Chapter 11 Adeline
Adeline POV
"My lying and cheating ways?"
"Yes, you told me you weren't playing me." It was impossible to keep the hurt from my voice. "You assured me... you told me... and you turn out to have a girlfriend. I guess it's my fault for thinking you're different."
Not once did his expression change at my accusations. "Are you done?"
"Am I done?" I scoff. "Am..."
"Yes, are you done? Because I was talking to my mother," he says.
My mouth opens, but no sound comes out. "Your... mother? Richard said she died."
"My adoptive mother died, yes, but I was talking to my biological mother. I tracked her down last year. Richard doesn't know. Nobody knows. That’s why it was a secret. That’s why I couldn't tell you."
I stare at him as the pieces fall in place in my mind again. Why would he have to tell his girlfriend that he hates that he couldn't tell anyone? God, I was so stupid.
The shame hits me like a blow, and I feel the heat rush to my cheeks. I feel like the stupidest person on the planet.
"Oh... oh, I..."
"Yeah, oh." He watches me with an amused smile. "You were jealous."
"I was not jealous," I lie quickly. "I was disgusted. I thought you were cheating on someone."
"You were jealous," he repeats, stepping closer. "And you ran away because you thought I was taken."
"I ran away because you’re my boss!" I gesture around the office. "And my stepbrother. God, this is insane!"
"It is insane," he agrees. He’s standing right in front of me now, and I can smell his cologne. "But tell me to stop. Tell me you don't want this, Adeline. Look me in the eye and tell me you don't feel exactly what I’m feeling right now."
I look up at him. The lie is on the tip of my tongue. I want to tell him to go to hell, and I want to deny that I don't feel whatever he's feeling, but the warmth of his gaze is on me, and I can't tell that lie.
"I can't do this, Percy. I need this job." I settle for a truth. I really do want him, but not at the expense of my future.
"We will figure it out," he promises. "But I am done playing strangers."
There is a knock at the door, and we jump apart.
Sarah sticks her head in, looking terrified. "Mr. Akilov? Is everything okay? Miss Volkov needs to sign her paperwork."
Percy straightens his tie without taking his burning gaze off me. He's not even trying to be subtle.
"Miss Volkov was just leaving," he says, his voice perfectly professional again when he looks up at her. "She knows exactly where she stands."
I turn and walk out of the office, my legs even more shaky than when I went in.
I survived the island, but I don't know if I’m going to survive this internship, not with nothing left for me to hold on to stop myself from falling more for him.
I walk out of Percy’s office with my head high, but my insides are shaking so hard I feel like I might rattle apart.
The hallway is quiet, as the other interns have been moved on from the floor by a very flustered Sarah.
I lean against the cool wall next to the elevator, closing my eyes for a second. The realization washes over me again, bringing a fresh wave of shame over me. I spent two months hating him and convincing myself that I was a fool for feeling for him. I spent two months convincing myself that he was just like every other man in my life.
I, of all people, should understand how complex families are, and I forced him to reveal his secret.
"Adeline?"
I snap my eyes open to see Sarah come around the corner, clutching her clipboard to her chest. She looks at me with a mixture of pity and suspicion.
"Are you... are you okay? Mr. Akilov can be... intense."
"I'm fine," I say, pushing off the wall and smoothing my blazer. "Just a misunderstanding about my paperwork."
"Right." She doesn't look convinced, and I'm in no mood to convince her as well. "Well, the group is in the cafeteria, where they're being assigned departments."
I follow her, my mind still reeling from what Percy told me, he was done playing strangers.
Honestly, it was the opposite of what I thought would happen in our first interaction since the island. He didn't yell at me for ghosting him. Instead, he looked at me and asked me for a future.
The other interns are huddled in groups and buzzing with excitement, but when I walk in, the conversation dies instantly as they all turn to stare at me. They don't even try to keep their comments low for my ears.
"Is she fired?" someone whispers loudly.
"I heard they used to date." Another whispers back.
I ignore them all to take a seat at the edge of the room.
Sarah stands at the front. "Okay, everyone! Silence, please. I have your assignments. When I call your name, you will report to your designated associate mentor." She starts reading off names. "Tax... Intellectual Property... Real Estate..."
As she rattles off names and their departments, I find myself hoping to be assigned anywhere else other than Corporate Litigation, which is directly under Percy. I can't handle seeing him daily while trying to pretend I don't want him.
"Adeline Volkov Dmitriev to Corporate Litigation," she announces, and I find myself groaning along with the others. Though, there are some who are simply jealous or sympathizing because they know I'm already on Percy's radar.
"You will be reporting to Senior Associate Mason Bernard," Sarah continues. "He’s waiting in Conference Room B."
The name hits me like a physical blow, and the room spins beneath me. The noise of the cafeteria fades into a dull roar as the name rings in my head. Mason Bernard.
I look around the cafeteria and convince myself that there's no way it could be the person I know. I mean, Mason was a common name, and there have to be dozens of Masons in the city.
"Adeline?" Sarah prompts. "Conference Room B."
"Yes, thank you, Sarah." I whisper and force my legs to move, to walk out of the cafeteria and down the long corridor toward the conference rooms. I don't stop despite my sweaty hands and short breaths.
It’s not him. It can't be him.
I broke up with him three years ago when he was still working at a mid-tier firm in the suburbs. The Mason I know wasn't good enough for Royal & Associates. He didn't have the grades or the kind of drive and ambition needed to work at a competitive firm like this one.
I reach Conference Room B, grateful that the door is glass so I can peek in. I take a look inside, and my world stops because I'm staring at a piece of my past in my future because Mason Bernard is staring back at me with a predatory grin.