You Looked Down on Me Once Now You Look Up (Patricia and Oliver) novel Chapter 497

Aiden was always reminding him to remember his place. Know the lines. Don’t forget who’s in charge and who isn’t.

Every time Jackson heard it, he just rolled his eyes and thought, Seriously? Are we stuck in the last century or what?

That was before Aiden told him the story about the old Padilla house in Golden Bay.

Grandma Padilla, he said, was the kindest soul. She never cared about boundaries between family and staff. But in the end, that kindness was paid back with poison in her tea—someone tried to kill her with the household supplies she’d shared so freely.

People. Everyone’s got secrets, dark corners they don’t talk about.

Just like Jackson never touched hamburgers. It wasn’t that he couldn’t get it. He just had his reasons.

“No need, I’ll be quick,” he said.

Patricia handed him the folder. “Go find Wilma. Tell her to leak this online.”

Emerson had been completely obsessed with Amber lately.

Tina and Ruby, on the surface, were all smiles, playing the perfect supporters. But behind the scenes, they’d already shifted most of the company’s cash flow over to Skyline Entertainment and its subsidiaries.

If the Martin Group got hit with another scandal now, Emerson wouldn’t even see it coming.

She realized she’d messed up her last move.

Sure, she could go after Ruby and Tina directly—hit the target, no problem.

But sometimes, it’s smarter to break the group from the inside first. Let them fall apart on their own, then strike. Isn’t that a strategy too?

Take away their unity, watch them crumble, then finish the job. Way easier.

“Are we doing this out of order?” someone asked. “Emerson’s image as the perfect family man is just now catching on. Shouldn’t we expose his secret kid first?”

“You think that’s enough to destroy him? In business, he’ll just throw some executive under the bus and move on. What I want is to wreck his image, pull his strongest people away from him, and shake the board’s trust.”

Jackson caught on. “So meeting Allen today is to get him to start stirring up trouble?”

If Allen worked with her, Emerson would be left reeling in front of the board—even if he survived.

Patricia grinned. “Took you long enough.”

“Worse,” Jackson muttered. “A demon. A monster. The king of all ghosts.”

Colton glanced around, confused. Then he looked at Jackson and caught on. “Wait, you mean my Uncle Oliver?”

Jackson shrugged. “Did I say that? Nope, not me. I’ve got work. See you.”

As he passed Colton, he clapped him on the shoulder. “Enjoy your last moments of freedom, man.”

If Atticus got ahold of him, he’d be lucky to escape in one piece.

Colton watched Jackson swagger out, not really getting the warning.

Not until he ended up in front of Atticus.

Not until Atticus looked him up and down and asked, “So, you’re Oliver’s nephew?”

And then Atticus smiled, slow and dangerous. “Interesting.”