Chapter 22 Adeline
Adeline POV
I almost trip in my quest to hear him.
"Yes, I need a full forensic sweep of an employee’s digital footprint. Mason Bernard, senior associate."
Percy paces the floor.
"I want everything on him. Emails, texts, cloud storage, hidden drives."
"What?" He pauses, then says it again. "I’m looking for a folder containing personal data on Adeline Volkov. He’s using a private server, likely encrypted."
Another pause.
"No," Percy says, his voice dropping to a chill. "I don't just want it deleted. I want it transferred to me, and then I want you to plant the flag."
Plant the flag? I don't know what that means, but it sounds like something that could ruin a man's life.
"Freeze his accounts," Percy continues. "All of them. Flag his bar license for review regarding an ethics violation. I’m filing a formal complaint with the State Bar in the morning for gross misconduct and extortion."
He stops pacing. "Also, send a security detail to his apartment. Just two men. They shouldn't touch him, but they should be visible. Let him know he's being watched."
My heart hammers in my chest. Not only is Mason being fired, but Percy is also making sure he finds it hard to recover from this. Flagging his license will make it very hard for him to move up the corporate ladder, especially when employers find out he was flagged by Royals and Associates.
"One more thing," Percy says. "Cancel his access card to the building effective immediately. When he shows up tomorrow, he must not be allowed in. The doormen must offer him no explanation."
He hangs up the phone, and I carefully step back from the door, feeling for the first time just how deep Percy's influence ran. He was powerful and influential, that was a dangerous combination.
The bedroom door opens, and I stand up as if I didn't just hear his entire plan for him. He took off his jacket and unbuttoned his collar before talking to me.
"It’s done," he says.
"What did you do?" I ask.
"I took his leverage," Percy says simply. "My team will have the files by morning. Mason won't have a copy left on this planet, plus his bank accounts are frozen pending an investigation into corporate embezzlement."
"Embezzlement?"
"I can make it look like anything I want, Adeline." He walks over to the dresser and pours himself a drink. "He threatened to ruin you. I’m just returning the favor."
"He will know it was you."
"Does it look like I'm scared of him? I want him to know he has no power over you, not in my presence, and if he tries to talk to the press, I’ll bury him in so many lawsuits he won't be able to breathe."
I let out a breath. "Thank you."
"Don't thank me," Percy says. His voice is hard again. "I didn't do it for a thank you. I did it because you’re mine."
He walks toward me and stops a few feet away from me. "Except now we have a problem, Adeline."
"What problem?"
"You." He looks at me, and I see the hurt he's trying to hide beneath the anger. "You didn't trust me, so you lied to me for weeks. You let another man hold power over you because you didn't think I was strong enough to handle it."
"That’s not why..."
"It is why." He cuts me off. "You protected him because you were ashamed of me knowing your secret. You let your pride get in the way of our relationship." He sighs, rubbing his temples. "You’re sleeping in the guest room tonight."
"Percy..."
"I'm not over what you did, Adeline, and I just need you to give me some distance, okay? I don't want to yell at you, so just give me some space. Tomorrow, we will figure things out, but for now, go."
I was more than disappointed, but I was glad he was being honest with me about the way he felt, plus it was reasonable, too, so I nodded and found my own way to the guest room.
"I love you," I whisper as I leave, but he doesn't say it back. He just turns away to look out the window.
I walk out of the room, closing the door on the man who just saved my life, knowing that while I might have won the war against Mason, I am terrifyingly close to losing Percy.
The guest room is beautiful. It has floor-to-ceiling windows and a view of the city that would make anyone jealous. It is also freezing cold, but I don't complain.
I lie in the center of the massive bed, tired, but my mind won't shut down. Every time I close my eyes, I see Percy’s back turning away from me, and it makes me sad all over again.
I toss the duvet off and sit up. I spent my whole life protecting myself. I built walls so high that nobody could climb them. Nobody even tried to climb them until Percy came along, and here I was, trying to ruin the one good man in my life.
If I sleep in here tonight, what I'm telling him is that I'll never fight for him when things get tough, so I make my decision and walk down the hall to his room before I can chicken out.
I stop in front of the master bedroom door, hesitating as all the ways this could go wrong come to mind, like what I would do if he turns me back a second time. I almost turn back before I remember that I am Ghost, and Ghost never loses.
His room is dark when I enter, and I find his bed empty. Instead, he's sitting in the armchair by the window, a glass of whiskey in his hand, and he seems to be deep in thought.
He has changed into a t-shirt, and I know the moment he feels my presence because his shoulders stiffen.
"I told you to sleep in the guest room, Adeline," he says roughly, still not looking at me.
"The bed is too cold," I whisper, stepping inside and closing the door behind me.
"Adeline..."
"I can't sleep in there, Percy." I walk across the room. "I can't sleep knowing you're in here thinking I don't trust you."
"You didn't trust me."
"I was ashamed!" I tell him softly, stopping a few feet from his chair. "It wasn't about you not being strong enough. It was about me not being good enough."
"Good enough?" he scoffs. "What are you talking about?"
"Look at you." I gesture vaguely to him and the penthouse. "You’re Percy Akilov. You’re the closest thing to perfection, and you have this spotless reputation, this incredible life, but me? I’m the girl with such a difficult family background that I spent most of my adulthood trying to get away from it. " I take another step closer, and he doesn't stop me. "I didn't tell you because I wanted to be Adeline the lawyer for you. I didn't want to be Adeline, who needed to be saved. I thought if you knew the truth about how messy my life really was, you’d see just how much I was broken."