20. Christian
TWENTY
CHRISTIAN
A table full of her favourite food and Adelaide kept her eyes glued to fucking Rowlen. She watched him the way I wished she watched me. With googly eyes and shit. Since when the fuck did, they even know each other?
Being a good man didn’t stop me from wanting to punch his pretty little face to the ground. He had his arms around my woman.
“What made you start investigating Starlight, Jake?”
She couldn’t say my name even when we fucking dated. But one meeting— after who knows how long it’s fucking been —and she said his name. Jake .
“Chill out, dude.” Osama muttered under his breath. “If you want to win Adelaide back, you gotta play the nice guy.”
The fuck? I didn’t want to win her back.
Did I?
“Shut the fuck up and eat your damn food,” I chugged a glass of water.
Osama snickered. “Someone’s moody .”
Rowlen knew about my plan earlier than Hasan. He knew about the shares and why I needed those files. He knew using Adelaide was the final straw of evidence both of us needed to put an end to this.
There was nothing wrong with him and Adelaide being friends, nothing at all. But openly blinking and making her fucking blush? I wanted to pull his eyeballs out and stuff it so fucking deep down his throat that he’d feel it for the rest of his fucking life.
“I’ve reopened a closed case. That’s when I learned about your scandal and your new… nuptials .” The bastard didn’t give a fuck when I narrowed my eyes.
Fucking dick.
“Is there any information you’re willing to share?” Hasan blew on a small piece of naan and chicken malai before feeding it to Yunus, the boy nibbled away while watching everyone with wide eyes. Rowlen wiggled his fingers at him, but Yunus turned away.
Attaboy .
When I went to grab more food, Adelaide’s plate was empty. Unmarked . I grabbed the tray full of chow mein. “You should try this.”
She glanced at the plate then at me. “I’m okay, thanks.”
My heart dropped to my stomach.
Did she not like this stuff anymore? I made butter chicken, chicken malai, chow mein, dumplings, and alfredo pasta with homemade mozzarella cheese. I thought she loved them.
Umaima stuck her tongue out at me and mouthed an indiscreet watch me . “Take this,” she placed a chicken malai on her plate and Adelaide took a bite of the chicken.
So much for being fucking friends when she didn’t consider me one.
Umaima lips curved into an obnoxious smirk.
Adelaide closed her eyes as she chewed.
Did she like ? —
She put the fork down and left the half-eaten chicken alone.
I shoved more food down my throat to help with swallowing the heavy lump. If she wanted to starve, fucking fine by me.
“We found a house.”
We spoke with the girls, Hasan made sure Starlight hired them, and Rowlen took care of their security. We’d messed up only once and that was with Ayeza. Rowlen got stuck on another case and we didn’t have backup. It was my fucking fault for thinking we could protect her without him. I messed up and was hoping I wouldn’t mess up again.
“It’s under Harry Samuel’s name. The house has been frequented a total of twenty-seven times in the past fourteen years. But no one lives there, and bills are paid monthly.”
Adelaide slid her hands under the table.
Why was it that every time I looked at her, her burdens were heavier than mine? Adelaide Mikael was supposed to fucking shine. If I could take her sadness and worries, bottle them up, and get drunk on them myself, I would. The addiction would be my downfall, but I'd rather it be mine than hers.
This was not the Adelaide I expected to see after all those years and the pinching, tantalising burn in the pit of my chest warned me that Adelaide was becoming an unexpected weakness.
“Umaima,” worry drips from Adelaide’s tongue. “Did you ever find out how the payments traced back to me?”
“Unfortunately, not yet. The code is kicking us in the ass.”
Adelaide kept her head down, wallowing in the shame eating her up inside. I hated seeing her like this. This wasn’t her fault.
Her thoughts clung to one another to make room for new ones, I could sense it. She spoke but she never speaks . Keeping them hidden from everyone else—assuming no one would listen.
Yet here I was, desperate to hear her voice.
“There was a case fifteen years ago, when Eda Mikael worked with your parents.” Rowlen never told me about the case. “I was a rookie then, but the case was thrown under the rug for reasons unknown.”
“Your father stepped down from CEO that year, which left Eda as interim CEO.”
“That was the year we lived in Turkey.” There was a hitch in her breath. My soul was crushing. She sounded fucking devastated, and I wanted to pull her against me. Fuck . Why was she sitting so far away?
“It was a year before the plane crash. They sent you on an earlier plane with your mother’s agent. Just as soon as they were about to land in New York?—”
“The plane crashed,” her voice snagged while rubbing a hand over her throat.
“I’m not sure if the case is related to the plane crash or Starlight. But one thing that’s pretty fucking clear is that Harry Samuels was there when the plane crashed.”
The intense longing to be near Adelaide hadn't faded; instead, it swelled like a balloon ready to burst.
“Our interests are aligned in some ways, but our goals are different. I’m looking for clues to help me with a case from fifteen years ago, while you guys are figuring out how Starlight’s board members are involved with interns.” Rowlen paused to let the girls absorb the information. The food had gone cold, and so had their appetites—not that Adelaide had one to start with. “I’ll help you wherever I can by offering protection and you guys give me whatever information you can find.”
“Right.” Scepticism swirled through tangled threads in Umaima’s eyes. “Isn’t this sort of…against your code of conduct.”
Rowlen dabbed a tissue to the corner of his lips. “My chief’s aware.”
“You know that we’re hackers, right?” Her mouth was set in a firm line. “The illegal kind.”
“ Umaima ,” Hasan warned. His silence spoke volumes, a testament to the weight of my secret he had harbored for years. Initially, it served as a lifeline amid the grief of losing his wife. But now, burdened by its deception, it had become an unbearable weight, pressing down on him with an almost suffocating force.
And it wasn’t like that just for him.
