Born Into Villain's Family: I Have a 200\% Rebate System-Chapter 464: Probing?

He said it deliberately, hoping she would stop him, call him back, acknowledge his worth. After all, in negotiations, withdrawing sometimes made the other person chase, step back to leap forward.

Aurora didn’t move.

She simply watched him with calm, steady eyes.

Miller lingered, waiting for her to call out to him. But not a single word left her lips. The silence became unbearable. Shame crawled up his spine.

’I overestimated myself... Why would someone like her value me? I am nothing.’

After several more seconds, he rose abruptly. "I’m leaving," he muttered.

He walked out without looking back.

The moment the door clicked shut behind him, Aurora’s expression changed. A cold smile curled across her lips.

She had investigated him thoroughly before even entering the room. She already knew he was the one who had beaten her sister. Someone like that did not deserve gentleness.

She wasn’t paying him out of generosity.

She was paying him to trap him.

’Did he truly think I would hand him ten thousand dollars as a charity gift?’ she thought with mild irritation. ’How naive.’

The real reason she pretended to buy the problem statement was far more calculated. She had already seen its potential.

The entire project Miller had accidentally proposed, despite his ignorance, could be worth ten billion dollars if developed properly.

Ten. Billion. And now he held only one percent of it.

But soon, she planned to take that back too.

Aurora glanced at the contract Emily had left on the table earlier. Her fingers traced the bolded clause stating that Miller could only sell his shares back to one individual... her. No one else.

She had written that with full awareness of her future plans.

She would let the company grow. She would let its valuation soar. She would let the world marvel at it.

And when the time was perfect, she would buy the one percent back.

’When he realizes how much that share is worth, he will drown in regret,’ she thought. ’He might even wish he were dead.’

The thought made her grin quietly, a low, satisfied warmth spreading in her chest.

The door opened softly as Emily stepped back in. Aurora straightened and picked up her wheelchair controls.

"Is everything done?" she asked.

Emily nodded. "Yes, Ms. Dawn. The contract has been submitted."

Aurora smiled gently, the warmth in her expression returning as smoothly as a mask sliding back into place.

"Good," she replied, turning her chair toward the door. "Let’s leave."

Emily hesitated at the doorway, her fingers curled around the tablet she always carried. "There is one more thing," she added quietly. "Kaylee has been trying to reach you."

Aurora paused, her brows knitting slightly as she sifted through memories.

After a few seconds, she finally remembered the indifferent girl with unhinged personality and hopeful eyes, the girl she had saved from Diana’s harshness and later guided toward Adriana’s mentorship. Right... Kaylee.

A faint warmth touched Aurora’s expression. "Tell me what she needs," she said.

Emily straightened and continued.

"Kaylee wanted to express her gratitude. She recently learned that someone paid for her mother’s surgery months ago. She found out it was you."

A small smile softened Aurora’s face, gentle and fleeting.

Of course, she had done it discreetly, but Kaylee still ended up knowing that it was her. The girl’s intelligence was commendable!

She turned toward Emily.

"Then tell her this. She needs to prepare herself. When Adriana graduates and opens her own fashion studio, Kaylee will work under her. And she must work with everything she has. No laziness, no excuses. I want her to bring real results for my sister. Even after she becomes famous later, she must continue working in Adriana’s studio."

Emily blinked, absorbing the instruction. "I’ll deliver the message," she said.

Then, after a brief pause, she added,

"May I ask something? Why are you so insistent on Kaylee working under Adriana? From what I’ve seen, Adriana has enough talent to succeed without any assistance. Would it even be a loss if Kaylee didn’t join her?"

Aurora’s breath stilled for a moment. Her gaze dropped to her lap as a memory surfaced... a painful scene from the original story.

In that timeline, Henry had abandoned Adriana, taking every cent she had.

Heartbroken and humiliated, Adriana’s creative spark had died.

Days passed where she couldn’t sketch even one decent design.

She’d cried endlessly, wishing she hadn’t pushed Kaylee away. If Kaylee had stayed, Adriana might have regained her footing sooner.

Aurora remembered the lines vividly. Kaylee was described as someone who never lacked inspiration.

