“Yes.Completed two days ago.”
“She needs security.”
“So I heard.Update relayed.She’s aware.So is the boss.You and Adrien headed back to the city?”
Adrien’s standing beside me, and he hears the question.He mouths the words, “Up to you.”
“Yes.When we’re cleared here, we’ll head back to his place.”
“Sounds good.Regardless of what she said, you should be safe.No one’s going to do anything that risks leading a federal investigation to their door.We’ll regroup tomorrow.”
ChapterThirty-Six
Adrien
Two Weeks Later
The Hamptons house sits like a quiet benediction against the steel-gray Atlantic, its weathered shingles and wraparound porch offering exactly what I’d hoped for—silence, space, and Brie.After two relentless weeks, this borrowed sanctuary feels like breathing again.
I watch her from the kitchen window as she stands on the deck, coffee mug cupped in both hands, golden strands whipping around her face in the salt breeze.Even in jeans and an oversized sweater, she maintains that ballerina-straight posture—the one that never quite relaxes, even when she’s supposedly at ease.
My phone buzzes on the counter.Margot’s name flashes across the screen for the third time this morning.I let it go to voicemail again.
“Avoiding someone?”Brie asks as she slides back through the French doors, bringing the scent of ocean air and the faint warmth of sunshine with her.
My father and I have more or less put this behind us.At least, last week he called to confirm my size hadn’t changed as he said he was holiday shopping with mom.The conversation was short, slightly tense, and complete bull.Mom made him call.Less than two weeks—better than the two months required for him to have a cordial conversation after I told him I wanted Margot to take the reins.
“Call her,” Brie urges, not with the brash emotion the women in my family leverage, but in that way she possesses, a blend of soft and firm.
I pick up the phone.She answers on the second ring.
“Margot,” I say.
“I can’t believe I had to hunt you down.”It’s true.I avoided her calls.
“I’m on the line now.”I lean back against the counter.“Go ahead.Say what you need to say.”
“And what exactly do you think I need to say?”Yes, she’s still pissed.
“You hate me.I get it.”
“I don’t hate you.You don’t get it.Jesus, Adrien, you risked everything.”
“There was a bigger picture at play.”
“Bigger?Than the d’Avricourt brand?”
“Yes.”I meet Brie’s gaze and she takes a step back…and is she smiling?
“You are unbelievable,” Margot snaps—and then her voice shifts, pitched into a cruel imitation.“‘Take the lead, Margot.It’s all you, Margot.’And then you sabotage?—”
“I did no such thing.And might I remind you that nothing has happened?All the fallout has happened stateside.”
“You burnt our source.We’ll never get competitive insights again!”
“Stolen.That’s what you mean, right?”
“Don’t go getting judgmental.Everyone does it.”
