Electric Blue and Catnip - 9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9

Lily walked into the Plaza Athenee at nine o’clock in morning for her meeting with Alexi’s accountant and lawyer. She’d chosen her favorite Armani for armor. The black jersey jacket and pencil skirt gave her the extra confidence needed to face Taka Ichido. Her three-inch black suede heels by Christian Louboutin boosted her height.

She gripped her black briefcase tightly and headed into the Arabella restaurant. A cordial relaxing ambiance enveloped her. For a moment, she couldn’t help wishing she were coming here for a relaxing breakfast. A charming young woman led her to the private dining room.

She found Taka Ichido having breakfast, his nose buried in the New York Times. He glanced up casually when the door closed behind her. She bowed in greeting and he stood up putting his newspaper on the table.

“Mikado, good of you to show up,” he said offering her short bow in return to hers.

His comment prompted a wary glance at the thin silver wristwatch on her left hand. It was nine o’clock. She wasn’t late. She placed her briefcase on a side table and took a seat at the table on one of the set places on his right. He waited until she was settled to take back his seat.

“I took the liberty of ordering for you. You do still prefer grape fruit for breakfast?”

She smiled. “I’m surprised you remember, Mr. Ichido.”

“Call me Taka, Lily. Mr. Ichido sounds weird coming from you.” He put the paper on the table and sat back in his chair to study her. His light chocolate eyes were unreadable as he fixed his gaze on her. At one time, when she’d first started working at Kotaru Industries, she’d thought him unbelievably handsome. He still was she mused.

His thick handsome black hair invited her fingers for a stroke. His utterly masculine tall silhouette clad in a navy blue suit with a light blue shirt. He sipped his coffee and her gaze fell on his lips. He put his cup on the saucer and she met smiling eyes. He’d caught her looking. She blushed. The door opened and a waiter brought in her breakfast tray. She used the distraction to gather her wits.

Taka was an elite lawyer, born to middle class parents. He’d worked his way through high school and pre-Law classes, graduated first class honors and been sent to Harvard Law school by a benefactor. He’d joined a very private Law firm in Tokyo after graduation. They had made him a partner the moment he landed the Kotaru family account.

“How is New York treating you and Alexi?” Taka asked when the waiter left.

“Fine,” she answered with a slight shrug. Alexi had left for the studio in a cloud of excitement. She was glad the date with Joshua had inspired him. “Alexi is working happily at the studio. Tomorrow we are due for a short meeting at NYU. He’s agreed to do a summer project with a group of students there.”

“Sounds exciting,” Taka said. “What about you, Lily?”

Was he asking because he wanted to know her personal life? She frowned; she could be misreading the question. She wrinkled her nose at her grapefruit. “Why do you want to know?”

“I’m just curious.” Taka shrugged nonchalantly. “Well, never mind. I’m glad you came in before Stephen. Allegra asked me to pass you a message.”

Lily glanced at him warily. She didn’t want another warning or judgment on her trust.

“As you know, the accountant discovered some discrepancies with Alexi’s personal credit card. Alexi’s previous manager took liberties with his funds. Because of that, we started the expense account you run with Stephen on Alexi’s behalf. We also implemented a watch on his personal accounts to monitor any unusual activity.”

Lily sat back in her seat and nodded. “Stephen explained it to me when I took the job. Will you believe me if I tell you that I didn’t know about this? I didn’t know the card was missing until yesterday. Why didn’t you call me when you first found out?”

Taka shrugged. She narrowed her gaze when he didn’t comment.

“You checked me out.” She tried not to feel hurt by that. It was just good business.

“You know the drill, Lily. The suspect is always the one closest to the victim. If you’d like to know, Allegra fast tracked the investigation. She didn’t think you were responsible, but you understand we had to look into every possibility. It would have devastated her if you’d been responsible.”

“She called me this morning.” Lily frowned. Allegra hadn’t sounded sure of her trust. Taka noted her confused frown and elaborated.

“We just got the confirmation thirty minutes ago. You’ve been cleared. I’m looking into Adrian Rosen now. We should have started with him, but I didn’t know he was staying at the penthouse.”

Lily shook her head. She hated this feeling of suspicion she had toward Adrian.

The thought of how hard that betrayal would hit Alexi made her sick to her stomach. Her appetite escaped and she pushed away her grapefruit. “Taka, he wouldn’t do that to Alexi.”

