Chapter 61 Percy
Percy’s POV
The city streaks past the tinted windows of the SUV in a blur, and the city's sounds are muted so the only thing I can focus on is the frantic, erratic beating of my own heart.
Five million dollars. I feel betrayed but also terribly angry. It's the terror I feel that wins, though.
Lucia is cornered. She knows she is running out of time. If she has been pulling public records on my trust, then she knows that my marriage to Adeline changes the way it'd have been. Right now, as an unmarried man with no legal heirs, if something happens to me, the estate reverts to Richard, but if Lucia manages to ingratiate herself to me, then she might have a shot at a piece of my estate. Or worse, she might view Adeline as the ultimate obstacle to her payday.
"Grigori, report," Tiny demands into the radio as we swerve around a delivery truck.
"I knocked on the master bedroom door," Grigori’s voice crackles back. "Ms. Adeline said she is resting. She did not open the door. Ms. Lucia is in the kitchen."
"Did she sound okay?" I demand.
"She sounded... upset, sir, but she insisted she was fine."
"Keep a man outside the master bedroom. Nobody goes in or out. We are only minutes away."
Of course she is upset. She received a crushed toy car from a psychopath this morning, and I left her alone with a woman who has been subtly tearing her down and making her feel like an outsider in her own home.
I don't wait for Tiny to open the door. I shove it open when we pull up before sprinting across the sidewalk and through the lobby. Tiny matches my stride, his presence a dark, looming shadow at my back.
I swipe my keycard, and the ascent to the penthouse takes forty-five seconds, but currently, it is the longest forty-five seconds of my life.
The doors open directly into the foyer, and I rush into the house.
"Adeline!" I shout, my voice echoing through the quiet apartment. Instead of Adeline, Lucia steps out of the kitchen wearing her silk kimono, holding a glass of sparkling water, looking all motherly.
"Percy, darling," she says, her brow furrowing in perfectly feigned concern. "Why are you shouting? You’re going to frighten the poor girl. She is very delicate right now."
I don't stop or even look at her. I march straight past her, my shoulder brushing hers hard enough to make her stumble.
"Percy!" she gasps in offense.
I ignore her, striding down the hallway toward the master suite. Grigori is standing by the door, his arms crossed. He steps aside immediately as I approach.
I grip the handle to find it locked.
"Adeline!" I pound my fist against the door. "Adeline, open the door. It’s me."
There is a long pause. I can hear the faint sound of a zipper. Then, the lock clicks, and I push the door open.
Adeline is standing at the foot of our bed, wearing her heavy winter coat, the one she wore the day she walked into the police station to give her statement against Mason.
On the bed, her black duffel bag is zipped shut, and next to the bag, sitting pretty on the bedrest, is her engagement ring.
"What is this?" I whisper, the words barely making it past my lips. My eyes dart from the ring to the bag to her pale, tear-stained face.
"I’m leaving," she says. Her voice is dry and she won't look me in the eye, choosing to stare at a spot on the wall just over my shoulder. "I called a car. It’s waiting downstairs."
"Leaving?" I step into the room, my hands raising instinctively, as if trying to calm a wild animal. "Adeline, baby, what are you talking about? Where are you going?"
"I don't need your security!" she shouts. "I don't want your security, Percy! I want you to be safe, and you’re not safe as long as I am here."
"That’s insane. Ilya is trying to get to you..."
"Ilya is using me to destroy everything I love!" she screams, grabbing the strap of the duffel bag. "Look at you! Look at the bags under your eyes. Look at the way you jump every time the phone rings. You’re drowning inside, Percy. You are drowning, and I am the cause."
"Who told you that?" I demand, but I already know the answer. "Did she say that to you? Did Lucia tell you that?"
Adeline shakes her head, swiping angrily at her tears. "It doesn't matter who said it. It’s the truth. I would rather walk out that door right now and take my chances on the street than watch you bleed for me."
"You are not a target on my back," I say, closing the distance between us. I grab her shoulders, holding her firmly, forcing her to look at me. "You are my entire world. If you walk out that door, there is nothing left for me to protect."
"Percy, please," she begs, her voice breaking into a sob. She drops her forehead against my chest, her resolve crumbling. "I’m a liability. I bring nothing but monsters to your door. Your mother was right."
The anger inside me doubles until it threatens to spill over, but I squash it down, at the risk of pouring out my frustration on the wrong person.
I wrap my arms around her and bury my face in her hair. I held her so tightly that I could feel how terrified she was.
"She is not my mother," I whisper fiercely into her ear. "And she is a liar."
I pull back just enough to look into her eyes. I see the surprise in it. I reach into my jacket pocket and pull out the crumpled, yellowed pages of the relinquishment agreement.
"I went to the archives," I tell her, my voice shaking with a rage that threatens to consume me. "I wanted to update the trust to protect you. I found this instead. She didn't leave because she was scared of Richard, Adeline. She left because he paid her five million dollars to walk away and never look back."
Adeline freezes as she stares at the paper in my hand, consuming the content.
"She spent it all," I continue. "She is broke. She came back because she knows I have access to the primary estate. She isn't trying to protect me from you. She is trying to eliminate you so she can get to my money."
Adeline looks from the paper to my face to the open doorway.
Her shock slowly transforms into something else, and the fear evaporates to be replaced by rage. In that moment, she becomes Ghost, the girl who survived a monster of a father and the woman who survived Mason.
"She gaslighted me," Adeline whispers. "She sat in my kitchen, drinking my tea and convincing me that the only way to prove I loved you was to abandon you."
"She almost won," I say, my thumb brushing the tear track off her cheek. "But she forgot one thing."
"What?"
"I don't lose," I say and take her hand to lace my fingers through hers. I turn toward the doorway.
Lucia is standing at the end of the hall, subtly listening for the end she has carefully orchestrating. Our eyes meet before her eyes drop to our joined hands.
"Tiny," I call out, my voice echoing down the hall. He steps into view, his massive frame blocking the exit to the elevator.
"Yes, Boss."
I look dead into Lucia’s eyes. "Pack her things. She’s leaving."