Chapter 144: Adeline

Adeline's POV

The air in the penthouse was different now that us women were complete. Melissa and Evelyn didn't have to be here, but they came to stay with us.

"I'm not leaving my daughters and my grandchildren to wait it out alone." We weren't going to be sitting around doing nothing, but I didn't tell her that.

"Me, too," Melissa said, and I held my breath. Zara did, too, but thankfully, Evelyn didn't hear, or she was choosing not to respond.

Either way, the tension between them had been replaced by the shared hatred of a common enemy who happened to be Ilya.

They sat together at the dining table. I thought they would sit together in awkward silence, but I was happy to learn that Melissa had bought old photographs of me. It was embarrassing, but I didn't mind. My biological mother and the woman who had raised me giggling over old photographs of me was a sight I never thought I’d see.

Percy had been gone since morning. The image of that pristine white onesie sitting in the ashes of that warehouse had turned him into a ghost. It bought out the mob king in him. It was scary, but at the same time, I knew he was simply doing what needed to be done.

"You’re staring at the elevator again, Adeline," Zara said softly. She was sitting across from Ella, who still had her laptop glowing as she awaited further instructions from Alex.

"I'm just worried," I admitted.

"Adeline, you know you have nothing to worry about. Percy is formidable. He doesn't get caught. He does the catching."

"I know," I whispered, rubbing the small of my back. The twins were restless as if they could sense the tension in the air. "But Ilya isn't playing by the rules; he's hiding behind his side piece to do his deed."

Mason was long gone from our lives, but he was truly the worst lawyer I could think of. He got disbarred and shunned after his connection to my father was discovered by Percy. Except he didn't stop there, he tried to run me off the road in a fit of petty jealousy.

The lawyer Ilya was hiding under was one of the sleaziest lawyers in New York. Rowan Crawford had no problem defending the worst of the worst people as long as they were willing to pay his hefty fees.

It was no wonder Ilya had chosen him and he had accepted.

When I was done working on my brief for today's deposition, I addressed them. "I hope you all read what I sent to your mail. This is an informal hearing, but it will determine the outcome of this case. Are you ready?"

"We’re ready, Addie," Evelyn said, standing up. She looked every bit the Whitmore matriarch in a sharp charcoal suit that I was sure Zara had designed for her.

She walked over to Melissa and placed a hand on her shoulder. "If we’re going to do this, we do it together. I won't let him use the past to destroy our future."

Melissa looked up in determination. "He thinks because I was scared of him for twenty-six years, I’ll be scared of him today. He’s wrong."

I looked at the two of them. The reconciliation had happened in the quiet hours of the night. With tears, apologies, and the shared realization that Ilya was the singular cause of all this.

Now, they were a wall that Crawford wouldn't be able to climb.

"Alex is waiting downstairs," I said, checking my watch. "Let’s go show them that the Whitmores don't break."

The conference room we were using was a fortress. Alex and his team had swept every inch of the conference room before we arrived.

Alex stood by the door, his gaze occasionally drifting to Zara. Despite the chaos, they still managed to talk to each other in a way only they understood.

Rowan Crawford was waiting. He was older than Mason, which made him even more irritating than Mason. His eyes reminded me of a shark even as he was smiling. He wasn't suing under Ilya’s name yet, they were still operating under the guise of Eric Weeks to right what was wrong, whatever that was.

"Miss Volkov," he said in that smarmy voice of his. "I trust your birthday was memorable. Such a shame about the warehouse. I hear the cleanup is going to be quite expensive."

"The cleanup is handled, Mr. Crawford," I said, taking my seat. "Let's get to the deposition. My clients are busy women."

For three hours, he tried to pry. He asked Evelyn about her negligence and Melissa about her criminal history, but every time he threw a punch, the mothers stood together. When he tried to shame Melissa, Evelyn spoke up for her. When he tried to paint Evelyn as cold, Melissa testified to the grief she’d seen from afar. They were untouchable.

Except he had one more card to play. It had to be a sweet card from the way he was grinning.

"We have an affidavit," Rowan said, sliding a folder across the table. "From a former associate of the Akilov syndicate. He claims that the recovery of Adeline Volkov was a staged event."

"What?"

"He claimed that the Whitmores knew where she was all along and only found her when they saw that she was important to Percy Akilov became a financial necessity. He’s calling the entire family a fraud."

We all froze in our seats. This rubbish claim, if it ever got out, would cause a lot of scandal for Whitmore Company.

"That’s a fabrication," I hissed.

"Is it?" Rowan smirked. "He’s prepared to testify. He says he has recordings of the negotiations between Charles Whitmore and the party that came forward."

I felt a sharp cramp in my stomach, and I stood up immediately, making my chair scrape harshly against the floor. "This deposition is over. You're in danger of perjuring yourself, Mr. Crawford. Keep this up and I will have your license revoked by dinner.

"I look forward to it, Miss Volkov," he smiled. It was when Alex stepped into the room and glared at him that made his proud smirk drop.

We moved toward the elevator in a tight formation. Zara was typing furiously on her tablet. "Adeline, the affidavit he was talking about, if they can link those recordings to a voice match of Charles, we're in trouble. Even if it's AI-generated, the damage will be done before we can prove it's fake."

"He’s trying to provoke us," I said, leaning against the elevator wall. "Divide and conquer, it's smart."

My phone buzzed from a text from a restricted number.

"The first one was white, Adeline. The next one will be red. I wonder if "twins" means I should send two?"

"Alex, there's a problem." He was in front of me immediately. "Call Percy. Tell him the lawsuit is just the smoke. The fire is coming for the penthouse. This was a distraction just as we suspected."