“Adrian has now become our primary suspect.” Taka explained gently. “Stephen is running late, so I’ll go ahead and give you a short overview. Alexi’s private banker alerted Stephen to a very large cash withdrawal last week. He thought Alexi had forgotten to call it in himself. The call prompted an audit and we found other purchases on the credit card that raised red flags. Alexi’s financial habits have been very predictable this last year and a few things were off base.”

“We found out the credit card was missing yesterday. Anyone out there could have been using it. Alexi can be a bit absent-minded and he could have left the card at a restaurant.”

“Whoever is using the credit card is equipped with Alexi’s personal information.” Taka’s gaze settled on her. “That is the reason you were a suspect in the first place. The nature of your relationship with Alexi demands you know his personal information. Since we cleared you, it’s now Adrian Rosen’s turn. If he’s clean, then it should be fine. We’ll move on to the ‘anyone out there’ you’re so eager to blame.”

The memory of a smiling Alexi looking into Adrian’s face filled her thoughts. There was nothing easy about this situation. Taka’s tone was so annoyingly calm. Couldn’t he feel the slight tremors of the threatening earthquake? She shook her head with worry. She might not like how Adrian treated Alexi, but this was beyond the normal for Adrian. She liked to think that he still cared for Alexi.

“Adrian has asked Alexi to do a concert for him to promote his modeling agency.” She confessed quietly. Her gaze fell away from Taka. “I yelled at Alexi for agreeing to do it without talking to me. He gets stubborn when it comes to Adrian.”

“If Adrian’s responsible for this he’s going to jail, Lily. There is no doubt of that. The amounts he’s stolen are in the tens of thousands. Allegra is Alexi’s power of attorney when he’s not living in Japan. It is an important aspect of living his life the way he does. If something were to happen to him, Allegra wanted the power to be able to help him without interference from outsiders. She will push the charges through.”

Adrian in jail, she frowned. Alexi would fight it to the end. She knew it.

“Why is Adrian in the penthouse?” Taka asked severely. “Doesn’t he have his own apartment?”

“Alexi insisted he wanted to stay friends with Adrian. Against Alexi's agent, Peter and my advice, he invited Adrian to stay at the penthouse for a while. We figured it would help Alexi with his music, but lately things have been going wrong. Adrian is never at the penthouse. On Sunday, he ditched a dinner Alexi prepared for him. Alexi got hurt; he’s still clinging to their stupid relationship.”

Taka crossed his arms against his chest thoughtfully. “Have you told Alexi about the credit card issues?”

“No,” Lily replied quietly. “As far as he knows, the card is lost and Stephen is sorting out the situation.”

“Fine, I’ll take on the role of telling him.” Taka offered without a second thought. “Adrian is going to be charged with fraud.”

“You’ve decided he’s responsible.” Lily looked at him with wide eyes. “Aren’t you jumping to conclusions?”

“I’m hardly ever wrong.” Taka smiled at her his gaze wistful. He studied her for a moment before he continued. “I’ve only been wrong once.”

She lifted her brow in question and he sighed. “I’m sorry how things ended between us.”

Lily laughed and shook her head. “Ended, you say that like they began at all.”

“They might have if you hadn’t joined Alexi’s team.” Taka accused with a narrowed gaze. “I was going to ask you out. I thought you liked me enough to kiss me at the Kotaru annual ball five years ago.”

“So what, if I did,” Lily asked. She reached for her coffee cup and traced the handle with her nail. That kiss had been unexpected, magical. Girls like her though…, she shook her head. No, it wouldn’t have worked. She was too ambitious to be Taka’s anything. She blinked away nostalgia and flashed him a small smile. “You didn’t have time for me, Taka. Besides, I had to make a choice when I got the chance to be Alexi’s manager. I made the best choice for me.”

Taka kept his silence for a moment. She looked at him to judge his reaction to her answer. His lips twitched into a slight smile. “Does that mean you won’t come out to dinner with me while I’m in New York?”

A date with Taka Ichido, how tempting, she sighed. She picked up her coffee cup and took a steadying sip. “Alexi needs me now. If your suspicions are correct, he’s going to need my full attention.”

“He won’t need you forever. Say yes, agree to see me?” Taka asked leaning his elbows on the table to study her. His hot gaze caressed her breasts and she flushed. “You look stunning this morning, Mikado.”

