Chapter 494: Ready for Anything.
Harrison's words actually made Adeline feel a little guilty.
For a second there, she had really gotten mad.
"If it was all just an act, why did you bother sending those apologizing memes?" Adeline teased.
"Even if it was fake, I still yelled at you,"
Harrison admitted. "I felt guilty."
Adeline was about to laugh at how childish he was when she heard him add, "And just sending a meme isn't enough. When you get home, I'll kneel in front of you for real."
Adeline paused, her cheeks getting warm as her mind flashed to a certain pose they both knew all too well.
"Can you be serious for once?" she scolded.
"What? I am being serious," Harrison replied, completely innocent.
"Enough messing around," Adeline said, shifting the conversation. "Let's talk about something real. How are you doing? I saw all the headlines about the show."
Just thinking about it gave Harrison a headache.
He'd already ordered people to clean up the ridiculous gossip online.
He had never looked at Victoria.
All he cared about was the Thomson Group's clothes, for God's sake.
Good thing there was enough trust between him and Adeline now.
Otherwise, no explanation would be enough.
"Russell sent an idiot after me," Harrison grumbled.
"What?" Adeline was caught off guard. "You mean Victoria?"
Victoria was a supermodel, after all, hardly the type you'd call an idiot.
"Victoria?" Harrison frowned. "She's with Russell?"
"Yeah," Adeline confirmed.
They quickly swapped everything they'd figured out so far.
"So Tessa was just a decoy," Harrison sneered. "I knew Russell wouldn't pin all his hopes on a total moron."
It was not that Victoria would've made any difference.
He hadn't even looked twice at her.
"But you know," Adeline said, "when we put on that fight in front of Russell, his reaction didn't look like he'd tipped you off about us meeting."
"Which means," Harrison finished, "someone else is involved in all this."
"And Russell seems to be in the dark, too."
Harrison was already losing patience with the whole scheme. "Adeline."
"Yeah?"
"Come home."
Adeline was taken aback. "But the whole point of pretending to fight was to draw out whoever's behind all this..."
"I'm tired of pretending," Harrison said.
"Whatever comes our way, we'll deal with it together."
No matter who was hiding in the shadows, he wasn't afraid. "Whatever happens, I'll keep you safe."
Adeline's eyes softened. "I believe you. But what about yourself?"
Harrison always worried about her getting hurt, but what scared her most was the thought of something happening to him.
"I'll be fine, too," Harrison promised, a smile in his voice. "And if you're worried, you can protect me."
Adeline laughed softly, "Keep dreaming."
"Oh, so you don't want to protect me? That's kind of heartbreaking," Harrison said, pretending to sigh.
Adeline smiled.
"I'm coming to get you now," Harrison said suddenly.
Adeline blinked. "That's not necessary. I can just buy a ticket and fly back myself."
"No way," Harrison replied immediately. "I can't wait that long."
As soon as the call ended, Adeline gave a quick gesture, and a tall bodyguard appeared at her side.
"Miss Hensley?"
"Bring Alvaro to me," she ordered.
"Yes, ma'am."
The bodyguard disappeared and soon returned, practically dragging Alvaro over.
Alvaro was shaking so hard that he could barely stand, but he tried his best to keep up appearances.
"Adeline, wh... what's going on?" he stammered.
Adeline looked at him, cold and calm. "You tell me."
Alvaro tried to act tough. "Adeline, you must be mistaken. I just heard you were coming here, so I stopped by to make sure you weren't alone or bored. That's all."
Adeline had no patience for his nonsense.
"You got paid a lot, didn't you?" she said flatly.
A wave of panic swept over Alvaro as he thought, "How did she know?"
"Adeline, I..."
"Don't call me that," she snapped, cutting him off.
She had nothing but contempt for someone who'd take money to betray her.
One of the bodyguards gave Alvaro a sharp smack on the head.
"Address her as Miss Hensley."
Alvaro, trembling, managed, "Miss Hensley, there's been a misunderstanding..."
Adeline's gaze was a mix of anger and deep disappointment.
She said, "Honestly, I could let everything else go, but you shouldn't have used my late mother."
Elissa, desperate to lure Adeline to Aurgville, had talked endlessly about old times with her mother, playing on her nostalgia to get her there.
And Alvaro had been a part of that.
At this point, Alvaro realized denial was useless.
He said, "Miss Hensley, it was wrong. Were sorry... Please forgive us. We didn't have a choice. The people who found us are powerful. They told us to do this, and we couldn't refuse..."
"Is it that you couldn't refuse him, or you couldn't refuse the money?" Adeline said coldly. "You know the answer. Here's what you're going to do: you have one week to donate every cent you got from him to charity."
Alvaro's heart sank.
After everything he'd done, he wouldn't get to keep a penny.
That was a lot of money, and he had to give it all away.
Seeing his reluctance, Adeline gave a chilly smile.
"Alvaro, if you refuse, or pretend to agree and then try to play games behind my back, you'll lose more than just that money."
Alvaro gulped, finally understanding the gravity of the situation.
It was clear now. Both Adeline and whoever paid him were way out of his league.
Maybe he'd already made an enemy of one, but if he didn't do exactly as she said, he'd definitely make an enemy of the other.
"Alright. I... I get it," he stammered, practically bowing his head to the floor. "I'll donate every cent I took. Not a penny will stay with me."
"You'd better," Adeline said.
Just as the words left her lips, Elissa came running up, looking frantic.
Clearly, she'd been worried and hurried over to check on things, only to walk right into the mess.
"Mom?" Alvaro gasped. "What are you doing here?"
Elissa shot him a look, then without a word, dropped to her knees in front of Adeline.
"What are you doing?" Adeline frowned, stepping back. "Get up."
"Adeline, I'm so sorry. This was all my fault," Elissa choked out, tears streaming down her face.
"If you want to blame someone, blame me..."
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