Born Into Villain's Family: I Have a 200\% Rebate System-Chapter 221: Hacker Valerie?

Everyone froze.

Mouths dropped. The store fell into such a stunned silence that even the faint buzzing of the air conditioning seemed loud.

Mia stared at Aurora like she’d just grown wings. "You’re the what?" she whispered, eyes wide.

She leaned in, frowning, then gave a suspicious glance at Aurora’s sleeves—maybe expecting her to pull another wild bluff like before.

But instead of backtracking, Aurora smiled easily, calm as ever.

"Yes, I really am," Aurora confirmed, then turned to the saleswoman nearby.

"Would you like to confirm it?"

The saleswoman, still a little stiff from the drama, blinked, then nodded rapidly.

"Y-Yes, Miss Aurora is telling the truth."

Gasps echoed again across the store.

The saleswoman continued,

"It was announced in our internal forums last month. She’s the owner of Harmony Mall. This entire shopping complex—including this store—belongs to her."

Christy visibly flinched.

Her mouth parted in shock as she stared at Aurora like she was seeing her for the first time. Inside her head, thoughts scrambled like pieces of paper caught in a windstorm.

She’s the owner? Of the mall? How could someone like Valerie know her?!

Suddenly, her perspective flipped entirely.

With a forced, almost twitchy smile, Christy stepped forward and softened her tone.

"Oh... oh, that explains everything!" she said, her voice taking on a fake sweetness that dripped like syrup.

"I didn’t realize you were the owner of this mall. Totally fair."

She turned to Valerie with a sigh, her eyes pretending to be sad and forgiving.

"But Aurora, I have to tell you the truth... Valerie isn’t as innocent as she seems."

Aurora’s brows lifted slightly.

"Oh?" she said mildly.

"Yes," Christy nodded, putting on a hurt expression.

"She—she cut up my ball gowns once. The ones I was going to wear for the debutante season.

And—and she tried to steal my boyfriend... twice! Not to mention, she spread false rumors about me in our social circle and even—"

But Aurora wasn’t even listening.

Her eyes had flicked to Valerie, expecting to see a glare or some kind of denial.

But what she saw instead... was a smug little smile.

Valerie stood there, relaxed, hands behind her back, like she was waiting for applause.

Aurora’s expression faltered for just a second.

That smile—too calm, too proud.

A tiny flicker of doubt stirred in her mind.

Wait...

Aurora paused.

Was Christy... actually telling the truth?

She shook the thought away quickly.

Still... she couldn’t ignore the weird smugness on Valerie’s face.

"Just in case," she murmured, pulling out her phone.

Mia leaned over, whispering nervously, "Aurora, what are you doing?"

"I’m checking something."

With a few quick swipes and some rapid taps, Aurora opened a private system on her phone—one most people didn’t even know existed.

A custom hacking interface.

Her fingers moved with practiced ease. She slipped through firewalls like she was walking through open doors, and within a minute, she had access to the security feed of Valerie’s home.

A few passwords. An encryption bypass.

Done.

Accessing Living Room Camera...

Two weeks ago. Fast forward. Pause. Rewind. Playback.

The footage lit up on her phone screen.

Aurora leaned in, brows drawing together in focus.

Valerie and Christy were both in the living room. Valerie held a long silk gown in her hands. Christy was crying and begging her not to do anything.

The camera was angled well—there was no mistaking their faces.

Valerie, calm as ever, took a pair of scissors and cut straight through the dress.

No hesitation.

Christy screamed. Valerie just smirked and walked off.

Aurora’s grip on the phone tightened slightly.

Then she fast-forwarded again—another clip. A party.

Valerie casually brushes past Christy’s date and slips him a napkin with her number.

The footage didn’t lie.

Aurora’s heart dropped a little. Not because she felt bad for Christy, but because she’d really believed in Valerie.

She had gone out of her way to defend her. She even called Christy b*tchy in front of everyone.

Now?

Now it looked like she had been the fool.

Just as she was about to shout at Valerie, her eyes caught something she had ignored the first time.

Aurora’s eyes narrowed as she scrolled through the footage.

The last video she’d just seen had caught her off guard.

There was Christy, but not with the boyfriend she had been going on about.

She was kissing another guy—someone unfamiliar. Her heart skipped a beat.

