Chapter 6 Queen of Ashes

• Three days passed in the blink of an eye. There, Izzy sat in the CEO chair of the newly painted Rodriguez enterprise. Hopefully, she'll change the company's name sooner than she thought. The slight distaste lingered on her tongue.
• The paint smelt fresh, almost pleasing and toxic to her health, but she couldn't care any less.
• Legs crossed, fingers curled around a glass of untouched wine. The leather seat beneath her was still stiff and new. It smelt earthy with a mix of mint-flavoured aromas. She leaned back slowly, staring at the faint reflection of herself in the wall-length glass. Power looked good on her.
• Liam entered seconds later, hair damp from a rushed shower, shirt unbuttoned at the collar, sleeves rolled like he wanted to look halfway busy. She didn’t even acknowledge him as she kept her eyes forward.
• Liam stared at her with frustrated eyes. This was supposed to be his company.
• His office.
• His crown.
• Now it was hers, and there was nothing he could do about it.
• What bothered him more was how unbothered Izzy looked. Surely their kiss meant nothing. But still, that shouldn't have happened between them. Even though he wanted more.
• It felt like a game played with borrowed pieces—and he didn’t even realise it yet.
• She placed the glass down with a soft clink.
• “You asked for me. Received a call from the secretary that my presence was needed immediately or else I'll get fired?!” he said finally, squeezing the words out of his mouth as he watched her acting as indifferent as she could be.
• “I did.” Her voice was soft, precise. “As my personal assistant, you're meant to be by my side every second of the day.”
• He hesitated. “It's 6am… and you’re sitting in my chair.”
• “No,” she corrected, turning her head, “I’m sitting in my chair. Like I said, you…” she pointed to him, “my personal assistant. Not the CEO, Liam.”
• That shut him up.
• She tapped her nails slowly against the glass desk. The sound echoed through the room like a countdown. If Nolan is alive, and if…if Thomas knew, then this goes deeper. Much deeper.
• She stood abruptly. Why didn’t Nolan tell me? Why disappear? Who did I bury? A random stranger with a burnt face? A plant? Was it Thomas’s doing? And if so—
• She stopped pacing.
• Was Nolan part of it all along? It's a possibility. She needed to find Nolan. And maybe dig up his grave for another round of autopsy.
• Liam looked startled. “Why the fuck are you parading like a mosquito?”
• “What?” Her eyes sliced into him. “Me?”
• Silence fell again, until he spoke over it, colder this time. “Yeah?”
• “You weren't as cocky as this with a raging boner three days ago.”
• Liam flushed red. The memory he tried to erase subtly rushed into his brain. The feeling of hers in his mouth. Her waist grinding into his, the hotness he felt when she was on top of him.
• “Where is Yves?” Izzy suddenly asked, shifting the rising heated atmosphere.
• Liam flinched. It was small, but she saw it. His delay in answering was too long.
• “I said”, she repeated, “where is Yves Rodriguez?”
• He looked away. “We’re not close. So I don't know.”
• Izzy stared, expression unreadable, as she glanced up to the office ceiling.
• “He was… quiet,” Liam continued. “Left the country a few years ago. We were brothers, but not close, you know.”
• “Give me the files I asked for,” she demanded.
• Liam hesitated. But then, wordless, he reached into the cabinet and pulled out a thick tan folder. His hand hovered before hers—briefly—before she snatched it.
• She sat again on her throne as she carefully opened the file.
• Pages turned. Names. Accounts. Private communications, deals made in Switzerland. A private unregistered clinic, offshore networks. And something else. Something marked red that immediately caught her attention.
• Her eyes froze.
• Her fingers gripped the paper tighter.
• "Wha—what is this?!”
• Her voice cracked for the first time in days. Not weak, but… surprised. Staggered and very much confused.
• The file trembled in her hands.
• And Liam took a step forward. He was the one who arranged the file on exactly what she requested. Was it something he missed? “What is it?” he asked worriedly, glancing at Izzy’s agitated expression.
• But Izzy didn’t look at him.