Chapter 1879

Knowing who to look for made everything easier. Fiona ended the call and headed straight back to her dorm, planning to catch a nap before staking out Pearl's favorite bar that night.

"Go get some rest. Take care of yourself, that's what matters," she whispered to Tyler, slipping out the back door of the classroom.

Up front, the teacher was still deep into the lecture, totally oblivious to Fiona's quiet escape. A few minutes later, Tyler ducked out too.

Their classmates exchanged looks, a little thrown. Sneaking out during class at Center College was pretty much unheard of. Everyone here had clawed their way in and nobody wanted to risk their future. Sure, people looked at Fiona differently these days, but she'd gotten in as the top student-no one could take that away from her.

Still, most of them saw Fiona as the boss of International Glam, the one responsible for the downfall of the Woods, Kidd, and Bryant families.

Back in her dorm room, Fiona let herself fall face-first into bed. She was asleep in seconds-these last few days had really taken it out of her.

Meanwhile, over at the Woods family's house in the capital-

Jackson had been searching every corner of the property for the basement his grandfather mentioned, but he'd found nothing. Now the whole place was crawling with people, turning everything upside down.

Jackson sat on the living room sofa, looking like a storm about to break. One arm rested on the back of the couch, his legs crossed, his presence so intense that no one dared even breathe too loudly.

"It's been two weeks and you still haven't found a thing. What am I paying you all for?" His voice was cold, sharp.

He shot a glare at one of the men, who was clutching a metal detector and practically shaking out of his shoes, trying to shrink into the floor.

Nobody could figure out why Jackson had come back from the main Woods estate to the capital, and honestly, they were all terrified of him.

He could have stayed in the States where things were easier, but instead he came back here—and everyone knew Jackson was not someone you wanted to mess with. No one dared get too close.

"Mr. Jackson, we've done everything. There's no basement here, not even a real storeroom-just that little storage room you already know about We've checked it inside and out, and it's just full of old junk. Nothing else," one of the men stammered.

Jackson didn't even look at him. The tension in the room kept rising, his anger almost suffocating.

Suddenly, there was a sharp crack-Jackson had crushed the glass in his hand, shards digging into his palm. Blood started to drip, but he didn't even flinch. All he felt was the frustration of chasing answers that stayed just out of reach.

"Keep looking," he said, eyes closing for a second.

"Sir, there's news from the States," someone said quietly.

Jackson's eyes snapped open. "What is it?"

Even from the capital, Jackson stayed on top of everything happening in the States-especially anything involving Fiona. He was more invested than anyone

else.

"After you left, the plagiarism

scandals with the Bryant and Kidd families just kept getting worse.

Then, a few days ago, the Wood'net

family got accused of stealing

designs too. Ms. Fiona went to the Woods Corporation to try and fix things but they wouldn't even let her in. After that, International Glam dropped a bunch of exposés, and now everyone from the Bryant, Kidd, and Woods families is under investigation. All three families are desperate-they're all out there

searching for Ms. Fiona."

Jackson shot up from the sofa, blood from his hand dripping onto the floor. He

didn't even seem to notice.