“Now you’re embarrassing me.” She accused with a small smile secretly pleased by the comment. “Don’t flirt, Taka.”

Taka chuckled holding her gaze captive. “Fine, have it your way. I hope Alexi knows just how much I hate sharing you.”

Lily blushed at his possessive glance. The door swung open and she sipped her coffee as Stephen rushed in to the dining room. He greeted them both with a hurried hello.

“What’s wrong?” Taka asked as Steve opened his laptop on the dining table beside Taka.

“I can’t prove Adrian’s responsible. There is no proof he forged Alexi’s signature. The online purchases show Alexi’s personal information. The cash withdrawal is from an ATM. The bastard is wearing a cap in the ATM footage. What do we do, Taka?”

Lily stood up and moved to stand behind Taka so that she could look at the video from the ATM. A soft gasp escaped as she caught sight of a very familiar jacket.

************************************************************************

“Hey, you have a visitor,” Andy’s voice broke Alexi’s concentration. He glanced up from the notes he was scribbling on his music sheets to look at Andy in the control room. Andy pointed to the door connecting into the live room. He dropped the pen on the piano when he saw Adrian standing at the door.

He waved Adrian in and smiled in welcome. Adrian looked good dressed in faded blue jeans and a black t-shirt. “Adrian, what are you doing here?”

“Can’t a friend come to visit?” Adrian asked coming to give him a tight hug. “I tried your phone, but it’s off, I figured you must be writing.”

Alexi pulled back from Adrian’s hug. “Ah, yeah, I didn’t want to be distracted. I woke up with music in my head. I want to finish writing it before it disappears, you know how that goes, right. What time is it?”

“It’s twelve-thirty. Want to get something to eat, it will be my treat?”

Alexi glanced at his notes. They were almost finished and he didn’t want to give up the thread of inspiration. “Uhm…”

Adrian chuckled and reached out to pull at his left ear. “Fine, we’ll order Chinese. I don’t want to stop inspiration. Did you tell Lily about the gala?”

Alexi sat on the comfortable piano bench. Adrian moved around the room touching the various music instruments on stands. He picked up his pen and stared at it his thoughts straying to Lily. He’d left her dressing this morning. She’d been a tad preoccupied. She was keeping something to herself. “I did, she wasn’t happy. She’s thinking about it.”

“I thought she might be upset. Alexi, you don’t have to follow everything she says. Live your own life.”

Alexi shrugged. “I am living my life how I want. Lily looks out for me.”

“She’s under your mother’s thumb.” Adrian protested turning to look at him, his green eyes piercing as they met his. “I thought you wanted to be free of the Kotaru name.”

“My last name is the reason you’re asking me to do a gala for you.” Alexi retorted placing the pen on his notes. “How is it any different from working with Lily? Besides, Lily is my manager, not part of Kotaru Industries or the name.”

“Then why is she meeting Taka Ichido at the Plaza Athenee?” Adrian asked.

“What?” Alexi frowned. Why hadn’t Lily mentioned Taka was in town? “How do you know that?”

“I saw her this morning at the Plaza. I tried to get her attention when she walked in but I couldn’t. She went into the private dining to have breakfast with Taka Ichido.”

Lily and Taka, Alexi laughed. He’d once suspected she liked the family lawyer. Lily never mentioned it, but their attraction was hard to miss. “They dated five years ago before she became my manager. I hope they’re finally getting together. Aren’t you being paranoid? Besides, if there was something going on, Taka is obligated to call me.”

“Lily could have asked him not to tell you. People keep things from you, Alexi. You pay so much attention to your music you neglect reality. You can be so blind, Alexi.” Adrian shook his head, his expression tinged with slight disgust. It was disturbing to see it on Adrian’s handsome face.

“Stop worrying about Lily and Taka. What were you doing at the Plaza that early?” He reached for his music notes and gave them a cursory glance. He’d called a violinist to come to the studio minutes before Adrian had walked in. He couldn’t wait to see what the adjustments he’d been making all morning would sound like. He forced his attention back to Adrian. “Did you have a breakfast date?”

Adrian hesitated before he answered. “I was meeting someone.”

Alexi looked at him curiosity eating him alive. He wanted to ask so badly, but he bit his tongue. What right did he have to ask anyway? He’d spent the better part of the morning writing music inspired by someone else.

