Margaret, Adrian's stepmother, had always played the role of the gracious and doting matriarch in public. Behind closed doors, however, she was calculating and ruthless, a woman who had spent years resenting Adrian for being the rightful heir to the family fortune. Her own son, Benson, had always been her pride, and she believed it was his birthright to inherit the wealth and power Adrian now held.
Sitting in her private lounge, Margaret gazed out the window with a glass of bourbon in hand. Benson sat across from her, flipping through a folder of financial documents and scowling.
"Mother," Benson said, slamming the folder shut, "this isn't working fast enough. Adrian is resilient, and as long as he still has his company, he'll always bounce back."
Margaret turned to him, her expression sharp. "Then we'll have to hit him where it hurts most. If we can't outmaneuver him, we'll destroy him."
Benson frowned. "How? We've tried isolating him from allies, planting rumors, and even sabotaging his deals. Nothing has worked completely."
Margaret leaned forward, her voice low and dripping with venom. "We'll take his company from the inside. Adrian's biggest flaw is that he still believes in loyalty. He's too trusting of the people around him, and that will be his undoing."
Benson raised an eyebrow. "You mean planting someone?"
"Precisely," Margaret said, her eyes gleaming. "Someone who can manipulate his finances, sabotage his deals, and make it look like Adrian is running his company into the ground. We'll destroy his credibility as a businessman and push him into bankruptcy. Once the company is weak enough, we'll buy out the remaining shares and take control."
Benson nodded slowly, a malicious grin forming on his face. "And when that happens, he'll have nothing left. No wealth, no reputation, no power."
Margaret smirked. "Exactly. But this time, we'll do it right. We'll bring in someone who is skilled, someone Adrian won't suspect for a moment."
She reached for her phone and made a call to a financial expert she had on retainer—a man known for his ability to manipulate numbers and remain undetected. Within days, the mole was placed inside Adrian's company as a trusted consultant, tasked with steering the company into financial chaos.
At the same time, Margaret and Benson began spreading subtle rumors in the business world about Adrian's reckless decisions and inability to manage his empire. Investors started to grow wary, and the company's stock began to dip.
But Margaret wasn't done. She and Benson also started targeting Adrian's personal life, feeding Grace small, calculated lies to keep her distance from Adrian. Margaret knew that as long as Grace remained estranged, Adrian would be emotionally vulnerable, making him easier to manipulate.
"What about Grace?" Benson asked one evening as they reviewed their progress.
Margaret smirked. "She's a distraction Adrian doesn't need right now. The more she pulls away, the more isolated he'll feel. And when the dust settles, she'll see Adrian for what he is—a failure who couldn't even protect what he built."
As the plan unfolded, Adrian began noticing cracks in his business dealings, but he couldn't pinpoint the source. The pressure was mounting, both at work and in his personal life.
However, Adrian's loyal assistant, Maya, was growing suspicious. She noticed discrepancies in the company's finances and began digging into the background of the new consultant. What she found would soon set off a chain of events that would expose Margaret and Benson's schemes—if she could get the information to Adrian in time.
Margaret sat in her study, gripping a confidential document that had been leaked to her by one of her informants. Her perfectly manicured nails tapped against the desk as she read the report. Adrian, amid the chaos she and Benson had orchestrated, had secretly founded another company. A smirk played on her lips, but it quickly turned into a cold scowl.
"So, he thought he could outmaneuver me," she muttered to herself, tossing the document onto the desk. "How clever of him. But not clever enough."
Benson entered the room, sipping a glass of wine. "What's got you so worked up, Mother?" he asked lazily.
Margaret slid the document across the table to him. "Your dear brother Adrian has been busy. He's launched another company under everyone's noses. He's trying to rebuild what we're breaking down, and if he succeeds, it'll be even harder to strip him of his inheritance."
Benson frowned, scanning the document. "How did he manage this? I thought we had him cornered. He shouldn't have the resources or the time to pull this off."
Margaret leaned back in her chair, her eyes narrowing. "That's what makes him dangerous. Adrian is resourceful and relentless, but that's precisely why we need to crush him entirely. If he's allowed to succeed, not only will he overshadow us, but he'll be the only one in the family with enough power to claim the entire fortune."
Benson set the document down, his jaw tightening. "What do we do, then? If he's already started, it means he has a foundation. Cutting him off now might not be as easy."
Margaret's lips curled into a cold smile. "We'll hit him where it hurts. This new company of his? We'll infiltrate it, sabotage it, and ensure it collapses before it gets off the ground. But this time, we'll play a different game. We won't just attack him—we'll make him question the people he trusts the most."
Benson raised an eyebrow. "You mean planting someone in this new company too?"
Margaret nodded. "Exactly. But it won't just be about sabotage. We'll also expose this company to the family board and paint it as a betrayal. We'll claim that Adrian is trying to outdo the family, that he's creating an empire for himself to cut everyone else out. The family elders won't take kindly to that."
"Smart," Benson said, a slow grin forming on his face. "Turn his own ambition into his downfall. If the board sees him as a threat, they'll rally against him. And if this company falls apart, it'll prove to everyone that Adrian isn't as invincible as they think."
Margaret stood, pacing the room. "But we'll need more than just sabotage. We'll need to monitor every move he makes, uncover every secret. I want to know who his partners are, who's funding him, and what his plans are. We'll dismantle this company from the inside out, and we'll do it so thoroughly that Adrian won't know what hit him."
Benson nodded, already forming a plan in his mind. "I'll reach out to some of my contacts. We'll find someone who can get close to Adrian and feed us information."
"Good," Margaret said, her voice icy. "Because this time, we're not just taking his company—we're taking everything he's built. Adrian will learn that no one, not even him, can overshadow this family. He'll be left with nothing, and when that happens, we'll be the ones standing victorious."
As Benson left to make the necessary arrangements, Margaret sat back down, her mind racing with strategies. She wasn't just fighting for control; she was fighting to ensure that Adrian would never rise above her or Benson again.