“I’m aware,” he smiled. “What’s next on your plan?”
He knew damn well what was next.
“We believe that Harry and the board members have been taking young female interns and violating them. We’re hoping to catch them in the act so we’re using… me for it.”
Adelaide shifted uncomfortably. Her eyes remained on the empty plate in front of us as if the blank plate could ease the tension rising in her chest as the seconds passed.
“Okay… Then why are you two getting married?”
She’ll have my protection; in case she gets hurt.
“She doesn’t have money.”
“Umaima,” Adelaide rubbed the space between her brows.
“Well, it’s true.” Umaima exasperated. “The dumbass Harry blocked her accounts, kicked her off her chair, and now she needs power in order to get back at those idiots.”
“Wouldn’t that make her untouchable to them because he has power?”
Adelaide wouldn’t look at me. She wouldn’t eat. She was barely here, hiding somewhere in her mind like it would save her from the realities of her life.
“That makes them want her more,” I said.
“What if it doesn’t work?”
“It’ll work,” I glared hard enough but Rowlen arched a brow.
Fucking asshole.
“You have to have second options, thirds even.”
“It will work, Rowlen.” The growl that emanated from within me was subdued yet unmistakably primal, carrying an eerie semblance of something otherworldly.
“With Adelaide’s skills, they’ll catch onto your little act way before you know it.”
Umaima snorted her water out, wetting the front of Osama’s shirt. He muttered a quiet great under his breath but did nothing.
“Well, that’s one way to tell her.”
Umaima sheepishly wiped her mouth, continuing, “ Maybe this is our sign to use someone else. Adelaide isn’t comfortable with it and isn’t doing well either. I’m sure we could hire someone, and it’ll work the same way.” That’s what we’d been doing since I became CEO five years ago.
Adelaide was the final rip. An impactful massacre of their actions.
Plus, we didn’t have time.
“I’ll help Adelaide.”
Silence enveloped the room, unbroken by any further words. Rowlen maintained his gaze, his expression adorned with an intolerable smirk. “Nice way of telling everyone you’ll sleep together.”
Adelaide’s lips parted, a blush moving quickly up her cheeks and reddening forehead. “That’s not what he—you don’t actually ?—”
Hasan moved his chair back, hiding a smile. “We should get going.” Yunus was now asleep in his arms. How long had we been talking? “It’s almost time for night prayers and I have to make sure this big boy doesn’t wake up.”
“You don’t believe him, right?” Adelaide pushed.
Hasan cradled Yunus. “Whatever you and him do is your business.”
“But we’re not?—”
“Well,” Umaima smacked her hands together, following Hasan. “It really is time to head out.”
Adelaide looked fucking adorable when she was shocked.
Umaima pressed a kiss to the top of Adelaide’s head before she thanked me for the food. Hasan merely looked at me and tipped his head down, a form of good luck or support— still didn’t know. Rowlen left with a subtle reminder to update him if anything new happened.
While Osama walked the guests out, heavy air thickened in the space between us.
Adelaide’s thoughts were written all over her face. “Why’d you say that?”
“Say what?” I asked, gathering the dishes.
“You made it seem like we’d sleep together.”
“No, I didn’t. You assumed it.”
She followed me into the kitchen. “What did you mean by helping me then?”
“Exactly what I said,” I put the dirty dishes in the sink. “I’m gonna teach you how to be confident.”
“You can’t just teach someone how to be confident.”
“Sure, you can.” I leaned back against the dark island with my arms crossed.
“How?”
“You’ll know when I teach you.”
She pinched her lips together. “I don’t want to be friends with you anymore.”
“Friendships are overrated anyways.”
“You’re so annoying, Christian.”
If this was the only way to get her to talk, then I’d annoy her all the time.
“Why don’t you talk when everyone’s in the room?”
She stared like a deer caught in headlights. “What do you mean?”
I backed her up against the fridge.
An imperceptible sigh escaped my lips, a silent reproach triggered by her presence and the sudden whiff of her rosy scent.
“You have thoughts and opinions, but you never say them.”
Her silence shattered instantaneously, replaced by a formidable wave of fury bearing down on me like an unstoppable force. There’s my girl .
“That’s none of your business.”
She parted her lips when I pressed against her lower half. Her existence made me hard .
I was consumed by a burning need to kiss her and pull every overthinking thought out of her. Let me drown in them. Let me bathe in them. Let her thoughts be my poison. I had enough of standing to the side and watching silence win.
Adelaide was meant to shine bright, not to hide in a dark corner where even the shadows hid from her. “Christian,” her warm breath fanned against my neck. Our bodies were flushed together and by the way she gasped— fuck , I knew she could feel my arousal poking at her.
“Dad?” He scrambled up, finding something to cover his naked body with. Eda lay there, indecent. Her breasts were out, and she didn’t care, barely peered at me under her post-orgasmic gaze.
“Son, it isn’t what it looks like.”
Eda laughed, husky and breathless. “Oh, it’s exactly what it looks like.”
The memory burned into my veins, snapping me out of this delusion and cutting out my source of living. I looked down at Adelaide and all I could see was the reminder that I couldn’t be with her.
Here she was, open for this—us.
But I couldn’t be with her because she’d inevitably end up in pain with me.
That’s what I did best.
I hurt people and let them drown in blood.
Hurting Adelaide broke me, and I couldn’t do it again.
Maybe if I suppressed it long enough, these feelings would disappear.
She blinked a few times while I pulled away. Head tilted, an unfocused gaze figuring out what just happened.
Nothing did. Nothing would.
“How are those two even siblings?” Osama strutted back into the room, completely oblivious to the bloodless fight between us.
He continued rambling on and when I walked past him, I felt Adelaide’s eyes on me the whole time.
Distance would make this bearable.
Right?