Born Into Villain's Family: I Have a 200\% Rebate System-Chapter 513: Scandal

She carefully typed out everything, Adeline’s expectations, her own thoughts, and the decisions that had been discussed.

After sending it, she opened Adam’s chat window, her fingers hovering over the screen.

She typed a few words, deleted them, paused, and finally locked her phone.

’This is something I should say face to face,’ she decided.

At dinner, the soft clinking of cutlery echoed around the dining table.

Mary looked at her children one by one, then recalled Adeline’s expectations.

Taking a deep breath, she spoke directly, laying everything out without hiding a single detail.

When she finished, silence followed.

No one spoke. Everyone waited, glancing at one another, as if unsure who should break it first.

Finally, Adriana sighed and lifted her head. She looked straight at her mother.

"Do you like Peter?"

Mary nodded honestly.

Adriana exhaled, her shoulders relaxing slightly.

"Then I’ll be honest too. I want to marry Peter. But not now. I want to do it four years later. I’m still three years younger than him."

Mary’s eyes softened with understanding.

"If that’s what you want, then that’s what you should do," she replied warmly. "Even if Peter is in a hurry, he has to consider your age."

Adriana smiled, feeling supported.

"Exactly. And that’s why Adeline should also be given choices. She deserves time. She’s someone’s daughter too."

Those words struck Mary deeply. Shame crept into her heart as she recalled her earlier thoughts.

’I really was too narrow-minded,’ she admitted to herself.

Olivia then spoke calmly.

"As for children, that’s an even more personal decision. You yourself had us after turning just twenty-three. That was your choice, so Adeline’s decision should be respected too."

Mary nodded slowly. "I understand."

A few days later, Mary arranged another meeting with Adeline.

When Adeline learned that Mary had no objections to her decisions, and was even supportive, her eyes immediately welled up with tears.

Seeing that, Mary panicked.

"What happened?" she blurted out. "Why are you crying? I only said those things because I wanted you to be happy."

Adeline shook her head, her voice trembling.

"It’s just... it’s been a long time since someone said they would support me."

Her tears fell silently.

"Other than Alex and Ms. Dawn, no one has said that to me."

Hearing this, Mary felt her chest tighten.

She remembered the investigation reports Aurora had given her, the painful childhood, the loneliness, the scars that never truly healed.

Looking at Adeline now, Mary suddenly saw a reflection of herself.

Perhaps it was the shared pain, the quiet endurance, and the wounds carried since childhood.

Mary reached out and gently patted Adeline’s hand.

"I might be a little biased in the future," she said softly.

"But I’ll make sure my bias never hurts you. From now on, I’ll think of you as my daughter. If I ever make a mistake, I’ll correct it by supporting you more."

Adeline choked up completely, tears flowing freely.

Mary immediately moved closer, patting her back soothingly.

"It’s all right," she whispered. "You don’t have to worry anymore. I’m here. I’ll take care of you from now on."

Those words broke Adeline’s restraint entirely. She cried harder, then finally looked up at Mary.

"If you’re telling the truth... then from now on, I’ll treat you as my own mother."

Mary smiled, her eyes misty.

"Then I’ll wait for you to cook delicious food for me," she teased gently, "and I’ll make even tastier dishes for you in return."

Adeline laughed through her tears and nodded.

Far away from this warmth, Theodore was facing a storm of his own.

Recently, Eleanor had reduced her visits to the film studio, but rumors were spreading like wildfire.

Whispers claimed that Theodore was having an affair with her and should be avoided.

As he scrolled through his phone, a notification popped up... he was trending.

A bad feeling settled in his stomach.

The moment he opened the news, his fear was confirmed.

A video had gone viral, edited maliciously, showing clips of repeated encounters.

Eleanor was portrayed as a devoted fan desperately trying to get close to Theodore. He, on the other hand, looked cold and arrogant.

Comments flooded in.

"This nobody hasn’t even debuted properly and already has such an attitude?"

"Boycott actors like him before they become famous!"

"If the industry doesn’t clean up people like this, real fans will suffer."