That wasn’t her boyfriend. Was Christy lying?

Aurora, feeling a growing unease, fast-forwarded again.

The next clip was from a party, and once again, there was Christy—this time, sliding a note into the hands of someone who had no business being that close to her date.

A guilty little smirk played on Christy’s lips as she whispered something in the guy’s ear, and the camera caught the exchange without fail.

But that wasn’t the worst of it. Aurora’s fingers hovered over her screen as she advanced again, only to reveal a scene where Christy, with her friends, was openly gossiping and laughing about how she had intentionally sabotaged Valerie’s prom dress.

She had cut up Valerie’s gown and made her wear secondhand clothes just to humiliate her.

The way Christy casually told her friends about it, with no remorse, sent a chill down Aurora’s spine.

So it was Christy who had been scheming all along. Not Valerie. Valerie was simply retaliating—defending herself in her own way.

Aurora exhaled in relief, but her heart was still uneasy.

The truth was clear now, but it didn’t bring the satisfaction she had hoped for.

Valerie’s actions weren’t justified, but they had been a reaction to Christy’s manipulations.

Aurora turned her gaze to Christy, who was still watching her expectantly, and then to Valerie, whose smile was still plastered on her face.

Before Aurora could say anything more, the atmosphere in the store changed dramatically.

Christy’s mother suddenly raised her voice, cutting through the tension.

"No! That’s all a lie!" she snapped, glaring at her daughter.

"None of that ever happened! You’re lying, Christy!"

Christy froze, her face paling as her mother’s words sank in.

"No! Mom! I am telling the truth. I just don’t know why... each time the camera footage gets deleted or doesn’t capture anything!"

Aurora’s attention flicked to Valerie once again, and this time, she couldn’t ignore the satisfied glint in her eyes.

The realization hit Aurora like a ton of bricks: Valerie wasn’t just a girl bullied by an evil sister.

She knew her way around tech, or maybe had access to someone who did.

She could have easily erased the footage to cover her tracks.

A sense of understanding washed over Aurora, but instead of getting more tangled in the web of lies and schemes, she did the unexpected.

She turned to Mia, who was still standing by her side, clearly anxious.

"We should go," Aurora said, her tone quiet but resolute.

Mia blinked, clearly taken aback. "What? But... but what about—"

Aurora just shook her head, cutting her off gently.

"Let’s leave. There’s no point in dragging this out."

The people in the store exchanged confused looks.

Even Christy’s jaw dropped, thinking she had won, convinced that her words had succeeded in turning Aurora against Valerie.

She didn’t realize that, in reality, Aurora was simply done with the entire circus.

But Valerie wasn’t going to let it go that easily.

She pushed through the crowd, a sly grin creeping onto her face.

As she walked up to Aurora, her steps purposeful and confident, she couldn’t resist a teasing tone.

"Why are you leaving?" Valerie asked, her voice laced with sweetness.

Aurora’s lips curved into a small, knowing smile as she met Valerie’s eyes.

"So," she began casually, "was it fun? Playing with me like I was some pawn in your little game?"

Valerie was stunned,

"What?"

Aurora chuckled and walked up to Valerie. In a voice that only two of them could hear, she asked,

"You know hacking, but still acted like an innocent flower in front of me just to deal with Christy... don’t you feel ashamed, Valerie?"

Valerie blinked, clearly confused by Aurora’s sudden shift in tone.

She stepped back slightly, her smile faltering, replaced with a faint furrow of her brow.

"What are you talking about?" Valerie asked, her voice soft and unsure.

"I don’t know anything about hacking. You’re just making things up."

Aurora’s gaze hardened, her eyes narrowing as she studied Valerie.

A chill settled in the air between them, and Aurora’s lips curved into a sharp, knowing smile.

"Please," Aurora muttered, almost with a hint of amusement.

"You think I haven’t noticed how the footage was conveniently erased every single time I came close to finding something? But it didn’t stop me. Did it?"

Her words hung in the air, and Valerie’s eyes darted around, clearly uncomfortable now.

Aurora took a slow step forward, her voice lowering, each word carefully measured.

"I’m done being your pawn, Valerie. You wanted to use me, to make me part of your game, but I’m not playing anymore."

"You never were!" Valerie shouted, and with a blushing face, continued, "The footages were deleted each time because I know the security in charge of the cameras!"