Chapter 92 Adeline
Adeline's POV
Percy and I ended up making a weekend out of our reunion. The afterglow of the weekend lingered in my veins like a drug. I was on a high, and as my cab pulled up to Zara's building, I knew there was no one else I wanted to share this moment with, no one else who could understand this moment other than Zara.
When I stepped out of the private elevator and into the foyer of Zara’s Soho penthouse on Monday morning, I was still smiling. I had spent the entire Sunday wrapped in Percy’s bedsheets, entirely isolated from the rest of the world, before finally coming back to grab fresh clothes for the work week.
Percy wanted me to move back right away, but I wanted to enjoy the feeling of just being a girl and living with another girl a little bit longer, so I was still holding off on that.
"Zara!" I called out, dropping my keys into the bowl by the door. "I need to steal your beige trench coat for today! The forecast says rain!"
Usually, my shout would be met with a sarcastic comment about my lack of fashion sense and a demand for a full recap of my weekend with the billionaire, as she liked to call Percy, but strangely, I was only met with silence.
Maybe she had a last-minute fitting she had to go for? I frowned as I slipped off my heels. She would have texted me or even left me a note if that was the case.
Plus, the apartment felt completely wrong. Zara was an early riser, so the penthouse was always filled with the low hum of a podcast or the sound of her aggressively typing on her laptop.
Today, the heavy blackout curtains in the living room were still pulled tightly shut, plunging the entire room in darkness, which again was unusual for Zara, who liked everything to be bright and cheery.
"Zara?" I called again, my voice dropping lower.
The hair on the back of my arms stood up as I walked slowly into the living room, my eyes adjusting to the dark. If my eyes weren't so widely opened, I would have stumbled into her.
She was sitting on the floor in the corner of the room with her knees pulled tightly to her chest.
She was still wearing the same silk pajamas from yesterday, based on how rumpled they were. Her dark hair, usually wrapped in a silk scarf, was now a tangled mess, but it was her hands that made my blood run completely cold.
They were wrapped tightly around a half-empty glass of vodka, and they were shaking so violently that the liquor was sloshing over the rim on the rug.
"Zara," I breathed, dropping my bag and rushing across the room. I dropped to my knees beside her. "Hey. Look at me. What’s wrong? Are you hurt?"
She didn't look at me. Her wide eyes remained fixed on a manila envelope sitting on the coffee table.
I knew that look. God, I knew it well. It was the hollow stare that I had worn when I showed up shivering at her door two weeks ago.
"Zara, talk to me," I pleaded, gently prying the glass from her trembling fingers and setting it aside. I gripped her cold hands in mine. "What is in that envelope?"
"He's going to ruin my family, Adeline," she whispered, her voice cracking in a way I had never heard before. "He's going to take everything."
My jaw tightened. The panic that usually seized my chest in situations like this didn't come because it turned to protective fury because I was seeing a loved one in that position.
Zara had opened her door to me when I was bleeding. She had clothed me, fed me, and told me I was brave when I felt like a coward. I would be damned if I let anyone touch her.
"Who?" I asked, my voice dropping to a professional calm. I let go of her hands and reached for the envelope.
"Eric Weeks," she choked out, burying her face in her hands. "He runs a private equity firm in Manhattan. He found out about a bad investment my late father made a decade ago. It was illegal and a massive oversight, but if it gets out, the SEC will freeze my family's trust. My mother will be indicted. He wants five million dollars by Friday or he releases the documents to the press and the feds."
I pulled the glossy photographs and financial ledgers from the envelope, my eyes scanning the heavily redacted blackmail demands, and I had to give it to whoever drafted this; they were professional.
"Why didn't you go to the police?" I asked, my mind already dissecting all the ways she could get out of this unscathed.
"Eric's family practically owns the precinct in this district." Zara let out a bitter laugh. "He plays golf with the federal judges. If I go to the cops, he'll know before I even finish filing the report. He's untouchable, Adeline. He has too much backing."
I stared at the paperwork in my hand. Two weeks ago, I would have told her to run, pack a bag, change her name, and disappear because men with that much money and power couldn't be beaten in a courtroom, but I wasn't that terrified girl anymore.
I was a brilliant corporate lawyer, and more importantly, I finally understood that when a monster comes to your door, you don't run.
You introduce them to a bigger monster.
Luckily for Zara, we both knew a far bigger monster.
I calmly placed the papers back into the envelope and set it on the coffee table. I reached into the pocket of my coat and pulled out my cell phone.
"What are you doing?" Zara asked, looking up at me with red, swollen eyes. "Adeline, you can't fight him in court. He will destroy your career too."
"I’m not taking him to court, Zara," I said as I pulled up my contacts. I hit the single name saved in my favorites. "I'm calling a bigger monster."
Zara’s breath hitched, immediately understanding who I was talking about. "Percy?"
"Eric Weeks thinks he's untouchable because he has a little bit of money and a few golf buddies. We are going to show him what real power looks like."
He picked up on the first ring. "Tell me you're calling to say you're coming back to bed." Percy’s deep voice greeted me, and I was instantly filled with warmth before I remembered what we were dealing with.
"I need you, Percy." I said seriously, and he immediately sobered up, too.
'Where are you, baby?"
"Zara's penthouse," I replied. "Someone is extorting her for five million dollars. He's threatening her family."
He didn't ask me for details or ask me if I was sure. He knew how important Zara was to me and that she was the one who had taken me in during our two-week break.
"I am leaving the office now," Percy said softly. "Lock the door, Adeline. Nobody gets to her. I'm bringing Alex."