Chapter 33 Disgusting devil
After dealing with Patrick at the lawyer’s office, Adeline sat in her car for a few seconds longer than necessary, her hands resting on the steering wheel as she stared ahead. The meeting had gone exactly how she expected it to go, messy in tone but simple in outcome, and for once, she felt like she had full control of the situation. Patrick had been as pathetic as ever, trying to act like he had some kind of leverage when in reality, he had nothing.
Ending things with him felt less like closing a chapter and more like cleaning up a mistake she should have corrected a long time ago, and now that that part was almost done, there was only one thing left that she couldn’t avoid any longer.
Her father.
Adeline let out a slow breath, her fingers tightening slightly on the wheel before she finally started the engine. She already knew that whatever conversation she was about to have with Jonathan Carter was not going to end well. It never did with him. He was not the kind of man who listened, and he was certainly not the kind of man who accepted things he didn’t agree with, especially when it came to her. Still, avoiding him was no longer an option, not after everything that had happened, and not after the decision she had made.
Earlier that day, she had reached out to his secretary, already expecting the answer before it was even given. Jonathan was not at home, and he was not at the office either. Instead, he had gone to one of the hotels he liked to retreat to whenever he claimed he needed time away from work. Adeline had almost laughed when she heard it, because she knew exactly what that meant. It wasn’t about work, and it certainly wasn’t about rest. It was just another excuse for him to entertain whatever young woman had caught his interest that week.
She didn’t care.
Her father being a cheating bastard was nothing new to her. It was something she had grown up watching, something she had learned to accept without question, and as far as Beatrice was concerned, Adeline had no sympathy to offer. Beatrice had once been in the same position, a mistress who had quietly waited her turn while Adeline’s mother was still alive. So if she was now being cheated on in return, then that was simply the kind of life she had chosen for herself.
The drive to the hotel was quiet, her mind focused but calm. By the time she arrived, her expression had already settled into something controlled and unreadable. She stepped out of the car and walked into the hotel without hesitation, her heels clicking softly against the floor as she made her way past the reception area. She didn’t stop to speak to anyone, and no one stopped her. The way she carried herself made it clear that she didn’t need permission to be there.
She already knew where she was going.
Years of paying attention to her father’s habits had given her more information than most people would ever have. She knew the hotel he preferred, the floors he stayed on, and most importantly, the exact room he always used. It was almost predictable, the way he held on to the same routines even when he was doing things he didn’t want others to know about.
The elevator ride was short, and when the doors opened, she stepped out immediately and walked down the hallway without slowing down. The carpet muted her footsteps, and the silence around her made everything feel strangely still. She stopped in front of a door she recognized instantly, her gaze settling on it for just a second before she reached out and pressed the doorbell.
Then she stepped to the side.
She positioned herself carefully, just out of sight of the small camera mounted near the door. If her father saw her face before opening the door, there was a chance he wouldn’t open it at all, and she had no intention of giving him that option.
She waited, but there was no response.
Her expression didn’t change as she pressed the bell again, her body still angled just enough to stay out of the camera’s view. This time, she heard movement from inside, faint but clear enough to tell her that someone was there.
A few seconds later, the door opened.
Adeline stepped back into view as it did, her eyes already lifting to meet whoever stood on the other side. As expected, it wasn’t her father.
Instead, it was a young woman she had never seen before, wrapped loosely in a robe that barely covered anything. Her hair was slightly messy, her makeup still in place, and the look on her face shifted quickly from mild confusion to irritation the moment she saw Adeline standing there.
“Who are you?” the woman demanded, her voice edged with annoyance. “And what the hell are you doing here?”
Adeline looked at her slowly, her gaze moving from her face to the robe and back again, taking in everything she needed to understand the situation. It was exactly what she had expected, nothing more and nothing less. The woman clearly had no idea who she was, and from the way she was standing there, it was obvious she saw Adeline as a problem rather than anything else.
Probably competition.
Adeline let out a quiet breath through her nose, already tired of the interaction before it had even properly started.
“I’m the daughter of the man you’re sleeping with,” she said calmly, her tone flat and unbothered. “So how about you step out of the way and let me in so I can talk to him?”
The woman blinked, clearly thrown off by how direct the statement was. For a second, she just stood there, her expression caught between confusion and disbelief as she tried to process what she had just heard.
Before she could respond, a voice came from deeper inside the room. “What’s going on?” Jonathan called out, his tone already irritated.
A moment later, he appeared. He stepped out of the bedroom wearing nothing but a robe, his expression impatient at first, but the moment his eyes landed on Adeline, it changed instantly. The irritation remained, but it was joined by something else.
Disgust.
Adeline felt the same.
For a brief second, neither of them spoke. They simply looked at each other, both clearly unhappy with what they were seeing, both silently acknowledging the situation without needing it explained.
Then Adeline broke the silence. “I guess old habits die hard.”