“That’s good for you, Adrian.” He encouraged putting his music down on the black piano top. He ignored the slight stab of pain at the truth in his words. Love was so hard to let go, he sighed. The studio door swung open and a tall auburn haired girl in her early twenties walked in. She was carrying a violin, her multicolored fingernails clutching it tightly. Her clothing screamed punk rock, her t-shirt declaring her eternal love for Paramore.

“You called?” she demanded unceremoniously. Her gaze fell on Adrian and she smiled brightly. “Who is the hottie? Alexi, you’ve been holding out on me.”

Alexi chuckled. “Adrian, meet the resident gossip monger, George Barnett. George, this is Adrian Rosen, my best friend.”

She sidled up to Adrian wrapping an arm around his waist. Alexi laughed when she sniffed at Adrian’s neck. “It smells good too.”

“George?” Adrian asked with a frown when she let go and moved to the piano. Alexi handed her his music sheets and watched her perch on top of the black piano her legs crossed under her.

“My parents named me Georgia.” She grinned at Adrian. “It doesn’t suit me so I prefer George. Do you play music Adrian?”

“No.” Adrian looked at Alexi with a raised eyebrow. He didn’t look happy about the interruption. Alexi ignored the raised brow with a shrug.

“He used to be a model.” Alexi told George and sat down at the piano bench. He moved his fingers over the keys for a small warm up and grinned at Adrian. “Although, there was a brief scare once when he made me write him music for a musical. I thought he was contemplating dance.”

“He has the looks for the modeling, not too sure about the dancing. It would be a sight to see in leotards.” George commented her gaze dropping down suggestively to Adrian’s crotch. Adrian’s jeans fit enough to show the bulge hidden under them. The image of Adrian in a leotard right now was too absurd even for him. Alexi burst out laughing while Adrian made a face at George.

“I’m sure it would be a sight, just not for you, little girl.” Adrian retorted walking around to sit beside Alexi on the bench. “What are you doing here anyway George?”

“Interrupting a lover’s tryst,” George replied. She laid out the music sheets on the piano and going over them with a neon green painted index finger. “You’ve changed a lot of notes. It looks very exciting, Alexi.”

Alexi nodded and urged her to get serious. “It’s almost done then we can start writing it for orchestration. Play your part, little George.”

She stuck her tongue out at him and jumped off the piano. She grabbed a music stand from a corner and brought it a few feet away from the piano. Arranging the music on it, she glanced at him for her cue. He started to give it to her but her eyes rolled and she turned away with a sigh.

“What,” he asked with a frown.

“Mr. Hottie is distracting me.” She complained dramatically. She turned back and glared at Alexi severely. “Don’t judge too harshly if it doesn’t sound right.”

Alexi shook his head at her antics and started the music with a series of slow flowing notes filled with sweet reminiscence. A few bars later, as the melody picked its pace, George entered it with a vibrant trill of her violin. Her wand moved over the strings with precision. The slow dance of the piano took the background on the hardcore rich vibration of the violin’s sound. The discordance married into a thrilling tune that had Alexi’s head moving to the beats of the drums in his head.

George played with passion, adding an exciting flare to her interpretation of his music. Her energy allowed him to flesh out the missing adjustments he’d been working on all morning. He looked up to find George smiling at him as they kept up the exciting dance of notes. When the music on his notes ended, he stopped playing and looked up to find Andy smiling at them through the windows.

Adrian clapped with wild abandon beside him and Alexi smiled. “George, I think Andy wants you to count how many teeth he has in his mouth.”

“Does he have any left?” She asked looking at the producer with a frown. Andy held up two thumbs up and George shrugged. She turned to look at him with sparkling eyes. “That was raw, Alexi. The pace is fast, but I figure that’s what you want for the scene?”

Alexi grabbed his pen and sighed. “Yes it will work for that transition where the main character is driving from one city to another. The ending is abrupt though. I still need a few more bars before it’s considered finished. I’ll work on it this afternoon. You’ll be here later right?”

“You know I live here.” George held onto her violin tightly and walked around the bench to stop by Adrian. “Can I steal Mr. Hottie, Alexi?”

“He’s spoken for, keep your mittens off him,” Alexi said automatically as he stood up to take the music sheets George had used. When she didn’t reply, Alexi looked at them with a frown. They were both watching him with surprise. “What?”

