Chapter 148: Third Person's Pov

Third Person's POV

The air at the Catskills estate was as thin and cold as the patience of the three people trapped within its walls. Outside, the mountains stood like silent giants, oblivious to the fact that the two women inside were watching their worlds burn in real time.

The interior of the safe house was a masterpiece of cedar and stone. On a normal day, Zara would be envisioning how to utilize the space to maybe capture her pieces or posting a cryptic photo from it, but not now. Right now, though, it felt like a morgue for her career.

She stood in the center of the foyer, her red silk two-piece, which was once a symbol of her creative triumph, now felt like a shroud.

Her phone was off, but she could still see the headlines in her mind. They called her the fashion fraud even though she had documented every part of her journey on the Internet. They referred to her as the heiress and her sister as the actor.

"The Soho studio is compromised," Alex said, and she almost jumped out of her skin. His voice was a low intrusion that made Zara’s skin crawl at the moment.

He was wearing the blue tie that she had gifted him during one of their several shopping trips. He wore it every morning, and this one was no different. A detail that now felt like a cruel joke to her.

He moved with mechanical precision as he double-checked the locks on doors that were already bolted. "Silas confirmed two news vans are parked at the alley exit. If you go back there, you aren't saving your sketches. You're giving them a sneaking photo of you that will sell a million copies."

"I don't care about the photos!" Zara snapped. She turned on him, her eyes bright with all the fury she had been suppressing since she was told they had to be carted off to the mountains. "Those sketches are years of my life, Alex. That studio is the only place in this city where I’m not a Whitmore or a socialite heiress. I'm simply Zara, who loves to make beautiful clothes. It’s where I can completely be myself, and you’re letting them take it from me!"

Alex didn't flinch. To him, the world was a series of threats to be neutralized. He was good at his work because he placed people in two categories: people he liked and people he didn't. It was that simple, and he never allowed his emotions to come forward while he was on a job.

Zara Whitmore was the exception to all the carefully laid out rules he had when it came to a job. Even though he didn't let it show on his face, he had grown fond of Zara in more ways than one. To him, seeing Zara break was harder than taking a bullet.

"I am keeping you alive," Alex countered as he stepped into her personal space, another way he broke his rules for her. "Fabric can be remade. You cannot. My orders are to keep you breathing. Your reputation is a luxury we cannot afford today."

"You're a robot!" Zara whispered, stepping back as if his logic physically hurt her. "You don't have a name, you don't have a life, you just have orders. You don't understand what it's like to lose the only thing that makes you real to the world."

Alex’s jaw tightened, and for a fleeting second, he looked hurt. "Yes, I am a ghost," he said, his voice so quiet it was terrifying. "I have no name that the world knows. I only have what I protect, and right now, that is you. If you want to hate me for that, do it while you’re safe."

Zara watched him go with regret. She didn't mean to lash out. She only wanted him to show something other than logic.

From the gallery above, Adeline watched the exchange with an ache in her chest. This was all happening because of her.

She reached into her bag and pulled out the platinum wedding band, the metal cool against her palm. It was the only source of comfort she had right now.

Legally speaking, she was now Mrs. Percy Akilov. The name should have been a shield, but in the light of the fiduciary integrity bylaw, it felt like a target.

She looked down at Zara, who had sunk onto the bottom step of the staircase, burying her face in her hands.

Adeline knew what Percy was doing in the city. She knew he was probably sitting in his study with Silas, looking up the home addresses of every man on the board, ready to burn their lives as they knew it to the ground. He wanted to protect her from the shadows, but Adeline knew that the shadows would only confirm the world's suspicions, especially when they had nothing to hide.

I will not be a pawn, she thought to herself as a plan began to form in her mind. "And I will not let my sister be collateral damage. Not when she has nothing to do with this."

She walked into the library and closed the heavy doors. She didn't use her cell to make the call because she knew the moment she turned on her phone, she would be bombarded with spam messages from the press.

She sat at the desk and picked up the landline to call someone she swore she no longer wanted anything to do with.

The phone rang twice. "Crawford," a sleazy voice answered.

"Rowan," Adeline said. "It’s Adeline Volkov. I have a case that requires your specific brand of... impartiality."

"That doesn't sound like a compliment to my work." He laughed. "I’ve been reading the news. It’s quite the circus."

"The board of Royal and Associates has invoked a fiduciary audit to strip me of my title as senior partner," Adeline said. "They want to pick their own shark to prove I’m a fraud. I’m preempting them. Section 12.4 of the partnership bylaws allows me to choose an independent auditor if the managing partner's vote is frozen. I’m choosing you."

"You want me to audit a mob-owned law firm?"

"You're a lawyer, Rowan. You should know not to believe everything you see literally."

"Still, I know things, you know? Percy Akilov isn't exactly known for his love of transparency."

"Percy is my husband," Adeline said, ignoring his jab. "He will give you whatever you need, but I need your name on the report, Rowan. I need the world to see that this rumor is just that, a rumor."

"It will be expensive and it will be bloody," Rowan warned.

"I don't care about the cost," Adeline said, watching Alex pass the library door. "I’m done hiding. I’ll see you in New York in forty-eight hours."

She hung up the phone. For the first time since the headlines broke, the pressure in her chest eased just a little bit now that she was doing something about it. It might not be the best option, but at least she was no longer a sitting duck. Now, she just had to assure Zara that everything would be okay.