Gradis stared at her phone for a second before letting a small satisfied smile creep onto her face and turned off her phone.

'What do I do now?' she pondered to herself, while twirling her phone in her hand.

She was supposed to be working right now but… she was in no mood to work after that. Her body felt relaxed and calm like it was ready to fall on her bed and snuggle under her covers.

She wasn't sure what to make of the conversation earlier. Happy? Sad? Informed? That hour she had spent with Julian with Matheio now felt like it was 5 minutes total. A very cramped, information-filled 5 minutes.

"An adopted son in a huge, super established family filled business people and a mastermind leader… how interesting," she chuckled to herself.

The family was something she needed to invade and topple but it seemed like the family wasn't that put together as she thought. The house of cards she was so excited to join as the last card to bring it doubling down was in fact individual towers that surrounded one big mountain.

The more she thought about that a.n.a.logy… the more it fit. 'He really must be a genius,' she thought to herself as she unconsciously started packing up the papers she had pushed aside before the face time with Julian and Matheio.

"A bit intimidating tho…" she muttered to herself as she put her papers into her work-bag.

'Though his father's thinking it meant to help his company and the people around him, it also makes him come across as distant and unapproachable by many people in his family and outsiders that have gotten a glimpse of his family life,' she thought to herself as she put her computer in her bag.

"I guess that's why he works so hard on his reputation, to salvage and maintain the things he can keep," she sighed.

She paused as she was about to close the work-bag and then went back to closing the bag. 'I don't really like that though.'

'Because of him and his ideologies, Julian and Matheio ended up the way they are. Julian has no expectations for his father and now sees him with a villain mindset and Matheio, who has literally only been in a one-sentence conversation with Julian's father, was already scared of him to his core,' she pondered, remembering Matheio's bright smile. Just imagining a cute little thing like him getting manipulated by his so-called 'father' made her jaws clench. It was sickening.

Maybe it was something Julian said or the way Matheio's face lit up when he laid his eyes on her, but her heart had skipped a beat. It was a rush of emotions she wanted to take and lock up in her heart for them. She didn't know this emotion but could remember a faded memory of it. One covered in so many cobwebs that she couldn't fully grasp it, though it was at her fingertips. She was sure of one thing though, she didn't like the way she wasn't beside them in the presence of that beast of a father.

Did she like this change? Yes. Was it ok? No. But she wanted to keep feeling it. The word 'family'... the thought of being in a family with them… the thought of being called a mother or lover was strangely enticing.

She let out a little tune as she cleaned up the gla.s.ses on the ground, her hand brushing over the semi-dry blood on the carpet. She shivered as she remembered how she felt at that moment. Disgusted. Angered. Pain. And worst, fear. But there was also something there. 'Relief?' she pondered to herself as she picked up some more pieces.

It was undoubtedly from when Julian had reached out and bright her flowing, desperate tears to a stop. The moment had stuck with her for some reason she didn't know. Maybe it was the feeling of being comforted without actually having to come forth with her feelings or just the fact that he texted her...both ways she noticed the moment.

'Maybe this is ok,' Gradis thought to herself, 'maybe I can relax… maybe I can give in."

Though she didn't want to admit it, she was growing accustomed to it and wanted to be involved more. She wanted to be cared more, to be sought after more, to be genuinely smiled at, to have a purpose… to be called mother.

She threw away the pieces of gla.s.s on the ground and then walked bouncily to the half wall. She picked up an air-freshener and Lysol spray and sprayed the bloodstains. She didn't bother to clean it up herself since she could always throw away the carpet, or throw a few dollar bills at it for a clean-up from professional cleaners.

There was no reason for her not to get used to them in all honesty. She was supposed to get the company under her name but it didn't mean she was supposed to get rid of everyone along the way. She could do some dirty work but it doesn't have to involve Julian or Matheio, she didn't need to hurt them.

Gradis grinned, a radiant smile spreading across lips that weren't used to making such a gentle and cheerful expression. She walked over to the sink and rinsed her hands.

'Why didn't I think about it before?!' She chuckled as she wiped her hands off, throwing the damp paper towel into the trash, then skipping to her briefcase and swinging it in her arms as she walked over to her room.

'I don't have to kill everyone, it wastes too much energy anyway. I can keep some alive… to make my take-over look natural if the ex-leader's son was still alive and married to me,' Gradis giggled, 'it's a perfect plan!'

She gently placed her work bag at the foot of her bed and threw herself onto the bed, rolling in the covers happily.

'Yea…' she smiled, pulling the covers over her body, 'I like that.'

DING