Chapter 16 Adeline
Adeline POV
The flowers arrive at exactly 10 in the morning, as they have been appearing for the past week. Two dozen expensive red roses. As always, there's no card. The flowers are a burst of color in my otherwise gray office.
"Wow," the intern next to me, Jessica, has a hard time hiding her admiration for the flowers. "Secret admirer?"
I stare at the vase and at Jessica’s adoring gaze. I know who the flowers are from without a card, and I stare at the sender through the glass walls. Mason is staring back at me, too, with an expectant grin on his face.
Without breaking his stare, I grab the vase, walk to the trash can by the printer, and drop the entire arrangement inside. The entire floor grows silent, and Jessica opens her mouth. I calmly walk back to my cubicle to complete my work.
I feel Mason’s eyes burning a hole in the side of my head, but I ignore him. He has been pulling this shit since last week. It started with little trinkets or coffee, the way I like it, and sometimes, it's a card that details our old life together.
It's like he's taken my reappearance in his life as some sort of sign to rekindle our relationship, which is never going to happen, with or without Percy's presence in my life.
My phone buzzes, and I roll my eyes because it's a text from him.
'Playing hard to get, hmm? I always liked that about you. Meet me in the break room. We need to discuss the Henderson brief'
I ignore him, which brings him to my desk five minutes later.
"Adeline," he says, his voice loud enough for the surrounding desks to hear. "I need you to go over these figures with me in the break room. Now."
"I can review them here, Mason."
"Don't be difficult, Miss Volkov. Just do as I say." Knowing that I have no other choice, I follow him to the break room at the risk of being an intern that refuses her mentor.
I follow him into the break room, and he closes the door and pulls the blinds shut.
"You threw away my flowers." He didn't bother to pretend.
"I don't want your flowers, Mason. I don't want your coffee. I don't want anything from you."
"You’re just confused and stressed." He steps closer to me. "This job is too much for you. I told you back then, Addie, didn't I? That this life isn't for you. You get overwhelmed so easily, meaning you need someone to take care of you."
"I am not overwhelmed, Mason, and you know it," I snap. "Which is more than I can say for you, considering I wrote your entire brief last week."
"I let you write it," he counters smoothly. "To give you experience. See? We make a good team. We always did." He reaches out to brush a stray lock of hair from my face. "Look, I know you’re still hurt about the breakup, but I’m willing to forgive you for running away."
"Forgive me?" I laugh at his ability to make himself a victim. "Mason, I left you because you proposed to me and told me to drop out of law school to raise your future children. I didn't run away. I escaped."
"And look where it got you. You ran away from me to become an intern at twenty-six, fetching coffee for me. Is this really what you wanted? You don't miss waking up next to someone who actually loves you? You don't miss the life we had together?" He quickly goes from condescending to patronizing as he caresses my cheek in a way that makes my skin crawl.
"Take your hand off me," I warn him.
"Or what?" He leans in so closely that I can feel his breath hitting my face. "You're going to report me? And tell them what? That your ex-fiancé sent you flowers? There's no crime in that because I will accuse you of leading me on."
"Get off." I shove hard against his chest just as the door to the break room swings open. Mason jumps back and smooths his tie as if he wasn't accusing me a second ago.
Percy is standing in the doorway, and he looks between us. Me with my flushed face and Mason with a guilty smile on his face. I was sure he saw the way Mason pinned me against the counter.
I can't tell what he's thinking from the blankness of his face. In fact, he looks calm, but I know he's anything but.
"Mr. Akilov," Mason stammers as he breaks the silence. "We were just, um, discussing the Henderson brief."
Percy doesn't look at Mason at all. He sees the disgust I’m trying to hide.
"Is that so?" Percy asks, his voice deceptively calm. "The Henderson brief requires the blinds to be drawn?"
"Glare on the laptop screen." Mason lies, and it is a bad lie because there's no laptop in sight.
Percy steps into the room, walks past Mason, and stops in front of me.
"Miss Volkov," he says. "Are we finished here?"
"Yes," I breathe. "Yes, sir."
"Good. Grab your things. I need you to run a file to the clerk’s office downtown. My driver is waiting downstairs."
"Sir, she still needs to..." Mason starts.
"I didn't ask you, Mason," Percy snaps, his eyes still on me. "In fact, if I find you in a closed room with an intern again, firing you would be the easiest thing I do to you, understand?"
Mason pales. "Yes, sir."
"Go," Percy orders me, and he doesn't have to say it twice. I practically run to the office to grab my bag, ignoring their inquiring gazes, and run out again. I don't stop until I'm outside the building.
Percy’s driver is waiting outside, and he hands me a sealed envelope that I suspect contains blank paper and drives me three blocks before pulling over into an alleyway. The back door opens, and Percy slides in next to me.
"Drive," he tells the driver and slides the partition up to give us some privacy.
Percy turns to me, and he looks furious.
"What the hell was that?"
"Nothing," I lie. "He was just being his usual annoying self."
"Annoying?" Percy laughs darkly. "Adeline, he was all up in your face, and he had you cornered. Annoying would be giving you senseless tasks to run, that was borderline harassment, so tell me, what the hell was that?"
"I can handle it, no, I'm handling it."
"You didn't handle it, Adeline, you were terrified!" He reaches for my hand, but I pull away, and the rejection makes him flinch. "Why are you protecting him? Why won't you let me fire him?"
"Because I can't!" I yell, unable to hold back my irritation. "It's... it's complicated, okay?"
"What is complicated about it? He’s a creep. I’m the owner of the firm. I snap my fingers, and he’s gone." He grabs my shoulders, forcing me to look at him. "Do you know him? Is that it?"
He’s getting too close to the truth, and I can't have that.