Adrian stared at Mara, not Fiona. He wanted to see just how heartless she was. What kind of monster had he raised?
When Fiona swallowed the last spoonful of soup, Adrian told her, "If you survive this, don't worry about anyone else ever again. Just take care of yourself."
"Adrian, you..."
Fiona wanted to say, Adrian, how did you know? But before she could finish, Fiona passed out. The dose was heavy.
"Mom..."
Mara burst into tears.
"Save the crocodile tears," Adrian said, picking up his phone to call the police.
"What are you doing? Calling an ambulance?" Mara watched him warily.
"You'll see in a minute," he replied without looking up.
Mara panicked. She had used a heavy dose to solve all her problems at once, not expecting this mess. What if the hospital found the drugs in Fiona's system?
"Dad, let's not go to the hospital. Mom might just need some rest."
"If it's nothing, why didn't you drink it?" Adrian shot her a cold look. "I've lived a long time, but I've never seen a child as vicious as you. Poisoning your own parents."
"Dad, what does Mom passing out have to do with me?"
Adrian ignored her.
Fifteen minutes later, the police walked in. Mara froze.
As the ambulance drove off, Adrian made up his mind. He was done with this daughter. She was a monster, worse than an animal.
Meanwhile, Mira was winning her financial war against Porter Entertainment, but she received some vague news: Roxanne Porter was missing.
"Why would she leave now?" Ethan asked. Porter Entertainment was on the verge of collapse. How could she, the core of their stock operations, abandon ship?
"The only explanation is that she went to find reinforcements, at any cost," Mira analyzed. "We need to speed things up and finish this before she gets back."
Mira already controlled half of Porter's shares. The next step was either forcing a change in the board of directors or pushing them into bankruptcy, just like the Mercer Group.
But just as she was ready to close the net, Roxanne returned.
The day she came back, the stock began to soar. She had clearly brought a massive influx of capital. Mira pushed it back down the next morning, but by the afternoon, Roxanne managed to bring it back up.

Comments
The readers' comments on the novel: Too Late to Hold Me Back