Chapter 20 Adeline
Adeline POV
"You can't let me destroy him?" Percy repeats, his voice low and dangerous. "Is that what you just said to me, Adeline?" He asked, staring at me like I just grew another head.
"Yes," I say, maintaining my stance.
"Adeline, the man just committed a crime by threatening you and a slew of other crimes that I won't have to use my influence to ruin him. This will be very easy to do." He reaches for his phone, his thumb hovering over a contact.
"No!" I lunge forward, grabbing his wrist. "Percy, stop! You can't call the police!"
"Watch me." He tries to shake me off, but I dig my nails into his sleeve desperately.
"If you call the cops, it becomes public record!" I scream, panic clawing at my throat. "The blackmail becomes evidence. My father’s identity became known. It will be on the news, so it will get out anyway. I will still be exposed."
Percy freezes a bit before lowering the phone. He knows I’m right about the publicity but that does nothing for his anger, it only shifts into something far more calculative.
"Fine," he says. "No police yet, so I’ll handle it internally. I’ll have security escort him out of the building tonight. I’ll seize his hard drives. I’ll make sure he never practices law in this state again."
"He has copies. " I argue.."He’s not stupid, Percy! He has the files on his personal cloud. He has the photos, and if you fire him, he will be humiliated, and if you humiliate him, he will leak everything within five minutes."
"So what is your plan, Adeline?" Percy explodes. "You want to sleep with him? Is that it? You want to give in to his demands to keep him quiet?"
"No! God, no!"
"Then get out of my way and let me handle him!" He steps into my space. "Why are you protecting him? Why are you so terrified of this one mediocre associate? I am the owner of the firm. I am ten times the man he is. Why do you think he holds all the cards?"
"Because he’s crazy and obsessive!" I yell back. "You don't know the type of man he is."
"Then tell me!" Percy roars, throwing his hands up. "Help me understand how he even knows to blackmail you with your father in the first place. You said you changed your name and left that life behind, so how? Did he hire a private investigator, or did he hack into your files?"
I open my mouth and close it back without saying anything.
"How, Adeline?" Percy pushes relentlessly. "How does he know exactly which buttons to push to scare you this much? It’s almost like he knows you." As he says those words, he stops and stares at me with a new interest. His gray eyes narrow at me as the pieces start to click together. He steps closer, his voice dropping to that calmness that hides just how angry he is.
"Adeline, how does he know about your father?"
"Percy, please..."
"Did you tell him?"
I look away, biting my lip so hard I taste blood.
"Look at me." He grabs my chin to force my face up. "Did you tell him?"
"Yes," I whisper, and he drops his hand as if burned. "You told him. You told him the one secret you wouldn't even tell me? You told a coworker you just met about your criminal father?"
"He wasn't a random coworker."
"Then who is he?" Percy shouts. "Who the hell is Mason Bernard to you?"
"He’s my ex-fiancé. We used to be engaged." I finally admit, and I instantly feel so much better now that I don't have to keep this to myself.
Percy looks like he’s been punched in the gut with how pale he became.
"Your... what?"
"My ex-fiancé," I sob. "We were together for three years in college. We were engaged, so I told him about my dad because I trusted him. I thought I was going to marry him."
Percy stares at me unblinkingly as he struggles to comprehend the information I just dumped on him.
"You were engaged to Mason Bernard," Percy repeats.
"I broke it off three years ago," I rush to explain. "He wanted me to quit law school because he was controlling, and he didn't think I needed it since I would be marrying a lawyer, so I left him, Percy. I haven't seen him since... until I walked into that conference room on my first day."
Percy laughs coldly and without humor.
"So that day in the car," he says, turning away from me to pace the small living room. "When I asked if you knew him. When I asked why he was touching you."
"I panicked," I plead.
"You lied," he corrects sharply, spinning back to face me. "You looked me in the eye, and you lied. You said he was just annoying. You said you didn't know him."
"I was protecting you!"
"Protecting me?" he scoffs. "How does lying to me protect me?"
"Because I knew you’d react like this!" I gesture at him. "I knew you’d want to kill him! And I knew if you went after him, he’d use my father to destroy me. I was trying to buy time, Percy. I was trying to figure out a way to shut him up without blowing up my entire life!"
"You didn't trust me," Percy says, and I see the disappointment in his face. "You let this man corner you. You let him threaten you, and you didn't think I deserved to know that you guys had history?"
"I was ashamed of the choices I made in the past," I whisper, which was the truth because how could I have ever thought Mason was the man of my dreams? "I was ashamed that I ever loved him, and I was scared that if you knew, you’d look at me differently."
"Like I’m looking at you now?"
"Percy..."
"I asked you for one thing, Adeline, and that's no secrets, but this whole time, you've been protecting your ex while sleeping in my bed."
"I am not protecting him! I hate him!"
"Do you?" Percy challenges. "Because from where I’m standing, you’re the only thing standing between him and the pavement."
"Because he can ruin my life in an instant. He wants me to be isolated so I'll have no other choice than to be with him."Percy looks down at my hands on his suit and peels my fingers off his jacket before stepping back from me.
"He wants you back, right?"
"Yes."
"He thinks he still owns you because you used to date him?"
"Yes." He nods and straightens his jacket. I don't know why he's thinking like this. "What now?"
"Pack a bag." He says quietly.
"What?"
"I’m taking you to the penthouse. I'm sure Mason knows where you live, he might come here."
"Percy, we need to talk about this..."
"We are done talking," he says. "Get your things. We’re leaving."
"And Mason?" I ask, trembling. "What about Mason?"
"Your worry about him is only going to make this worse for him, Adeline. Get moving."
The truth might have just cost me my man.