Chapter 208

Evelyn stormed into the tech department the second she got the alert.

"Our director isn't in today, Mr. Blackwood."

The manager of the department had no idea what was going on, but the icy fury radiating off Dominic was enough to confirm that Adrian had somehow crossed him.

"Maybe I should take you to the CEO instead?" the manager offered just as Evelyn stepped inside.

She moved toward Dominic, took one look at his thunderous expression, and said, "Let's discuss this in my office."

He must have come here looking for Adrian over some personal dispute.

Adrian hadn't mentioned anything to her, but given the murderous glint in Dominic's eyes, it had to be serious.

Once inside her office, Dominic and Lucas settled onto the couch while the bodyguard positioned himself by the door.

"What happened?" Evelyn asked as she poured them each a glass of water.

"Miss Thorne, I regret to inform you that your operations director… seduced Nathan," Lucas stated bluntly.

Evelyn's mouth went dry.

Nathan was Dominic's most trusted confidant—his shadow. Anyone who messed with Nathan might as well have challenged Dominic himself.

Her pulse spiked.

She never expected Adrian to do something so reckless!

Snatching her phone, she dialed Adrian. He picked up on the second ring.

"Get to the office. Now," she hissed under her breath.

"What? I'm at lunch—why are you yelling at me?" Adrian protested.

"Did you screw with Dominic Blackwood's assistant?"

"What? How would I even know who his assistant is?"

"Dominic Blackwood is sitting in my office right now. He wouldn't be here if this wasn't real!" Evelyn snapped, her breath coming faster. "Did you sleep with someone without even knowing his damn name?"

"Of course not! I've only been with one person since I got here—"

"His name?"

"Nathan. He ghosted me after that night."

Evelyn dragged in a slow, pained breath. "That is Dominic Blackwood's assistant. Get your ass here now."

Hanging up, she turned back to Dominic and Lucas, her face burning.

"How is Mr. Cross?" she asked carefully, forcing calm into her voice. "I apologize—Adrian didn’t tell me anything about this." Then, suspicion crept in. "How did they even meet?"

Outside of work, Adrian spent most of his time clubbing.

She couldn't fathom how he'd crossed paths with Nathan.

After a brief pause, Lucas explained, "Adrian went to a bar after your company dinner last week. Nathan was there too—though admittedly, he went to gather intel on Adrian."

Understanding dawned on Evelyn.

"So you sent Nathan Cross to get close to Adrian, and somehow, they ended up in bed together," she summarized, then turned to Dominic. "That’s how you found out Adrian was gay."

Seeing the tension between them, Lucas quickly interjected, "There's more to it, Miss Thorne. We investigated Adrian because our company was recently hacked. Our entire system was compromised—the hacker even left a taunting message on Dominic's computer. We suspect it's the same person who breached Willowbrook Academy."

Evelyn's stomach twisted. Her fingers curled into fists. "Why suspect Adrian?"

"Because he's your director of operations. His technical skills must be exceptional. Plus, we found it suspicious that we couldn’t dig up any background on him," Lucas said. "And for the record, we never instructed Nathan to go that far. Adrian was the one who pressured him."

Evelyn dropped her gaze, her argument crumbling.

If Adrian really had forced himself on Nathan and hacked into both the school and Blackwood Group, then she couldn’t defend him.

There was nothing she could do.

Dominic would be showing mercy just by letting him live.

Moments later, Adrian strode into the office.