Chapter 105 Adeline
Adeline’s POV
The luxury high-rise on the Upper West Side was a fortress. When Percy had moved my mother out of her old place. apartment, he hadn't spared a single expense. There was a twenty-four-hour doorman, and the elevator could only be accessed with a keycard, complete with an armed security detail monitoring the lobby cameras.
It was designed to keep monsters like Ilya out. I just never thought the real monster was the woman living inside.
I swiped my access card and rode the elevator up to the fourteenth floor. By the time I stood in front of her door, my heart was hammering against my ribs. I took a slow, deep breath to hide the panic beneath.
Once I was sure I looked ready, I knocked. I knocked thrice before the locks clicked and the heavy door swung open. She stood there in a soft cashmere cardigan and holding a watering can.
There was no expression on her face when she registered who was standing there. She only raised a brow that demanded that I tell her what I wanted quickly so she could return to her life.
"Hi, Mom," I forced myself to say.
"Oh, sweetheart, what a surprise. You didn't tell me you were coming. Is everything alright?" She said in a flat tone that suggested that she didn't care. "Is Percy..."
"Percy is fine, Mom," I said flatly, too. "I just... I had a light morning at the firm. I wanted to see you."
"Come in, come in." She eventually stepped aside to let me in. I was impressed to find that the apartment was pristine. The cleaning company must have just left.
"Wow, Mom, it's good to see you, too," I said sarcastically.
She blew out a breath. "It's been a long morning, darling. This bag I really wanted was sold out. I called the store, and they wouldn't make any exceptions for me."
"Hm."
"Let me make you some tea. Chamomile? You look a little pale, sweetheart. Are you sleeping enough?"
"Chamomile is perfect, and I'm fine, just working hard." I lied, following her into the kitchen.
"You really came all the way here to see your mother?" She asked suspiciously.
"Percy and I have been talking a lot lately," I started, keeping my voice conversational. "About the future. You know, long-term plans."
"Well, does that mean you're ready to finally pick a date for the wedding? Or are you starting a family?"
"A family," I echoed. "Actually, that's kind of why I'm here. If Percy and I are going to have kids eventually, my doctor suggested I put together a comprehensive medical history, but the records from my childhood are incomplete, so I thought I'd ask you."
I watched her back stiffen for a second, but I caught it.
"Well," Melissa said, her voice higher than it had been a moment ago. "You know how it was back then. Your father kept us moving. The paperwork wasn't always a priority."
"I know," I said gently, leaning forward and resting my elbows on the counter. "But I figured you could fill in the blanks. I mean, you were there. April 14th, right? The hospital in St. Petersburg."
"Right. Yes. April 14th," she repeated, dropping the teabags into two porcelain cups. Her hands were starting to tremble slightly.
"What time was I born?" I asked.
Melissa froze. "What time?"
"Yeah. Was it morning? Night?" I tilted my head. "I've never actually asked. Most mothers love telling their birth stories. You never told me mine."
"It was... it was very late at night." She stammered as she poured the boiling water. "It was a difficult labor, Addie. I was exhausted. The details are... they're a little blurry."
"Blurry," I repeated flatly. "How could that be? You must remember the pain."
"No, darling. Once I held you in my arms, it was all gone and forgotten." She gave me a bright smile.
"I was just looking at some old dates."
"Hm."
"Mom, did you remember the friends Dad used to toast to? The ones he lost to that bad accident?"
"What friends, darling?"
"Viktor and Leonid." The cup she had been holding slipped and shattered into shards. She quickly recovered her composure, but it was too late. I already knew what I wanted to know.
"Why... why would you bring them up?" she whispered.
"Because they died on April 17th," I stated, my dark eyes locking onto hers, pinning her to the wall. "Three days after I was supposedly born in a St. Petersburg hospital. But Viktor and Leonid didn't die in Russia, did they? They died in a car crash right here in New York, running from the FBI after a botched kidnapping."
"I... Adeline, what are you talking about?"
"Mom..."
"I think you've been working so hard that..."
"Mom, stop!" I snapped. "Just stop lying to me.
"Adeline!" She tried to be stern. "I'm your mother, and I won't allow you to use that tone with me."
"Did you give birth to me, Melissa? Look me in the eye and tell me I am your blood!"
"Blood is nothing but a..." she yelled but stopped when she realized her mistake, but that was enough of a confession for me. "I was saving you."
Even though I had already seen the evidence, it still hurt to hear her say it.
"You didn't save me," I whispered, my voice dripping with absolute disgust. "You were being selfish. You still are."
"I protected you from him!" Melissa yelled. "Please, sweetheart, please! I'm your mother! I raised you!"
"Don't touch me," I warned when she stepped forward to grab me. "You're just as bad as him."
She straightened and glared at me coldly. "You're not being reasonable right now, Adeline."
"Don't you dare..." I warned, but it was obvious that she had made up her mind not to continue this conversation with me.
"I have a terrible migraine, Adeline. I can't do this right now, Adeline. I feel sick. You have to go. Please, just leave and let me rest. We can talk when you've calmed down." I was calm, yet she was making me out to be unreasonable.
It was her classic defense mechanism. She was good at packing up her entire life and just leaving whenever things got out of hand. She would do so whenever she was losing an argument, too.
"I am perfectly calm," I told her, my voice dropping to frigid. I adjusted the strap of my purse on my shoulder. "But you should rest, Melissa. Because when I am done getting to the bottom of this, you are going to need your strength to explain this to a federal judge."
I turned on my heel and walked out of the kitchen and out the door. I slammed her door so she could see that I was that furious with her.
I stood there in the corridor and gathered my strength as the adrenaline slowly drained from my blood.
I was still gathering my thoughts when my phone buzzed in my coat pocket, vibrating violently against my hip.
I reached in and pulled it out, expecting to see Percy's name on the screen checking in on me.
Instead, it was a text message from an unknown number.
"I see you've finally reconnected with your real family, malyshka," Ilya said.