True Tycoon Her Empire, Her Rules

Drake eyed her with skepticism in his deep gaze, wondering how she knew the members of the Sanchez family. Yet, he refrained from prying further. 

With a gesture to his driver, the car soon arrived at an upscale villa area on the south side of Emerald Bay. 

Leading the way in his vehicle, they reached the front gate of the Sanchez Manor without hindrance. 

Had Winnie come alone, she might not have made it past the main gate of the villas. 

Drake dropped her off at the doorstep but made no move to accompany her inside, promptly taking his leave after seeing her to the door. 

Curiosity piqued by the arrival of Mr. Patterson’s car, the Sanchezes came downstairs to welcome the visitor, not expecting to find an unfamiliar young lady with a small fox cradled in her arms. 

“And who might you be, miss?” 

Considering the attitude of the Bryant family, Winnie didn’t involve them in her introduction. Instead, she stated her last name was Henderson and didn’t outright claim she was there to reclaim intelligence for Ms. Sanchez. They wouldn’t believe her without proof. 

Reaching into her bag, she pulled out a charm from Breeze Monastery. 

“I met Adelina a while ago and saw her drop this, so I thought I’d bring it back to her.” said Winnie. 

Adelina was the old lady from the Sanchez family. 

Mr. Sanchez had mentioned on his social media that he went to Breeze Monastery with Adelina to get charms last month. Winnie decided to use this as her excuse. 

Carola, Mr. Sanchez’s wife, was a slightly plump and beautiful woman with kind eyes. She didn’t think much of it when she saw Winnie, a soft–spoken young lady holding a pet fox. 

“So that’s it.” she replied. 

Adelina, set in the old ways, had believed evilness was to blame for her granddaughter Lucy’s head injury that refused to heal. She had rearranged the family decor and recently taken up worshiping, even dragging her grandson to Breeze Monastery for protective charms, and the family obliged her beliefs. 

The accidental loss of a protective charm, followed by someone to return it, was unexpected. 

“Thanks for your trouble. But how do you know Adelina?” Despite her amiable demeanor, Carola retained wariness. 

Unfazed, Winnie was about to explain when she discreetly pinched the belly of Pretty, the little 

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fox, a signal they had agreed on beforehand. With that cue, Pretty leaped from her arms and scampered to the second floor. 

Startled, Carola and the servants, mistaking Winnie’s shock as genuine, hurried after the fleeing animal. 

“Pretty! Come back here!” 

“Good job, Pretty,” Winnie thought, urging the fox to find Lucy. 

Within moments, a young girl’s surprised squeal echoed from upstairs. Carola and the 

household staff rushed up, and their expressions instantly grew anxious. 

Winnie kept pace behind them, and upon reaching the second floor, she saw a pretty young girl in a princess dress crouched down, giggling at the sight of the chubby little fox sitting 

obediently before her, even reaching out to pet it. 

“Lucy!” Carola called out, quickly pulling her daughter behind her. 

The little fox might seem tame, but there was no telling if it might bite. Carola regretted letting a stranger with a pet into her home so carelessly. 

“Mommy, a puppy!” Lucy Sanchez, around fifteen with a trace of baby fat on her face, radiated innocent beauty. Her bright eyes were pure, but her naive, childlike tone betrayed her cognitive shortcomings. 

Winnie’s gaze fell on a dark aura at the girl’s forehead, her brow furrowing slightly. 

Carola misinterpreted Winnie’s concern, thinking it was related to her daughter’s condition, and her voice grew colder, “If nothing else, Ms. Henderson, please take your pet and leave. I won’t see you out.” 

“Just a moment.” Winnie stopped Carola, called Pretty back, and looked earnestly at Lucy. producing another charm. 

“My little fox startled Ms. Sanchez. As an apology, please accept this charm for her. It can ensure her safety once.” Winnie said, “Ms. Sanchez is destined for continuous fortune, usually signified by a birthmark on the chest that gathers luck. But someone tampered with her intelligence when she was young, leading to a deficit in her fate and dimming the birthmark. She might hit a streak of bad luck soon, so it would be best for her to stay home.” 

Winnie had intended to talk about the intelligence swap directly, but the dark aura on Lucy’s forehead seemed more pressing. 

Carola bristled at the implication of her daughter’s impending danger, her facade of warmth vanishing. 

*Girl where do you get off spouting such nonsense about my daughter? I see now. You aim to play the charlatan! I won’t hold it against you since you’re young, but take your fox and leave my house now, or I’ll call the police!” Carola snapped. 

Seeing no chance for a reasonable dialogue, Winnie calmly picked up Pretty and left the 

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protective charm on a nearby cabinet shell before turning to leave. 

Lucy sadly watched the little fox carried away, yearning to follow. “Puppy! Mommy, the puppy’s 

gone.” 

Carola, whose heart was heavy with sorrow at Lucy’s childish plea, could do nothing but comfort her. “That wasn’t a puppy, dear. It was a fox, and foxes can scratch. If you want a puppy. Mommy will buy you one, okay?” 

“Yay! Mommy’s the best! I want a puppy!” Lucy’s spirits lifted instantly, forgetting the fox and twirling with delight. 

Carola gazed at her beautiful daughter, tears glistening in her eyes. But her expression turned stern as she caught sight of the charm Winnie had placed on the cabinet. In a quiet tone, she instructed the maid standing by. “Take that thing and throw it away.” 

She wasn’t about to let her darling Lucy touch something with such obscure origins. 

Carola didn’t believe a word of what Winnie had mentioned earlier about a tiny birthmark and an incomplete fate. 

Still when her gaze shifted back to Lucy, it involuntarily drifted to her chest modestly covered by her lace lantern–sleeve blouse. There did seem to be a faint mark on Lucy’s chest. 

Yet Carola remained skeptical about superstitions, suspecting it was the nannies gossiping behind their backs. 

What were they trying to achieve? The more she thought about it, the more uneasy she felt. Carola instructed the staff to escort her daughter back to her room and hurried to call her husband and son. 

Someone was after Lucy, and Carola couldn’t rest until she figured it out. 

Unbeknownst to Carola, when she stepped out, Lucy peeked her head out of her room like a curious mouse. She slipped out with all the stealth of a burglar in her home, tiptoeing down the hallway and dashing toward the staircase.