Her mind created designs endlessly, effortlessly, as if her imagination were a spring that never ran dry.

’If Adriana ever reaches that low point because of some deviation,’ Aurora thought, ’she will need someone who can quietly hold up the sky for her. Someone who can create when she cannot. Kaylee is that person.’

She looked up at Emily again. "Kaylee’s presence will matter more than you think," she replied softly.

Emily studied Aurora for a long moment, something like awe flickering in her eyes.

She often wondered how Aurora made decisions with such precision, saving Kaylee, guiding Adriana, anticipating every detail like she could see threads of fate the way others saw strands of hair.

When Aurora had first asked her to pay secretly for Kaylee’s mother’s surgery, Emily had been confused.

Kaylee wasn’t even planning to study fashion at that time. She had never submitted a single design online, never participated in any contests.

How could Aurora possibly know the girl possessed talent?

That question lingered until the day Emily saw Kaylee expectantly present three design drafts for Aurora’s dress last month.

The pieces were delicate, intricate, and breathtakingly imaginative... so much so that Emily had suggested Aurora should wear them at future events.

For the first time, Emily realized just how frighteningly gifted Kaylee was.

A quiet shiver of admiration slipped through her.

’Maybe Aurora really does see things before they happen... ’ she wondered. ’Maybe she’s not planning... maybe she’s predicting.’

Meanwhile, far away from Aurora’s private room, tension brewed in a completely different corner of the city.

Inside a small café, Tanya stood holding an empty paper cup, her expression unreadable.

Across from her, Adeline stood drenched... coffee dripping from her hair, sliding down her cheeks, soaking the front of her blouse.

The warm liquid clung to her skin, sticky and embarrassing. Her fists trembled at her sides, nails biting into her palms.

The rich scent of roasted beans filled the air, mixing with the murmuring voices of officer workers who pretended not to look, though their curious glances darted over every few seconds.

Adeline stared at the puddle forming beneath her shoes, her breath sharp and unsteady. The heat of the coffee wasn’t enough to burn her, but the humiliation stung far deeper.

Tanya’s calm voice drifted over the tension. "I’m sorry."

Adeline snapped her gaze upward. Tanya’s apology felt strangely mechanical, as if rehearsed. The tall girl tilted her head slightly, studying Adeline’s expression.

"Are you going to cry?" Tanya asked. Her tone wasn’t mocking... it was unnervingly observational. "Or make a scene? Or just leave?"

Adeline frowned, confusion creasing her features. She didn’t know Tanya.

They had never spoken before, never crossed paths.

A few seconds ago, she’d simply walked out of the café with her morning coffee when Tanya bumped into her... no, deliberately collided with her, and spilled the drink all over her.

The coffee hadn’t scalded her, but the shock of it rattled her down to the bone.

’Why is she asking me this?’ Adeline wondered, tension coiling in her stomach. ’What kind of person tests a stranger’s reaction like this?’

Indeed, from the very beginning, Tanya had not looked like someone who accidentally spilled coffee or someone trying to hide her guilt.

Her expression held no panic, no embarrassment, only a calculated stillness that made Adeline’s skin prickle.

It became clearer with every second that Tanya wasn’t here to humiliate her for fun. She was here for a reaction.

A reaction Adeline absolutely refused to give.

She stood there quietly, letting the lukewarm coffee drip from her sleeves, waiting for Tanya to show her true intention.

Tanya, however, narrowed her eyes in irritation when she saw how composed Adeline remained. Her fingers curled into a fist at her side.

’She’s harder to deal with than I expected,’ Tanya thought, annoyance tightening her jaw. ’How can she stay this calm? Doesn’t anything rattle her?’

But then Tanya remembered the reward she was promised if she successfully dealt with Adeline... if she pushed her, tested her, evaluated her, and eventually separated her from Alex.

The thought of that prize reignited her confidence.

She leaned forward slightly, her voice sharp. "What now? Are you finally going to cry?"

Adeline’s patience snapped. She inhaled slowly, tasting the bitter scent of coffee lingering in the air, and replied with a steady voice,

"Do you not have any other lines to recite? Why repeat the same thing over and over? Why don’t you just say whatever you’ve been planning in that head of yours?"