REBORN My Second Life I Became The Villianess (Nyxara) novel Chapter 16

The next morning, I pulled a tight black turtleneck all the way up to my chin before heading down to breakfast, making sure it completely hid the dark, purple hickey Dario had left stamped against my throat. 

When I walked into the dining room, Dario was already seated at the table, looking entirely too calm and rested for a man who had snuck into my bedroom at midnight. 

Nysa wasted zero time starting up her usual drama, sneering across the table about something or other, but I wasn’t having it. I just completely ignored her, picking up my fork and focusing entirely on my eggs like she didn’t even exist. 

Midway through the meal, my father pushed a small, sleek electronic key fob across the table toward me. 

“Take it,” he said, keeping his tone casual. “I had a new car delivered this morning. Something a bit more reliable and suitable for your drive to work.” 

I looked down at the keys, genuinely surprised, then back up at him. “Thank you, Father.” 

Before the words even fully left my mouth, my mother’s voice cut in, sharp and dripping with bitter irritation. “Carlton, honestly, I think you’re spoiling her a bit too much. First the ride, now this?” 

My father didn’t react right away. He calmly finished chewing, took a slow sip of his coffee, and set the cup down. 

The entire dining room went silent. Nysa’s jaw literally clicked shut, her mouth hanging open in pure shock. My mother choked on her breath, staring at me like I had just grown a second head. 

Across the table, Dario didn’t say a word. He just leaned back in his chair, a slow, wicked smirk spreading across his face as his dark eyes locked onto mine. 

The glass doors of my executive office clicked shut behind me, sealing out the hum of Cipher Core’s main floor. I dropped my briefcase onto the desk, and shrugged off my blazer, I didn’t waste a second. I pulled out my secure work phone, and dialed one of my most reliable underworld-adjacent contacts: a sharp, well-connected socialite named Chloe who ran in the exact high-end circles Caroline and Nysa worshipped. 

She picked up on the second ring. “Speak to me.”