"What?!"
Eamon's jaw dropped as he stared blankly at Derek.
Why?
Why did I just get exiled the moment I got back?!
I'm not the boss's favorite anymore…
Derek shook his head, refusing to engage.
Stupidity is contagious.
He had no intention of getting himself shipped off to some remote assignment just for standing too close.
Once Derek and Eamon were dismissed, Adrian finally picked up his phone and focused on Riley.
He looked at her profile picture—now pinned at the very top—and the contact name he had changed to "Little Fool".
Without meaning to, he imagined her sitting in a lecture hall, struggling to type out messages, maybe even relying on voice-to-text.
The thought softened something in his chest.
He opened the chat.
[Little Fool: Hubby, I hit Celeste from Class One… she took a hit to the head. She'll be fine, right?]
Adrian's expression darkened.
[Adrian:You're not allowed to bring a wrench to school.]
I'd only just left for my trip, and she was already causing trouble.
She was impossible to manage.
Riley replied almost immediately.
[Little Fool:Not a wrench. A chair. She threw it at me first.]
Adrian's eyes turned cold.
[Adrian:Too light.]
Riley stared at the message, confused.
Too light? What does that even mean?
After the chat ended, Adrian made a call back to the capital.
That same day, the Wren family's stock plummeted, crashing straight into a limit-down. Debt pressure surged, and panic spread through the company.
Meanwhile, Celeste was still in the infirmary, cursing Riley—
Completely unaware that her family was on the brink of collapse.
***
After class, students began pouring out of the academic building.
Since Celeste had already been sent home due to her injury, only Felicia and Miranda walked together.
"Riley was terrifying today," Miranda said. "Felicia, does she treat you like that normally?"
Felicia's face looked pale. "Riley… she usually has a bad temper, but she's never been this extreme. I don't know what got into her today. Maybe… she's upset about being transferred."
Miranda snorted. "Come on, stop defending her. She's clearly used to bullying people! Celeste got hurt so badly—I'm not letting this go!"
The Wren and Belle families were close, and Celeste and Miranda had always been good friends.
Seeing her friend injured like that—
There was no way she'd let it slide.
Felicia hesitated, her tone full of concern. "Miranda, don't provoke her anymore. I'm worried she'll use her connections to go after you."
Miranda smirked confidently. "Relax. I recorded everything earlier. I'm not doing anything extreme—I just want everyone to see what she's really like."
Originally, she had only wanted to film Riley embarrassing herself.
But instead—
She had captured evidence of her hurting someone.
Not her fault. She hadn't made Riley do it.
Felicia's eyes flickered slightly, but she said nothing.
Miranda pulled out her phone and logged into the campus forum.
Then suddenly—
Her expression froze.
"Felicia—look at this! Those students from Class Seven is campaigning for that fool! Her votes just shot into the top ten!"
"What?"
Felicia's calm shattered instantly.
She grabbed the phone and opened the page.
And sure enough—
Riley's votes were skyrocketing.
Not only had she broken into the top ten—
She was rapidly closing in on first place.
Felicia's fingers tightened around the phone, her gaze darkening.