Chapter 60 Percy
Percy’s POV
The interrogation room down at the station smelled of stale coffee and the sour sweat of a man who knows he is losing.
I sit perfectly still across the table, watching Mason’s attorney, a slick corporate defender named Vance, squirm in his cheap suit. Detective Miller stands by the two-way mirror with his arms crossed, and he lets me take the lead. Tiny is positioned by the door, and his mere presence makes the room feel smaller.
I reach into my briefcase, pull out the clear plastic evidence bag, and toss it onto the table. The crushed toy sedan lands on the table with a thud.
Vance stares at it with a hard look. "What is this, Mr. Akilov? My client is in solitary confinement. He has zero access to the outside world."
"Your client is orchestrating a campaign of terror from a maximum security cell. This was delivered to my fiancée this morning. The courier was paid in cash by a shell company traced back to Ilya Kozlov. A shell company your client funded, mind you."
"Circumstantial evidence. You can't prove that my client ordered this."
"I don't need to prove it to a jury right now, Vance. I just need to prove it to the warden." I lean forward to invade his space. "I am going to bury your client so deep in the federal system he won't see sunlight for the rest of his natural life. Unless, of course, he gives up Ilya Kozlov’s location today."
Vance swallows hard and seems to consult himself before looking back at me.
"What will it be, Vance?"
"I... I will speak with my client, but he's terrified of Kozlov. He knows what he's capable of."
"He should be more afraid of what I'm capable of right now." I stand up and button my jacket.
"Tell Mason that Kozlov can't protect him, but I can, or I can decide to make his life a living hell. You have twenty-four hours."
I walk out of the precinct, and Tiny falls into step beside me as we head toward the waiting SUV.
"Do you think he will break?" Tiny asks.
"Mason is a coward," I say, sliding into the back seat. "He will definitely break, but it will take some time, and Ilya is getting bolder for him to start testing our defenses like that. He's getting real bold."
Dread settles in my stomach. If Ilya decides he can't get to Adeline through the security detail, what if he comes for me? If something happens to me, Adeline will be completely exposed, and who knows what will happen to her without my backing and support?
"Tiny, change of plans," I say, pulling out my phone. "Take me to the firm. I need to get into the private archives before I go home."
"Sir, Ms. Adeline..."
"I know she's alone, but this is for her good, so I need to make sure she's legally protected if anything happens to me. I’m naming her my sole proxy and beneficiary, effective immediately. If Richard or anyone tries to challenge her status, I want her backed."
The drive to the firm is a blur. When I step off the private elevator into the archive level beneath the firm, the air down here is stale and smells of old paper.
I sniff lightly and head for my personal vault, pulling out the heavy drawers that hold the most important documents of my life.
I find the master trust binders quickly and begin drafting it in my head as I search for the original incorporation documents to verify the chain of custody. I'm almost done when I remember that I need my official adoption papers to ensure Richard didn't insert a clause regarding non-blood heirs.
My fingers brush against a thick, sealed manila envelope tucked in the very back of the drawer that bears Richard’s personal seal in red wax.
I frown in confusion. I have audited my own files a dozen times, and this is the first I'm seeing this envelope.
I break the wax seal to find a stack of legal documents printed on yellow paper dated twenty-six years ago.
"Non-Disclosure, Indemnity, and Relinquishment of Parental Rights" sat there at the top of the document.
My brow furrows as I quickly scan through the words until I reach the end, where I find Richard’s aggressive scrawl of a signature. It didn't end there. On the other side of the paper, my mother's name is signed elegantly. I read through it again to understand what she signed. She signed away her right to me.
"...the undersigned, Lucia Rossi, hereby permanently and irrevocably surrenders all physical, legal, and custodial rights to the child..."
I already knew this part. She told me Richard forced her, basically bullied her into giving me up so I could have a better life, but as I turned to the third page, everything that I thought I knew vanished.
It is a bank transfer ledger, and attached to the relinquishment agreement is the release authorized by Richard Akilov as payment in full for the execution of the attached Non-Disclosure and Relinquishment Agreement. It was a sum of 5 million dollars transferred to her personal account.
"The payee agrees to sever all contact, cease all communication, and relocate outside the United States. Breach of this contract will result in the immediate clawback of the principal sum with compounding interest." I read it out loud in case my brain was missing something.
My hands begin to shake. She didn't make any sacrifice like she claimed, she willingly sold me out. She traded her fatherless son to the billionaire best friend for a five-million-dollar payday.
It was then that I began to piece everything together. She didn't come back because she suddenly missed me after two decades. She came back because the five million ran out and realized that the son she sold was now the owner of a global law firm and had more money.
Everything Adeline had been trying to tell me clicked, and I stood up in a rush.
"Oh my God," I whisper. Not only is she a gold digger, but she's also a predator, and she is currently sitting in my penthouse with Adeline. The same Adeline who has been telling me for three days that Lucia is manipulative and playing me? And how did I reward her observation? By telling her she's projecting. I'm such a fool.
I pull out my phone and dial the penthouse, and it goes straight to voicemail. Same with her phone.
"Tiny!" I yell as I rush up the stairs.
Tiny is there instantly, his hand dropping to the holster at his waist. "Boss?"
"Get the car. We are leaving right now. Call Grigori at the penthouse. Tell him to get eyes on Adeline immediately."
Tiny does as I ask. "Grigori, status on Miss Adeline."
"She is inside and asked not to be disturbed. Ms. Lucia is in the guest suite."
"Knock on the door," I order, leaning into Tiny’s phone. "Make sure she is okay, and do not take your eyes off my mother."
"Copy that, Boss."
The elevator doors open to the lobby. I break into a run, ignoring the stares when I burst through the revolving glass doors and throw myself into the back of the SUV before Tiny even has it fully in drive.
"Drive," I command. "Get me home."