REBORN My Second Life I Became The Villianess (Nyxara) novel Chapter 52

I watched the screen light up. The caller ID flashed a single, heavy name: Dario. It rang all of once before the line clicked open.

"Ella," Dario’s deep, voice came through the speaker, crisp and entirely unbothered, as if he wasn't sitting in the middle of a high-level corporate workday. "What is it?" he asked.

Ella kept her eyes locked dead on a terrified, trembling Lexi.

"Brother," Ella said smoothly, her tone dripping with casual venom. "Just thought you'd want to know. Lexi Rivers is currently standing in our boutique, insulting your wife. She just called her a thing."

There was a fraction of a second of silence on the other end of the line. A heavy, suffocating pause where you could practically feel the air freeze in the room. Dario didn't yell or ask for details or demand an explanation. His voice was flat, cold, and final when he spoke.

"The Rivers are done." then the line went dead.

The phone call lasted less than ten seconds, but in that tiny window of time, Lexi's entire life had just been burned to ash. The Rivers family business, their social standing, their investments, their bleeding-edge privileges in this city, Dario Valteri had just wiped them out with a single sentence.

Lexi let out a high-pitched, choked gasp, stumbling backward until her back hit a rack of silk blouses, nearly knocking them over. Her knees looked like they were about to give out completely.

"No... no, no, no," Lexi whimpered, tears instantly springing to her eyes as panic completely swallowed her whole. She looked at me, her hands shaking violently as she reached out like a drowning person grabbing for a sinking log.

"Nyxara! Please! Tell them we were just kidding! Tell them it was a joke! You know how Nysa gets…Nysa told me to do it! Nysa told me to come find you and make your life hell, I swear to god she did!" she pleaded. I didn't flinch or step back. I just looked down at her with a quiet, bored expression, tilting my head slightly.

"You should really pick better friends, Lexi," I said softly, my voice calm enough to cut right through her hysterical sobbing. "Nysa couldn't even save herself. What made you think she could save you?"

Before Lexi could open her mouth to scream or beg again, a soft, refined voice drifted over from the aisle entrance.

"Nyxara, darling." We all turned around. Elena was strolling over from the VIP lounge, looking completely relaxed and unbothered by the absolute disaster unfolding a few feet away. Behind her, Grandmother was stepping out, holding a velvet box in her hands.

Elena walked right up to me, placing a warm, gentle hand on my shoulder, completely ignoring Lexi as if the crying girl on the floor was nothing more than a stray piece of trash.

"Come along, sweetie," Elena said smoothly, guiding me away from the pathetic mess Lexi had become. "Ignore the common pests. They always manage to crawl out of the woodwork when you least expect it."

Grandmother chuckled darkly from nearby, waving a hand toward a private seating area further down the boutique floor.

"Nyxara, come look at these pieces your mother and I selected for you," Grandmother called out cheerfully, holding up a blinding diamond necklace that caught the store lights like a spotlight. "This one will look magnificent on you for the upcoming charity gala."

"Coming, Grandmother," I said smoothly.

I didn't even look back at Lexi as I walked away. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Lexi's phone start buzzing uncontrollably in her trembling hand, probably her father or mother calling in absolute horror as their bank accounts, contracts, and social standing evaporated in real-time.

With a choked, hysterical sob, Lexi dropped her phone into her bag, turned on her heel, and bolted out of the boutique, running for her life as the consequences of a lifetime of cruelty finally caught up to her.

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