“Possessive much,” George asked with a grin. She chuckled when he frowned in irritation and moved away from Adrian. She came up to him and ruffled his brown hair. “I see how it is. See you later. And if you don’t want my mitts on him, take him out to lunch.”

Adrian laughed as she skipped out of the live room. Alexi dropped the music sheets on top of the piano, his cheeks flaming. “I’m sorry, that didn’t come out right. I was-, it just-

“There is nothing wrong with it. I’m protective of you too. Do you want to know something?” Adrian stood up from the bench and came to stand by him. “I’m glad you haven’t met someone, Alexi. I think that is the one thing I couldn’t stand.”

Alexi sighed, his thoughts returning to Joshua and the kisses they’d shared. His heart squeezed at the thought of giving up the hot fuzzy feeling in his gut tied to those kisses. “Adrian.” How could he want Joshua’s kisses this badly and still have feelings for Adrian? It was so hard to let Adrian go. He started to reach up to touch Adrian’s jaw.

Adrian took a step back. His gaze lowered as Alexi fought to get a hold of his warring emotions. His hand fell away and he cleared his throat when Andy called into the room. “I’m going out guys; the connection is off, Alexi.”

He nodded gratefully to the producer and once Andy was gone, he turned to find Adrian pacing the length of the room. He left his music sheets on the piano and moved to interrupt Adrian’s pacing.

Alexi placed gentle hands on Adrian’s elbows. “What’s wrong, Adrian, something is clearly disturbing you. We’re not together…I realize that but…we’re friends. I hope that means you can still talk to me.”

Adrian sighed and extricated his arms from Alexi’s gentle hold. The action pained Alexi more than he dared show. His heart jumped joyously when Adrian tangled their fingers. Adrian sighed again and Alexi chuckled. “If you sigh one more time, I’m going to take matters into my hands. Please just spit whatever is bothering you out. You’re freaking me out.”

“I did something…” Adrian started quietly. “I don’t know how to tell you about it.”

“Did you kill someone?” Alexi asked his eyebrows raised for dramatic effect.

Adrian chuckled and he smiled in response.

“What if I had?” Adrian asked solemnly killing the small hope for a lighter conversation. The man was in a strange mood today.

“Well, did he or she deserve to die?” Alexi replied seriously, still hoping to keep the lighthearted banter going. Adrian laughed and he sighed in relief at the sound. He continued his teasing inquisition. “What? Sometimes things happen. Now what can’t you tell me?”

Adrian let go of his right hand and reached into his jeans’ front pocket. He pulled out a shiny silver card, and handed it to Alexi. Alexi stared at the card as ice settled in his veins. Adrian had mentioned Lily meeting Taka Ichido earlier. He gripped Adrian’s left hand tightly. “What are you doing with this, Adrian?”

“I took the card a week after you came to Manhattan. You hardly ever use it. You’ve let me use it before, right.” Adrian shook his head. “Things got out of control and-

Alexi flung the card to the floor as though burned by the valuable metal. His thoughts felt jumbled when they shouldn’t be. He had to think clearly. Taka Ichido in Manhattan meant his mother was on a rampage. Damn it, he really hated it when that woman did things without talking to him. Wasn’t that what Adrian had done too? He looked up into sad green eyes. He narrowed his own; filling them with all the accusation, he could master. “You should have told me, Adrian. Why didn’t you say something?”

“I didn’t want to burden you with my problems. I was trying to keep things as easy as possible for you.”

Adrian tried to take his hand back but he stepped back. Alexi’s gaze found the shining palladium card, his signature embossed with a flourish on the surface. Lily meeting Taka Ichido started making sense. He wished fervently that they had been meeting for a breakfast date. Lily, he frowned, this morning sitting on the floor in the pantry. She’d looked shaken. The only person he knew in this world who could get Lily that way was his mother. His gaze rounded on Adrian with more accusation. “Did you withdraw cash?”

“Alexi, I’m trying to apologize here.” Adrian started to say.

Alexi gave an impatient noise and glared at Adrian. “Did you withdraw cash?”

Adrian nodded yes, his gaze falling away from Alexi’s burning brown eyes. “I’m sorry, Alexi. I’ll make it up to you.”

“Adrian, you don’t understand.” He bent and picked up the credit card. He wished he’d never gotten it at that moment. His first manager had embezzled money from him. When his mother had discovered the situation, she’d taken strict steps to protect his accounts. He’d been grateful at the time. He hated dealing with difficult things like money and account management.

