Born Into Villain's Family: I Have a 200\% Rebate System-Chapter 556: Ella’s Scheme

His gaze was sharp enough to make her spine stiffen.

Without waiting for a reply, he turned around and walked away.

Ella watched his back silently.

Her expression twisted slightly before she corrected the posture of her clothes and brushed imaginary dust off her skirt.

"How arrogant..." she muttered under her breath.

Her lips slowly curled into a cold smile.

"He thinks he can act like this because there are no scandals under his name."

Her eyes gleamed with calculation.

"But once the evidence I prepared comes out..."

She chuckled quietly.

"He will have no choice but to beg me."

...

The next day, Theodore was inside his company office.

Just as he was reviewing some scripts, the receptionist called him through the internal line.

"Mr. Theodore," she said carefully, "someone named Ella is here to meet you."

Theodore didn’t hesitate for even a moment. "I don’t know anyone named Ella."

His voice turned colder. "Ask her to leave."

The receptionist nodded quickly.

Soon, a couple of security guards personally escorted Ella out of the building.

Theodore’s displeased expression had made it clear that she was not welcome.

However, Ella did not give up.

Over the next few days, she continued appearing around Theodore at strange moments.

Sometimes she would suddenly appear near his filming location.

Sometimes she would show up outside restaurants he visited.

Every time she saw him, she would quickly take photos and create situations where it looked as if they had met privately.

Afterward, she would leave with an ambiguous smile.

At first, Theodore was only irritated.

But he did not think too deeply about it.

’Maybe she is just an obsessive fan.’

He sighed quietly.

’Being too handsome is troublesome.’

However, everything changed a week later. 𝒻𝘳𝘦𝘦𝘸ℯ𝒷𝘯𝘰𝑣ℯ𝑙.𝘤𝑜𝘮

Just when the film had entered the editing stage, a new topic suddenly exploded across the internet.

Posts began spreading everywhere.

"Theodore and Ella are getting closer."

"Secret relationship between Theodore and Ella?"

"Theodore’s new girlfriend revealed."

Within minutes, hashtags started trending rapidly.

#EllaAndTheodore

#TheodoreNewGirlfriend

#SecretAffair

When Theodore saw the headlines, anger instantly surged through his chest.

He slammed his phone onto the desk. "How dare she..."

His face darkened. "She actually used me for this kind of nonsense."

For a moment, he was so furious that he wanted to rush out and slap Ella directly.

However, just as quickly as the topics had appeared, they suddenly vanished.

All the trending posts disappeared.

The hashtags were wiped clean from the trending list.

Theodore blinked in confusion. His anger gradually cooled.

’My sister must have handled it.’

Thinking this, he took out his phone.

After hesitating for a moment, he typed a message. "Thank you."

The message was sent to Aurora.

Aurora replied almost immediately. "For what?"

Theodore chuckled softly when he saw the reply.

"You really know how to hide things," he wrote back.

Aurora frowned slightly when she read his message.

"What are you talking about?"

Theodore leaned back in his chair.

"You are the one who can remove those ridiculous trending topics."

Aurora’s brows furrowed. "I didn’t remove anything."

Theodore froze.

Aurora continued typing.

"If there are negative rumors about you online, you should tell me."

Her tone turned serious. "What exactly happened?"

Theodore slowly straightened in his seat. ’If it wasn’t Aurora... then who did it?’

Aurora quickly realized the situation as well.

"You should investigate it immediately," she messaged.

Theodore nodded subconsciously.

Soon, the investigation results came back.

The answer surprised him completely.

It was Jacqueline.

She had personally spent her own money to suppress the trending topics and remove the rumors from the internet.

Not only that, she had also tracked down and destroyed the photos and evidence that Ella had been planning to release.

When Theodore learned the truth, his heart began pounding loudly in his chest.

Until now, Aurora had always been the one protecting him.

But this time...

It was Jacqueline.

For a moment, Theodore felt strangely shaken.

Since childhood, he had always been independent and stubborn.

But deep inside, there were moments when he quietly longed for someone to stand beside him.

