Morning brought a cold, gray light into the penthouse. The space beside Cassandra was empty and untouched. The sheets were cold.
A maid she didn't recognize entered with a tray. "Breakfast, Mrs. Mullen. And your medication."
Cassandra sat up. On the tray, beside a bowl of oatmeal, sat two pills. An antidepressant and a heavy sedative. Kade's way of managing the 'hysterical' wife.
"Thank you," Cassandra said. She popped the pills into her mouth, took a sip of water, and swallowed.
The maid watched, satisfied, and turned to tidy the room.
The moment the maid's back was turned, Cassandra coughed into a napkin, spitting the pills out. She folded the napkin and tucked it into her sleeve.
"Where is Kade?" she asked.
"Mr. Mullen went to the office early. He said he won't be back tonight."
The cold shoulder. Expected.
Cassandra picked up the iPad left on the nightstand. She unlocked it and opened Twitter.
Her breath hitched.
The trending topics were ablaze.
BensonHeiressCrazy
NakedInSnow
CruellaDeVil
The video of Dillon and Bianca being thrown into the snow had gone viral. It was grainy, but the narrative was clear. The internet had sided with the 'victims'.
@User123: Look at how they treated them! Cassandra Mullen is a psycho just like her husband.
@DillonN_Official: We were just trying to check on her mental health. She set a dog on us. We are pressing charges.
Cassandra scrolled through the hate. She didn't flinch. She smiled.
"Good," she whispered. "Let them look."
She opened a browser and navigated to a seemingly innocuous gaming forum. Her fingers flew across the virtual keyboard, inputting a sequence of commands into the search bar that triggered a backdoor she had exploited in a previous life. It wasn't the work of 'Q'-that persona was still a ghost in the machine, dormant. This was simple, dirty work.
She accessed an old, anonymous cryptocurrency wallet she had set up years ago as a contingency. It held enough untraceable Bitcoin to buy a small island, or in this case, information.
She typed a message to a contact known only as 'Ghost'.
User: Unknown
Message: I need the offshore ledger for 'Blue Horizon'. Payment is waiting in the usual dead drop wallet.
Three minutes later, a reply popped up.
User: Ghost
Message: Done. Sending now.
Suddenly, a commotion erupted downstairs. Shouting.
Cassandra maneuvered herself into her wheelchair and rolled to the landing of the grand staircase, peering through the banister.
Down in the foyer, an older man with a red face was screaming at Viper. It was Old Man Newman, Dillon's father.
"Let me see her! That bitch ruined my son's reputation!" Newman shouted, trying to push past Viper.
Viper stood like a stone wall, his hand resting on his holster.
"Mr. Newman," Cassandra's voice floated down from the stairs, cool and imperious.
Everyone looked up. She sat there, gripping the armrests of her chair, looking like a queen on a throne.
"If you take one more step, I will have you arrested for trespassing," she said.
"You!" Newman pointed a shaking finger at her. "You're unstable! I'm calling the police! My son is in the hospital with frostbite!"
"Your son," Cassandra said, her voice echoing in the high-ceilinged foyer, "is under investigation for defrauding the Williams family trust. If I were you, I'd be more worried about the FBI raid that's going to happen at your office in..." she checked her watch, "...about an hour."
Newman froze. "You... you're bluffing."
"Am I?" Cassandra raised an eyebrow. "I suggest you check the news. When I release the documents I'm currently holding regarding your shell companies, your stock won't just dip, Mr. Newman. It will flatline. I don't need to short it. I just need to tell the truth."
Fear replaced anger on his face. He turned and fled, the heavy door slamming behind him.
Viper looked up at Cassandra. He touched his earpiece.
"Boss," Viper murmured. "She handled it. Newman ran."
In his office across town, Kade listened to the report. He sat back in his leather chair, the anger from the night before warring with a begrudging respect.
"Keep watching her," Kade said.
Back in the penthouse, the iPad pinged.
User: Ghost
Message: File attached. 5 million hidden.
Cassandra grinned.
