voice down as I paced the length of the rug. “My father isn’t an absolute idiot anymore, so we’re going to hold off on dismantling his side for a while and observe him. But my mother, Caroline, and my sister, Nysa? They’re fair game.” 

I stopped pacing, staring out into the dark shadows of my bedroom. “Sarah, I need you to dig up everything. I want every dirty secret, every offshore account, every hidden slip-up my mother and sister has been up to for the past eighteen years, You’re an investigative genius, find the bodies buried in their backyard.” 

“Consider it done,” Sarah murmured, her tone sharpening instantly with lethal excitement. “Give me twenty-four hours and I’ll have their entire digital footprint mapped out.” 

“Good,” I nodded. “And Leo, I want eyes on them. Physical, constant surveillance starting today. Track their movements, who they meet, what they say.” 

“You got it,” Leo replied seamlessly. Before I could hang up, he pivoted to business. “Also, quick update on Cipher Core, logistics are scaling up by forty percent as of this morning, server loads are optimal, and the board approved the new security protocols without a single question.” 

“Perfect. Keep managing the front end, I’ll check in tomorrow,” I said. 

I ended the call, tossed the phone onto the nightstand, and stripped off my knit top. Exhaustion hit me like a physical wave, the kind of bone-deep fatigue that comes from navigating a minefield while bleeding. I pulled on an oversized cotton t-shirt, crawled under the heavy duvet, and let my eyes drift shut. Within minutes, the dark emptiness of sleep dragged me under. 

How long I was out, I couldn’t tell. Suddenly, I jerked awake with a violent start, my eyes flying wide open in the pitch black. My instincts screamed before my brain could even catch up. 

Click. 

It was the subtle, muffled sound of a door latch sliding back into place.