Now, the very woman he had started to like had protected him without even telling him.

His heart beat so violently that he almost felt as if it might burst from his chest.

Still, he suppressed the storm of emotions rising within him.

After a moment, he typed another message. "Thank you."

This time, the message was sent to Jacqueline.

When Jacqueline saw Theodore’s message, she raised an eyebrow slightly.

She had handled the entire matter quietly and carefully.

’How did he find out?’

She stared at the screen thoughtfully.

’I made sure everything was done in secret.’

Her fingers hovered over the phone as curiosity filled her mind.

’So how did Theodore know it was me?’

Of course, Jacqueline didn’t have the answer, because only Theodore knew the truth.

Only he knew that it was thanks to his own sister that he had managed to learn something that even top hackers might not have been able to uncover.

When it was time for the promotional event, Theodore forced a polite smile again and again, though the muscles in his face felt stiff.

Many times during the event, he felt an uncomfortable tightness settle in his chest. The reason was painfully simple.

Ever since he had been targeted by Ella, even catching a glimpse of her from the corner of his eye made his skin crawl.

’She’s definitely planning something again...’

Rather than confronting her directly in front of everyone, Theodore decided that if revenge had to be taken, he would do it on his own terms, and with a calm smile on his face.

Soon enough, he quietly slipped away from the noisy crowd and searched for somewhere isolated.

He could already sense that Ella had been trying to inch closer to him throughout the evening.

With that thought in mind, he eventually entered a quiet resting lounge.

A soft leather sofa sat near the wall, and Theodore casually settled into it, scrolling through his phone as if he had nothing better to do.

Sure enough, barely five minutes passed before the door clicked open.

Ella stepped inside.

Once she confirmed that no one else was around, she quietly shut the door behind her and walked toward Theodore with slow, deliberate steps.

Theodore glanced up at her for a brief second, his expression completely passive, before lowering his gaze back to his phone as if she were nothing more than background noise.

Seeing this, Ella’s lips curled into a smug smirk.

She dropped herself onto the sofa across from him, deliberately leaving some distance between them.

"Did you see the news?"

Theodore didn’t respond. His thumb continued to move lazily across the screen.

Ella crossed one leg over the other and leaned back.

"Even if you didn’t, it doesn’t really matter," she continued casually. "But I can tell you one thing. I have plenty of photos that could easily make it look like we’re... together."

Her smile grew sharper.

"So if you don’t agree to give me a few benefits... good resources, maybe some opportunities... then you can forget about having a scandal-free image."

Theodore’s fingers finally stopped moving. Slowly, he lifted his gaze and looked directly at her.

"Are you threatening me?"

Ella burst out laughing, the sound echoing lightly in the quiet room.

"Oh please, don’t make it sound so dramatic." She waved her hand dismissively. "I’m just telling you the brutal reality of this industry."

Her eyes narrowed slightly.

"And don’t forget... I was the one who made those topics trend before. If I could do it once, I can do it again."

In truth, Ella was lying.

Over the past two days she had repeatedly tried to upload those same topics again, only for every account she used to be instantly banned.

That was when she realized that someone powerful might be protecting Theodore behind the scenes.

And that realization had made her desperate.

But when she noticed that Theodore hadn’t contacted her even once, she started to suspect that he might not even know she was the one behind the previous scandal.

’Maybe he’s completely clueless...’

Fueled by anger yet encouraged by that possibility, Ella finally decided to confront him directly tonight.

And judging from his calm reaction so far, she had convinced herself that he was just another naive rookie.

Theodore stared at her quietly for a moment before shrugging slightly.

"I don’t really care."

With that simple response, he stood up as if the conversation had already ended.

Ella immediately sprang to her feet, her voice suddenly sharp.

"If you dare walk out that door," she snapped, "then I dare make everyone believe that you forced yourself on me!"

Theodore stopped.

He slowly turned his head and looked at her with a puzzled expression.

Seeing that reaction, Ella smirked again.

"What, scared now?" she mocked. "You’d better sit down and listen to what I have to say."

But Theodore simply shook his head.

"You’re truly very dumb."