"So she's escalating now in hopes of destabilizing us before the decision point," Samuel reasoned.
"Exactly. Which means the next week is going to be critical. Whatever she's really planning, it'll happen before your father makes his choice."
Heena stood up and walked to the window, looking out at the courtyard.
"We need to be prepared for multiple simultaneous attacks. Financial sabotage, social sabotage, physical threats—she might try everything at once to overwhelm us."
Samuel joined her at the window.
"You've dealt with situations like this before, haven't you? Multiple enemies, complex threats, political maneuvering?"
Heena glanced at him. "What makes you say that?"
"The way you think. The way you analyze threats. The way you're never surprised by malicious behavior, just by incompetent execution of malicious behavior."
He looked at her seriously.
