Chapter 19 Adeline
Adeline POV
My apartment is dark and empty when I reach it. I make sure to lock the door and engage the deadbolt before I slide the chain into place. It still doesn't feel enough. It doesn't make me feel safe enough from Mason. It feels like he's outside the door, ready to ruin my life or what's left of it.
I pace the living room and finally check my phone to see that I have three missed calls and two texts from Percy.
Percy: Where are you? It’s 9:30.
Then later, he texts. Adeline? Is everything okay?
I stare at the screen, and I feel the tears welling up, blurring my vision. I have to end it, it's the only way out of this mess. I have to break both of our hearts to save myself. It's selfish, but I have no other option. It's the only way I can avoid him getting dragged into my mess. Mason will keep my secret, Percy will avoid negative PR on his company, and Mom gets her happy ending. Everyone is happy as long as I break it off with him. I’m the only one who loses, but it's fine because I’m used to losing.
I sink onto the floor, pulling my knees to my chest. I sob into the silence, grieving the relationship that hadn't even really started yet.
"Outside, you’re mine." Well, not anymore. I'm still moaning my fate when I hear a sudden pounding on my door that makes me scream. On impulse, I grab a vase from the table and hold it in front of me as some form of protection.
"Adeline! Open the door!" I freeze when I hear Percy's voice. It's midnight according to the time on my phone.
"Adeline!" He sounds scared and furious. "I know you’re in there! Your bike is outside! Open the door before I break it down."
Knowing fully well that it was not an empty threat and he would indeed break the door down, I quickly drop the verse, clean my tears, and adjust my clothes before opening the door.
"Percy, you can't be here," I whisper when I crack the door open a bit. He forces the door open and goes inside my apartment. He’s still in his suit from work, but his tie is undone and his hair is wild.
"You ghosted me," he says, kicking the door shut behind him. "Again. We had a deal, Adeline. We said there would be no more running and there would be no more secrets among us."
"I forgot," I lie, backing away from him. "I fell asleep."
"Bullshit." He stalks toward me, grabbing my arms. "I called you several times. I called your landline, and I called the restaurant. You were meeting the client, and they told me you left thirty minutes later alone, so tell me how you fell asleep. Where have you been?"
"What do you want me to say, Percy? I told you I came home and fell asleep. You know what? I want you to leave if the only thing you will do is yell at me," I tell him, and he looks at me with disbelief, like I just slapped him.
"Get out? Three days ago you told me you trusted me. Tonight you’re telling me to get out? What happened?" He scans my face, his eyes narrowing as he sees my swollen eyes.
"Percy..."
"You've been crying." He says in a matter-of-fact voice.
"I’m tired, Percy. Just leave."
"Did he touch you?" Percy’s voice drops to a growl. "Mason. Did he touch you at dinner?"
"No."
"Then why are you shaking?"
"Because I don't want to do this anymore!" I shout out the lie. "I can't do this, Percy! The sneaking around, the lying. It’s too much for me, and I want out."
He goes still. "You want out?"
"Yes, I want to focus on my career. I want to be a successful lawyer, not... not your hidden girlfriend. This has been a mistake from the start."
Percy stares at me with raw hurt in his eyes that breaks my heart, but I hold on to my resolve.
"You’re lying," he says quietly.
"I’m not."
"You’re a terrible liar, Ghost, always have been." He shakes his head. "You don't want out. You’re scared. Who scared you?"
"Nobody!"
"Was it Mason?" He moves closer, ignoring the distance between us. "What did he say to you? Did he threaten you?"
"Percy, stop!"
"Did he threaten your job?" Percy demands, his voice rising. "Did he threaten to tell HR? Why won't you let me handle this?"
"This is not something you can handle, Percy," I yell.
"Baby..." He reaches for me again, but I snatch my hand away from him.
"He knows everything, Percy, everything, so no, you can't handle this, okay? So just back off and get out of my house and my life and stay out."
Instead of doing as I asked, he takes a seat on my couch and regards me with a curious expression. "He knows what?"
I debate lying to him, but I know he won't leave until he gets the truth, so maybe the truth will be enough to drive him away.
"He knows about my father."
"Your father?" Percy frowns. "You said you didn't have a relationship with him."
"I don't because he's in prison." I look up with tears in my eyes. "My father is Ilya Kozlov. He’s a gang leader. He’s serving fifteen years for aggravated assault. Mason has all the records, and he's threatening to leak them if I don't do as he says."
"Okay."
"Okay?" I let out a hysterical laugh. "Percy, he’s a criminal, and Mason is going to tell everyone. He’s going to tell the partners. He’s going to tell Richard. He’s going to tell the world that the great Percy Akilov is sleeping with the daughter of a thug."
"Okay?"
"Okay, Mason won't stop until I break up with you and go back to him."
I see the exact moment everything clicks in his mind because he goes very, very still.
The confusion on his face is replaced by a darkness so deep that it makes the hair on my arms stand up.
"He tried to blackmail you," Percy says softly.
"He said I have twenty-four hours."
He steps forward and pulls me into his arms, and I try to push him away. "Percy, you don't understand. If this gets out..."
"Shh." He holds me tighter, crushing me against his chest, and one hand cradles the back of my head. "I don't care about your father, Adeline. I don't care if your father is the devil himself. You are not him."
"But Richard..."
"Richard doesn't run my life, and he certainly doesn't choose who I love. You think I’d leave you because of where you came from? Adeline, look at me. I was an adopted child that came from nothing."
"I..."
"I'm going to destroy him, Adeline. So much that he will wish he never crossed you. I'm going to make him regret his actions. He dares to blackmail you into sleeping with him?"
"Percy, no."
"What?"
"No, you can't destroy him." He releases me. "I can't let you destroy Mason, Percy."