Chapter122 The Real Mistress Is Someone Else
"What are you saying?"
Elara's face, twisted with rage, froze for a moment, but the viciousness in her eyes didn't diminish. She stared at Miranda as if trying to bore a hole through her.
"Exactly what I said."
Miranda pointed at the crumpled receipt in Elara's hand.
"According to what you just said, your husband personally admitted to cheating, plus this concrete receipt you're holding. It does seem Mr. Thomas has someone on the side."
The room fell deathly silent except for the faint hum of the air conditioning.
Everyone held their breath, watching this confrontation between the wife and the alleged "mistress."
Miranda took a step forward, meeting Elara's gaze directly, her eyes clear and open.
"But I can tell you definitively that your husband Thomas and I have had no personal relationship whatsoever, except for those two minutes on the awards stage at the equestrian club yesterday. I don't have his contact information, I don't know where he lives, and I've never spent a cent of his money."
"You're lying!"
Elara shrieked, though her voice clearly lacked conviction. "If there's nothing between you, why would he specifically name you? Is he crazy?"
"He's not crazy. He's smart."
Miranda laughed coldly, mockery flashing in her eyes. "Think about it. If he truly loved that mistress, loved her enough to buy her clothes worth hundreds of thousands, would he so easily hand her over for you to tear apart?"
Those words hit Elara like a blow to the chest. She stood frozen, at a loss.
She looked at the strikingly beautiful woman before her.
Miranda was gorgeous, aggressively so.
That perfectly tailored business suit hugged her curvaceous figure, her skin was flawless, and especially those eyes, cold yet radiating an unmistakable pride.
This kind of woman had enough capital to attract any man.
So when Thomas admitted it yesterday, Elara hadn't doubted for a second. She'd brought people straight here.
After all, besides such a stunning woman, who else could make her seemingly honest husband lose his mind?
But now...
Miranda was too calm.
That calm wasn't an act. It was confidence radiating from her very bones.
If it wasn't her, then who?
A wave of enormous panic suddenly surged through Elara.
Her family had wealth and status. Though her looks couldn't compare to a top-tier beauty like Miranda, she was still considered attractive in their circle.
Her husband Thomas only had his current position because of her. If it wasn't a great beauty like Miranda, who else could make her husband betray his wife?
Miranda watched the conflicting emotions play across Elara's face, knowing she was getting through.
But this wasn't enough.
"Ms. Elara, I don't want to get involved in your domestic affairs, but you brought people to smash up my company today and injured my employees. That's a debt we need to settle."
Miranda's voice suddenly turned cold.
"I won't let today's incident slide. Whether you're willing to talk properly or not, you'll be compensating for every bit of damage to my company."
With that, she turned to Lisa, who had been standing nearby, her tone crisp and businesslike.
"Lisa, call the police."
"Tell them someone incited a riot, vandalized company property, and caused significant property damage and personnel injuries. Have them bring a forensic examiner to document the injuries."
"Yes." Lisa had been holding back her anger all along. She immediately pulled out her phone and started dialing right in front of Elara.
"Wait!"
One of the bodyguards behind Elara instinctively moved forward to grab the phone.
"Try it."
Miranda whipped around, her gaze sharp as a blade. "Right now this is a civil dispute. If you lay another hand on anyone, it becomes a criminal case. Want to spend a few years behind bars?"
The bodyguard froze mid-reach, his hand suspended in the air as he looked back at Elara.
Elara was now in an impossible position.
Someone of her status, if the police got involved and the incident escalated, once the media caught wind of it, regardless of the truth, her family's reputation would be destroyed.
Moreover, seeing Miranda's confident, completely unfazed demeanor, the scales in Elara's mind were already tipping.
Could she... really have the wrong person?
If she'd grabbed the wrong person and got taken away by police, how could she ever show her face in their circle again?
"Wait."
Elara took a deep breath, forcing herself to calm down. She tidied her disheveled hair, trying to maintain the dignity befitting a wealthy lady.
"I'll talk with you in your office."
Miranda didn't immediately tell Lisa to put down the phone. Instead, she looked coldly at Elara.
"Your people wait outside. Nobody moves."
"Fine." Elara waved her hand, signaling the four bodyguards to step back.
Then she walked toward Miranda's office.
Miranda followed closely behind.
Just before closing the door, she suddenly stopped and turned to Lisa with instructions:
"Lisa, have everyone organize their things and file important documents. Then immediately contact cleaning services and a professional damage assessment firm. Get this place cleaned up and calculate the losses."
Lisa pushed up her glasses and nodded. "Got it, Miranda."
Miranda's gaze swept over the group of still-stunned employees, her voice softening slightly.
"Today's incident was unexpected. I'm sorry everyone was frightened. Any injured colleagues will be covered under workers' compensation, with full medical expenses paid by the company, plus a two-thousand-dollar shock compensation for everyone."
"Also, I trust you all can distinguish right from wrong. Until the matter is clarified, I don't want to hear any rumors circulating in the company."
With that, under the complicated gazes of everyone present, she firmly closed the office door.
The door cut off the view from outside.
Lisa stood in the center of the chaotic hall, looking at that closed door. She took a deep breath, turned around, and clapped her hands.
"Alright everyone, let's start cleaning up like Miranda said."
At her words, the office employees sprang into action.
"I knew Miranda could never be a mistress."
"..."
Everyone whispered among themselves. Their initial panic gradually subsided, replaced by trust in Miranda, and even a bit of admiration.
Inside the office.
The soundproof door completely blocked out the noise from outside.
Miranda walked over and sat on the sofa, gesturing to the chair across from her, her tone cool.
"Have a seat."
Elara didn't stand on ceremony. She walked over in her heels and sat down, dropping her expensive crocodile leather bag on the table with a loud thud.
"Miranda, let's be direct."
Elara pulled out a stack of photos and several printed screenshots of chat records from her bag, pushing them all in front of Miranda.
"This is what I had a private investigator dig up. Thomas's whereabouts have been suspicious for the past six months. He frequently uses overtime and business trips as excuses to stay out all night."
"And this."
She pointed to one photo showing a blurry figure from behind, wearing that white riding outfit, getting into a black luxury car.
"This car belongs to Thomas. That silhouette looks exactly like you did on stage yesterday."
"Plus this receipt." Elara slapped the 160,000-dollar receipt on top of the photos. "Last Friday afternoon at 3 PM, at the H-brand counter in the International Finance Center."
"The outfit you wore yesterday is identical to what he bought. Last night when I confronted him, he refused to admit it at first. But after I hit him, he finally confessed that the woman was you."
Elara stared at Miranda, her eyes bloodshot, her voice trembling. "The evidence is solid. What else can you deny?"