Accomplice(1)

It would have been much better if that kind of message were to be sent to his estranged sister, Samantha.

Liam's five minutes elapsed, and she shrugged as she dialed the number on her phone.

Two rings later, the call connected and a deep, annoyed voice came through. "Who is this?"

"Hello, Mr. Fort. This is…"

Just as she was about to introduce herself, the door to her office opened, making her heart skip a beat.

She was under his instructions and wasn't doing anything out of her own free will, but when she saw Desmond, she felt as though her heart had gone cold. Could she still pass the message?

The man was initially planning to tease her, but the second before he walked in, he heard her words: "Hello, Mr. Fort."

He was standing right before her. So, who was on the phone?

"Who is that?" He demanded.

Her lips parted, but she couldn't get a word out. In the end, she shook her head. "It's a personal call."

"Who. Is. That?" His voice was a few degrees colder, making her shudder. Without waiting for a response, he grabbed her phone and placed it on his ear.

In the next instant, her phone was thrown against the wall, and it met its end with an ear-shattering crash.

Her eyes widened, but she was yet to register the shock from his outburst when he glared down at her. "How dare you!"

It took a few seconds for her to wrap her mind around what was going on. She had expected that Desmond would be angry if he found out that she had contacted Jaime. However, she had not expected him to find out, much less react so explosively.

Swallowing down her anger from having her phone broken, she looked at him and explained, "I was merely following instructions. I have no other reason to contact him."

A punch assaulted her desk. Then, the air filled with his mocking laugh. "I was wondering how you found out anything. Turns out, it was Jaime. It was all you and Jaime, wasn't it? You orchestrated all this, didn't you?"

"What are you talking about?" She was in disbelief from the sudden accusations.

Before he could accuse her further, she quickly explained, "I really didn't want to call him. Liam told me to do so."

He laughed, but it couldn't conceal how angry and hurt he was.

"Zaria Williams, why didn't I know that you were such a talented schemer before? After tarnishing the last remaining piece of my mother's reputation, after making my whole family fall apart, you want to turn my friend against me too? What exactly is your aim?"

She couldn't make head or tail of what he was saying, so she whipped out the card she had received from Liam. "Look, here is…"

Before she could show him the note, he shoved her hand away and stormed into his office.

She slumped into her seat and was still speechless from the accusation.

….

Desmond had almost given up trying to find Jaime's accomplice. Who would have thought that just as he was about to stop investigating, he would find that Zaria was actually the person he had been looking for?

Right. She was suspicious from the start. Why didn't he ever suspect her?

Now that he thought about it, it was indeed strange.

Jaime had blackmailed his mother into taking the blame for a crime she did not commit. One day later, the headlines appeared on the tabloids of F&P Media. At the time, he thought that the journalists from F&P Media were just too fast.

But at the moment, he couldn't help wondering. Was it really a case of them being fast, or was the news given to them by Zaria? Could it be that it was premeditated all along?

When he thought about how Zaria had gotten close to him, he was even more crushed. Did she really seek him to negotiate, or was she sent to him by Jaime?