Cecil whirled around and grabbed the porcelain figurine from her desk. The maid barely had time to move before it smashed against the doorframe, missing her by inches. The woman flinched, backing away.
“Get out!” Cecil snapped. She didn’t need their pity. She didn’t need their nervous glances or their useless attempts to calm her down.
Another maid stepped in, trying to collect the shattered glass from the floor, but Cecil swept an arm across her desk. knocking everything off. Documents, pens, her phone–everything hit the ground in a chaotic mess.
“I said get out!”
The maids scrambled toward the door, hurrying to escape before she could throw something else. The heavy wooden doors slammed shut behind them, leaving Cecil standing in the middle of the wreckage. Her hands trembled.
This wasn’t supposed to happen. No one was supposed to find those records.
She dragged a hand through her hair, gripping the strands before letting go and pacing toward the window. San Francisco stretched out below her, but all she could see was her own reflection—the image of a woman who had just lost everything.
She spun back around, her gaze locking onto her secretary, who had been standing near the bookshelf, frozen in place.
“Did you find out anything?” she asked.
“N–nothing for now Madam we are waiting for- “
“Why the hell are you here, then? Find out who did this,” she demanded. “Now.”
Frederik tapped his fingers against the desk, his gaze shifting away from the documents. “What about Calen and his mother? Did you find anything?”
Adrian exhaled, setting his glass down. “Nothing concrete.” He adjusted his cufflinks before leaning back in his chair. “I had my people look into the Weiss Foundation scandal, but there’s nothing to link it directly to Isabella or her family. If she wanted to take revenge, there would’ve been some breadcrumbs–an anonymous tip that could be traced, a financial trail leading back to her, anything. But this?” He gestured vaguely. “It was too clean.”
Frederik narrowed his eyes slightly. “So, whoever did it planned this for a long time.”
Adrian nodded. “That’s the only logical conclusion. This wasn’t something that was thrown together overnight. The leaks, the financial records, the corruption reports–it was all too precise, too well–timed.” He tapped a finger against his knee. “Whoever exposed Cecil and the Weiss Foundation had been sitting on this information for years, waiting for the perfect moment to release it.”
Frederik leaned back in his chair, considering that. “If that’s the case, then this wasn’t just about Isabella. Cecil and Weiss Inc. had an enemy long before she ever got involved.” So, it wasn’t about the drugging incident a few days ago.
“Exactly,” Adrian said. “Which means that while Isabella might have benefited from this fallout, she didn’t orchestrate it.” He paused. “And honestly? Even if she had the resources, she wouldn’t have done it this way. This was surgical, almost clinical. Not the work of someone settling a personal grudge. This was about destroying Cecil systematically.”
Frederik’s smirk faded slightly as he mulled over the implications.
Cecil Weiss was a lot of things–cunning, ruthless, manipulative. But she had never been sloppy. If someone had been digging into her past for years, waiting for the right moment to strike, that meant she had underestimated her enemies.
Frederik found that amusing.
Adrian picked up his scotch again. “And if you’re thinking of stepping into this mess, I’d reconsider. Whoever went after the Weiss Foundation had resources, patience, and enough power to keep their hands clean. Do you really want to start poking at that?”
Frederik chuckled. “I don’t need to poke at anything. I just need to see where the pieces land.”
