The Villaness Is Retiring Mga Nobela at Kwento

She did not need my world; she owned a much bigger one. The door to my office opened, and Vanessa walked in. She was holding a stack of folder files, her high heels clicking loudly against the hardwood floor. She had a tight smile on her face, but the moment she saw what was playing on the television, her expression turned bitter. "Are you still watching that?" Vanessa asked, tossing the folders onto my desk. "It is just a stunt, Marcus. The Mariels and the Castellanos are just putting on a show for the investors to save their stocks after the leaks."

I sat at the center of it all, my daughter in my arms, Adrian standing behind me with his hand on my shoulder, and felt the strange calm of a woman who had made her choice and was ready to own it. "Thank you for coming," I said, my voice carrying to the back of the room without needing amplification. "I have several announcements to make today." I looked down at Hope, sleeping peacefully against my chest, her tiny face composed in dreams I would never access. Then I looked up, meeting the cameras, meeting the future. "First, I am officially announcing my retirement from active management of the Vale Group. After recent ups and downs, I am choosing to step back and focus on my family. My husb

“Vivienne almost lost her mind in there.” A faint pause. Then she continued, her tone casual but laced with quiet satisfaction— “They’re making her retire.” Silence. Just for a second. “…Retire?” he repeated. There was a slight note of surprise in his voice. Subtle. Controlled. Believable. “Yeah,” Isabella said. “Didn’t expect it to go that far either.” She leaned against a pillar, her gaze drifting ahead. “I thought they’d force an apology and make me share the blame. Vanessa tried that angle.”

"Don't talk about Hannah like that, Marvin. She's probably just scared. Taking the fall means spending years in prison, after all. "She grew up in an orphanage and hasn't seen much of the world, so, understandably, she's fantasizing about a romance story with some billionaire CEO." Though her voice was soft and gentle, her words were as poisonous and sharp as venom-coated needles. Clutching the phone, now with a completely black screen, I shot a cold stare at the despicable pair standing before me. "I'm not joking, Marvin. I'm not signing that confession, and I'm not taking the fall for a crime."

"I did not survive the cutthroat world of New York public relations just to hand the keys of my kingdom over to a vulture who wants to use my personal life as a bargaining chip." ​Vance’s smile vanished, his eyes narrowing. "You have forty-eight hours, Miss Cole. Pride won't pay that bank ledger. When the clock runs out, my offer drops to thirty percent value. You won't find anyone else in this city willing to move this fast." ​"Then I’ll find another way," Vennessa said fiercely. ​She grabbed her bag, threw the term sheet into the trash can by the door, and walked out of the office, her heels clicking aggressively.

​Nerissa's POV ​Five years. It is remarkably precise how long it takes for a woman to die and be completely reborn. ​Five years after my disappearance, the fragile, compliant placeholder wife who bled on the deck of a sinking yacht no longer existed. I stood before the floor-to-ceiling mirror of the presidential suite in the city's most exclusive hotel, adjusting the cuffs of a tailored, pearl-white blazer. The woman staring back at me was commanding, her posture straight, her eyes devoid of the desperate warmth that had once been my greatest weakness. I was Nerissa Colette Vane, acting CEO of Vane Holdings, and tonight, I was stepping back onto the battlefield.

The steak actually looks quite good. “Vivianne, I want you to go into town. There is someone very important I need you to find.” I look up at Papa and swallow the bite I had just taken. “Of course. Tell me the details.” A folder is placed on the table beside me. I open it slowly. There is no name listed, only a photograph of a woman in her early forties or fifties. She has features that remind me of someone from Egypt. “This woman needs to be brought back to me. She owes me a debt — and your mother, too. I also suspect she may be involved in whatever happened to Nova.”

“Half. We're half brothers and Jaxon doesn't exactly talk about every aspect of his life. Especially the part that has to do with me.” “Why?” “Because I betrayed him.” Kallista stared at him, her curiosity piqued, but before she could press further, a figure stepped into the garden. “I didn't expect to see you here, Zander.” As they both turned to the figure, Zander’s sad expression was tucked in and the cocky smirk she had seen earlier came back to the surface. “I expected to see you though. Here for some damage control Nessa?” Vanessa Hawthorne. Former runway model and once married to a popular pop star, now chief communications and brand officer of the Hawthorne group and divorced.