More articles followed, accusing Theodore of having a terrible attitude, arriving late on set, and abusing his connections.

Some directors even came forward, claiming that after getting a "sugar mommy," Theodore used his influence to blacklist them and hire hackers to fabricate evidence.

Theodore decided not to panic.

Instead of flooding Micah with calls, he waited.

The silence felt heavy, stretching longer than he liked, the faint buzz of his phone the only sound in the dim room.

Just as his thoughts began to spiral, the phone rang.

Micah.

The moment the call connected, Micah’s familiar voice came through.

"How are you holding up?"

Theodore was briefly taken aback.

’That’s it?’ he thought.

From what he knew, Micah should have been far more worried about the company’s reputation, about projects getting delayed, about the entire studio being dragged into a scandal because of him.

Yet here was Micah, checking on him first. 𝙛𝓻𝒆𝒆𝒘𝙚𝓫𝙣𝙤𝒗𝙚𝓵.𝙘𝙤𝙢

He sighed softly.

"I’m fine," he replied. "Just... a little worried about the company."

Micah responded immediately, his tone firm and reassuring.

"Don’t overthink it. Ms. Dawn is already arranging for a skilled hacker to step in. We’ll clear this mess soon."

Theodore’s fingers tightened slightly around the phone.

"For now," Micah continued, "go home. Take a short vacation. Spend some time away from all this noise."

If this had been the old Theodore, those words would have sounded like a warning.

He would have assumed he’d lost the role, that he was being quietly pushed out of the company.

But the Theodore of now understood far more than before.

’Aurora owns this company,’ he reminded himself. ’She won’t let anything happen to me.’

Still, he didn’t want to hide behind her.

"I’ll go home," Theodore said after a brief pause. "But I’m not just going to sit around. I’ll find evidence myself. I won’t hide like a scared kid."

There was a short silence on the other end, then Micah exhaled.

"Just don’t do anything reckless."

Theodore ended the call and headed out.

As the call was hung up, Micah finally leaned back in his chair and let out a long breath.

If Theodore had misunderstood the suggestion, argued about not taking a break, or reacted emotionally, Micah would have been completely overwhelmed.

For now, at least, one crisis had been kept under control.

With that thought firmly in mind, he began tracing everyone who could possibly be behind the scandal.

On the surface, the incident looked as though it targeted a few individuals, but the more he thought about it, the more wrong that felt.

There were hardly any people in the industry who would bother scheming against a newcomer. A newbie simply wasn’t worth that kind of effort.

Which meant one thing.

’The real target isn’t the artist,’ he realized. ’It’s the company.’

If they couldn’t find dirt on the company itself, then the next best move was to destroy its face, its artists. And Theodore, starring in multiple ongoing projects, was the most convenient target.

Micah’s expression hardened. The air around him seemed to grow colder as he straightened in his chair and began pulling every string he had.

Thanks to Aurora’s continuous inflow of funds, his network had expanded rapidly.

What was once a struggling start-up had transformed into a legitimate entertainment company with resources, projects, and connections strong enough to threaten established studios.

There were several projects currently in progress, and Theodore was involved in many of them.

’If Theodore goes down,’ Micah thought grimly, ’every single one of those projects will be forced to stop.’

And that would cripple the company.

With that direction clear, Micah began narrowing down suspects. One name surfaced again and again until it could no longer be ignored.

Starfell Studio.

Recently, Starfell had been aggressively buying intellectual property rights to famous novels.

Coincidentally, or perhaps not, they had their eyes on a highly popular novel titled ’Swapped.’ Their plan had been to purchase the IP for adaptation, but their offer to the author was insultingly low.

Micah remembered that day clearly.

He had stepped in personally and offered the author a generous sum. In the end, the official copyright had been sold to Micah’s company instead.

That single decision had created a quiet but dangerous conflict.

Not long after, Starfell had come knocking.

They had offered a price identical to what Micah had paid the author, acting as if they were doing him a favor. Micah had laughed outright. Their response had been smug and threatening.

"If you don’t listen to advice," they had warned, "you should prepare for trouble in the future."

At the time, Mika hadn’t taken it seriously.