Chapter 90: Sweet Dreams Babe

Chapter 90: Sweet Dreams Babe


"Shit." Adrian's hands shook as he buttoned his shirt. The windows were still fogged up, streaked with condensation from their bodies pressed against the glass. Victoria had jumped him the second Celeste walked away - didn't even wait for the girl to disappear around the corner.

"Come here," she'd breathed against his neck, her hands already working his belt. "I want to celebrate."

It had been rough, desperate. Victoria clawing at his back, her mouth hot and demanding. The leather seats creaking under their weight. Her dress hiked up around her waist, his shirt torn in her urgency. She'd whispered filthy things in his ear - about Celeste, about Damien, about what they were going to do to both of them.

Now she sat there like nothing happened, cool as ice while he felt like he'd been hit by a truck.

"Language, darling," Victoria said, fixing her lipstick like nothing happened. Not a hair out of place. Fucking ice queen.

The car smelled like her expensive perfume and sweat. Adrian cracked a window. Cold air rushed in, making him shiver. His tie was somewhere on the floor, crumpled next to Victoria's discarded heels.

"That went better than I thought," Victoria said, checking herself in the mirror. She tilted her head, examining her reflection like she was admiring a piece of art. "Did you see her little face when I mentioned mommy dearest? Absolutely priceless."

Adrian found his tie and wrapped it around his neck. His fingers fumbled with the knot. The silk felt slippery, foreign. "You enjoyed that too much,."

"Oh, A." She used that stupid nickname that always made his skin crawl. Like they were some power couple instead of two people using each other. "Don't go soft on me now. Not when we're this close to everything we wanted."

She reached over, her manicured fingers straightening his collar with the same precision she used for everything else. Always in control. Always calculating.

"She's just a pawn," Victoria said, sliding closer. Her hand landed on his thigh, fingers drumming against the expensive fabric of his pants. "A means to an end. You can't get all weepy about her now."

Adrian knew she was right. Had known it from day one. Celeste Williams was collateral damage in a war that started long before she was even born. Her dad's disappearance, her family going broke, even that job at Kane Industries - they'd orchestrated all of it. Put her right where they needed her like pieces on a chess board.

But fuck, the look on her face when she realized how bad they'd played her. Like watching innocence die in real time.

"The recording thing," Adrian said, his voice hoarse. "She was recording us."

Victoria laughed. That sharp sound that always reminded him of breaking glass. "Let her record away. What's she gonna do with it? Run to Damien?" She leaned in close, her breath warm against his ear. It smelled like whiskey and mint and something darker. "After she torched that bridge at the office? You made sure of that, didn't you? Made sure she burned it all down?"

Adrian's hands gripped the steering wheel tighter. His knuckles went white. The resignation thing had been all Damien and his psychotic brother doing.  Perfect execution. Textbook psychological warfare.

So why did he feel like throwing up?

"She trusted me," he said. The words came out rough, like sandpaper against his throat.

"And that trust got us exactly what we needed." Victoria's fingers traced his jaw, turning his face toward her. Her touch was soft but her eyes were steel. "Don't pussy out now, Adrian. Not when we're about to bring down the whole damn Kane empire."

The light turned green. Adrian hit the gas harder than he meant to. The engine roared, and Victoria laughed as she got pressed back into her seat. She loved the aggression, the barely controlled violence. It turned her on almost as much as the manipulation did.

He thought about that folder they'd waved in front of Celeste like bait. Real evidence, real proof that Richard Kane was dirty as hell. Financial records, wire transfers, correspondence that would make any prosecutor salivate. But they'd picked and chosen what to show her, curating the truth like museum curators.

The real story about her dad was buried in there somewhere. What really happened to him, where he'd gone, why he'd disappeared. But she'd have to sell her soul to get it. She'd have to destroy Damien Kane completely.

By then, it would be too late for everyone.

"You know what the best part is?" Victoria settled back, looking like a cat who'd caught not just a mouse but the entire damn pet store. "She'll come crawling back to us. She has to now. We're her only shot at finding daddy now that she nuked things with lover boy."

Adrian wanted to argue. Wanted to think Celeste was tougher than that, smarter than that. But desperate people did stupid things. He'd built his whole career on that simple fact. Desperation was the most reliable human emotion. More reliable than love, more predictable than hate.

"And when she does come back," Victoria kept going, her voice getting that purring quality it always had when she was particularly pleased with herself, "she'll be completely ours. No more playing both sides. No more second thoughts. No more conscience getting in the way. She'll destroy Damien Kane because she won't have any other choice."

The city lights blurred past as Adrian drove toward Victoria's fancy penthouse in the financial district. Glass and steel towers reaching toward the sky like modern-day pyramids. Monuments to power and greed and everything they were fighting against.

Somewhere up in those glittering offices, Damien Kane was probably working late, clueless that his world was about to implode. Maybe he was thinking about Celeste, wondering if he could fix what had been broken between them. Maybe he still believed in redemption.

Poor bastard had no idea what was coming.

Adrian should've felt good about that. This was what he'd worked for, planned for, sacrificed for. Years of careful positioning to bring down the Kane family. Make them pay for everything they'd stolen, everyone they'd destroyed, every life they'd ruined in their climb to the top.

Using some innocent girl to do it should've been just business. Just another tool in the toolbox.

But all he could think about was that look in Celeste's eyes when she realized the depth of their betrayal. Like watching someone's faith in humanity die right in front of you.

"Here we are," Victoria announced, her voice bright and cheerful as they pulled up to her building. The doorman was already approaching, ready to help her out like she was royalty.

"Sweet dreams, babe," Victoria said, leaning over to kiss him goodbye. Her lips were soft, practiced, still tasting like victory and whiskey and the aftermath of what they'd done.

She got out of the car like she was walking a red carpet, every movement calculated for maximum effect. Left behind nothing but the lingering scent of her perfume and the weight of what they'd set in motion.

Adrian sat there for a long minute, staring up at her building through the tinted windows. The city looked cold from inside the car. Full of lights that belonged to other people living other lives, making other choices.

His phone buzzed against his leg: Package delivered. Target acquired. Moving to phase two.

He stared at the message for a long time before typing back his confirmation. He should've felt satisfied, vindicated, ready for the next stage of their plan.

Instead, all he felt was empty. Hollow. Like winning this war might cost him everything that actually mattered.

The taste in his mouth was bitter as he drove home through empty streets, past closed shops and darkened windows. Made him wonder if destroying Damien Kane was worth losing himself in the process.

Made him wonder if there was any of himself left to lose.