He sighed. This one was going to be an epic battle. He thought about what Adrian had said about his problems with Rosen Models and his business partner a day ago in his office.

“I’m assuming this has to do with the model agency. Why couldn’t you just sit down and talk to me about it? Is it that bad between us we can’t talk Adrian? I’d have been happy to invest in the agency, Adrian.”

“It’s so easy for you.” Adrian let go of his hand and took a step back. His fingers moving to touch is forehead as though his head hurt. “You live in a different world Alexi. Money is an easy thing for you it’s so readily available it’s disgusting. You have no idea what life is like for the rest of us down here.”

“Are you going to start that speech on me?” Alexi gaped. “What’s changed in the past year to make you this different? Don’t you know me anymore, Adrian?”

Adrian moved to the piano bench and sank into it. He dropped his head into his hands and sighed. “I don’t know how to start this. You don’t know anything about struggling to make ends meet-

“Stop right there.” He hurled the card at Adrian’s feet. Tears stung his eyes as fears he’d thought long gone returned. Memories of fake friends earning his trust and betraying him once they had what they wanted filled his head. He’d thought that fear gone. His body trembled at the thought of Adrian acting like those people. “I hate it when you get this way, Adrian. I really do. I don’t care about the money. You want the card, there it is. Go ahead and take it.”

“I don’t want the card,” Adrian said quietly. “Alexi, this is all coming out wrong. I don’t want to hurt you.” Adrian lifted his head slowly; his green eyes dull with defeat. “I didn’t want to tell you that I was failing. I chose Rosen Models a year ago instead of you and I’m failing at it. I took the card to keep up with expenses and other costs. It was easy money, I kept telling myself I will pay you back, no problem. We did it all the time before.”

Alexi closed his eyes trying to stop the tears from rolling down his cheeks. They betrayed him anyway. His heart wouldn’t let him hate Adrian. It just couldn’t. “We can take it as my investment into Rosen Models. Why don’t we do that Adrian? We’ll have someone look at the business statements and figure out how to fix it-

Adrian glared at him with hot anger. “Are you listening to me? I took your money, without hesitation, Alexi. I stole from you. I need you to start yelling and screaming at me, so that this guilt inside of me stops killing me. This nice guy routine of yours is going to destroy us.”

“I’m going to destroy us?” Alexi demanded, wiping at his eyes furiously. A laugh tumbled out roughly. “That’s really great, coming from you. You sit there and accuse me of trying to destroy us because I won’t get angry with you.”

“Yes, I will say it.” Adrian shouted. “Look at you, rich pathetic Alexi who needs Lily to protect him. Why can’t you stand up for yourself for once?”

“I did!” Alexi pointed at Adrian with a shaking hand as white anger washed over him. “A year ago, Adrian, I was ready to give up Japan for you. You have no idea what that took. I stood up for you and me with my father. I chose you over him and my family in Japan. You never thought about that at all did you? No.” Alexi shook his head when Adrian stared at him blankly. “All I got from you was a kiss goodbye and take care for my efforts. Don’t sit there and accuse me of not standing up for myself. You’re the one who didn’t want me, Adrian.”

“If that’s how you feel, why are you helping me?” Adrian stood up and held up his hands in surrender. “Call the police and have me arrested.”

“Is that what you want Adrian?” Alexi pulled out his cell phone from his pocket and waved it at him. “You want to be dragged out of this studio in cuffs? We can do that you know.”

Adrian shook his head. “I don’t know how to fix it. You deserve better from me, Alexi. I don’t know how I can fix this. I don’t have the money.”

The door in the control room opened and Alexi turned to find Andy and Lily walking in. He wasn’t surprised to see Taka Ichido follow. Alexi stuck his phone back in his pocket and asked Adrian. “Do you have a company lawyer, Adrian?”

“What? Why is Taka here?” Adrian frowned.

Lily headed for the door with determined steps. Alexi turned to Adrian and asked again. “You need a lawyer. Do you have one?”

“Alexi?” Adrian frowned when the door opened and Lily walked in followed by Taka. “What’s going on?”

I'd like to apologize for delaying this chapter, life got in the way. But it's here now, and situations have arisen. Wonder if they will be overcome.
I love hearing from you, do tell, what would you do to Adrian if he did what he did to Alexi to you? Sui wants to know Thanks everyone.