Chapter 176
Valencia's face changed drastically. She shot to her feet. "My God! What happened to you?"
She hurried over, her eyes full of distress. "Who did this to you?"
Dahlia had been holding it together, but the moment she saw Valencia, tears streamed down her face.
"Mom." Her voice was choked with sobs, brimming with grievance. The tears came faster and faster.
That hesitant, wounded expression made Valencia's heart twist painfully.
"What on earth happened? Who did this to you?"
As her words fell, Uma, standing nearby, finally couldn't hold back. "Mrs. Douglas, this matter... it involves Ms. Wipere."
The living room went silent. Valencia's expression instantly turned cold. "What nonsense are you talking?"
But Uma stuck her neck out stubbornly. "I'm not talking nonsense! I saw it with my own eyes!"
She grew more agitated as she spoke. "Ms. Wipere threw something on Ms. Douglas today. Then the dog suddenly went crazy and lunged at her, chasing her and trying to bite her! Her clothes were torn up by the dog like this!"
Hearing this, Dahlia's eyes reddened even more. She lowered her head and said nothing.
But that appearance was as good as an admission.
Valencia's face darkened instantly. "Enough!"
She snapped sharply. "Cindy would never do something like that."
Uma's face flushed red with urgency. "Mrs. Douglas, everything I'm saying is true! And today a new maid was directly kicked out by Ms. Wipere! Ms. Wipere is getting scarier and scarier! She definitely did it on purpose! Ms. Douglas has always been so good to her—how could she treat Ms. Douglas like this?"
Valencia's brow furrowed tightly, her voice cold and stern. "I said, be quiet! Don't spread accusations without evidence!"
But Uma seemed determined. "Mrs. Douglas, I know you favor Ms. Wipere. But I can't stand by and watch Ms. Douglas suffer! Ms. Wipere deliberately hurt her today, and she threatened everyone not to say anything!"
"Ms. Douglas is kind-hearted and doesn't want to complain, but we servants can't stand it! What did Ms. Douglas do wrong? She's given her whole heart to Ms. Wipere, and this is what she gets in return—"
"Enough!" Valencia's face turned completely dark. The entire living room fell silent instantly.
Uma flinched, but still stood there stubbornly, looking like she'd rather die than stop speaking the truth.
Valencia looked at her, her gaze growing colder. "I'll say this one last time. Until the matter is investigated, no one is allowed to throw dirt on Cindy. Otherwise, pack your things and leave immediately."
Uma's face went pale, but her eyes still held defiance.
Dahlia tugged on Valencia's sleeve at just the right moment, her voice choked with tears. "Mom, don't blame her. She's just upset on my behalf."
With that, Dahlia's tears fell again. "Maybe... maybe she really didn't mean to."
The moment those words left her mouth, Uma panicked. "Ms. Douglas! How can you still speak up for her? It was clearly—"
Before she could finish, a flat voice came from the doorway.
"Clearly what?"
Everyone turned at once. At the villa entrance, Lucinda was already standing there, though no one had noticed when she'd arrived.
One hand in her pocket, her expression calm, those cool, beautiful eyes swept lightly over everyone in the living room before finally landing on Uma's face.
The air in the living room froze for a moment. But Uma seemed to have finally found her chance. She lunged forward. "Mrs. Douglas! Since Ms. Wipere is back, let's check the surveillance footage!"
Her voice rose, filled with righteous indignation. "Pull up the footage and let everyone see what really happened today! Let everyone see Ms. Wipere's true face!"
Dahlia's body trembled slightly. Then, as if thinking of something, her lips curved ever so slightly—but the expression was quickly covered by grievance.
She clutched Valencia's arm, her eyes red. "Mom, forget it... She didn't mean it. I don't want to make this a big deal."
The more she said this, the more agitated Uma became. "Ms. Douglas, you're just too kind! You've been bullied like this and you're still speaking up for her! We have to check the surveillance today!"
Valencia's face was grim. She slammed her hand on the table. "Enough! I know what kind of person Cindy is."
She walked over to Lucinda and instinctively moved to shield her daughter. "I will investigate this matter, but no one is allowed to slander Cindy."
But Uma seemed determined. "Mrs. Douglas, you're just too biased toward Ms. Wipere! If Ms. Wipere had been the one hurt today, would you still say the same thing?"
Valencia's face darkened sharply. She was about to lose her temper when a soft laugh suddenly rang out.
Everyone looked at Lucinda at the same time.
Lucinda stood there, her eyes cool, but her lips curved in a faint smile. "You want to check the surveillance? Go ahead."
Dahlia's expression shifted slightly. Uma froze for a moment, then was overjoyed. "Good! Ms. Wipere said it herself!"
A few minutes later, in the villa's surveillance room, everyone had gathered. The surveillance manager was sweating profusely as he frantically typed on the keyboard.
But the next second, his face changed. "Mrs. Douglas... the surveillance is broken."
The air went deathly still.
"What?" Valencia frowned.
The manager's forehead was drenched in sweat. "All the footage from the back garden today is gone. It looks like it was manually deleted."
As his words fell, a flash of triumph appeared in Uma's eyes—but she quickly replaced it with righteous fury.
"I knew it!" She pointed at Lucinda, her voice shrill. "It must have been Ms. Wipere who deleted it! Who else could it be? She was afraid of being exposed, so she deleted the footage ahead of time! Mrs. Douglas, you have to believe me now, don't you?"
Dahlia clenched her fingers tightly, her heart pounding, but she still shook her head, eyes red. "No... Lucinda wouldn't do something like that..."
But that half-hearted denial only made it seem more like an admission.
Valencia's face was extremely grim. She instinctively looked at Lucinda. "Cindy..."
"It's fine." Lucinda raised her hand to cut her off, her expression still calm, as if none of this mattered to her at all.
She walked straight to the computer and placed her black laptop on the table.
"Let me borrow the network."
The manager nodded dumbly.
Lucinda's slender fingers landed on the keyboard. The next second, strings of complex code flashed rapidly across the screen, so fast it was dizzying.
The entire surveillance room was silent. Everyone stared at her blankly. Dahlia's unease grew heavier and heavier. An ominous feeling crept over her.
Uma, however, sneered repeatedly.
Putting on a show.
The footage was already deleted. Did she really think she could recover it?
But in less than a minute, the previously black surveillance screen suddenly lit up.
"It's restored!"
Dahlia's mind went blank. Uma's legs went weak, and she nearly collapsed to the floor.
The footage began to play. The first thing that appeared was the garden path from that afternoon.
In the surveillance video, the new maid was seen hurrying along with a bucket, then deliberately bumping into Lucinda.
The camera zoomed in. Everyone could clearly see that she was holding a small vial in her hand. The moment of impact, liquid was smeared onto Lucinda's sleeve.
The entire surveillance room fell deathly silent. Uma's face turned deathly pale.