Chapter 7 Let's Chat

Adeline picked up the phone. A voice from the organizing committee came through the receiver.

"Ms. Stuart, given the recent impact of public opinion on the reputation of the competition, the committee has decided to temporarily suspend your eligibility to compete. Further arrangements will be communicated to you in due course."

Adeline was quiet for a moment. Then she replied calmly, "Understood."

She walked to her work desk. She picked up a pencil. She circled that day's date on the calendar.

She wasn't surprised. With public sentiment having spiraled this far, she had long seen the suspension coming. But she made sure to remember this date. One day, she would take back everything that had been taken from her.

The doorbell rang.

Adeline looked through the peephole. Vivian was standing outside. She was holding an elegant gift box.

Adeline cracked the door open slightly. Her tone was flat. "What do you want?"

"Adeline." Vivian smiled sweetly. "I came to give you an invitation."

She pulled a gold-embossed card from the box. She slipped it through the gap in the door.

"Next month I'll be holding a solo exhibition at the Stuart Family Arts Center. My brothers said since you can't compete, you might as well come see my work. Maybe it'll give you some fresh inspiration."

Adeline took the invitation. She opened it.

The first page featured a large portrait of Vivian. A line of small text sat beneath it: Vivian Stuart — Debut Solo Jewelry Design Exhibition.

"You'll come, won't you?" Vivian leaned in slightly. "After all, it's not like you have anything else to do right now."

Adeline felt a cold smile form somewhere inside her. She looked Vivian directly in the eye.

"You seem pretty sure I won't be competing."

Vivian's smile froze for a split second. Then the corners of her mouth curled into something more brazen.

"Adeline, the committee's notice has already been officially issued. I know this is hard to accept, but it's done. The public pressure was too great—the committee had no choice but to protect the integrity of the competition."

Her tone was warm and earnest. But the smugness in her eyes was impossible to hide.

Adeline was quiet for a moment. Then she said, "You heard about this awfully fast."

Vivian blinked. A flicker of panic crossed her face. "What—what do you mean by that?"

"Nothing. I'll be at your exhibition." Adeline shifted the subject without missing a beat.

The pivot was so sudden that Vivian didn't have time to respond. Before she could get a word in, Adeline spoke again.

"This one should go smoothly. Whether there'll be a next one, though—that's harder to say, don't you think?" Adeline's voice was light.

Vivian went completely still. By the time she came back to herself, Adeline had already closed the door without a second thought.

Vivian's mind was in chaos.

What did she mean, there might not be a next one? Was Adeline planning to expose her publicly—to tell everyone that every piece in the exhibition was copied from Adeline's own designs?

She couldn't let that happen. Helen had worked so hard to smooth things over. She had put Louis's doubts about her to rest. Now Louis felt guilty. He had gone out of his way to arrange this solo show as a way of making it up to her. She couldn't let Adeline destroy everything.

She turned. She headed downstairs. She got into her car. She called Gideon.

"Gideon…"

The moment he picked up, her voice broke into heavy sobs.

Gideon tensed immediately. "Vivian? What happened?"

Vivian choked out the words. "I went over to give Adeline an invitation—I was trying to make things right between us—and she didn't just brush me off. She deliberately made things difficult for me…"

"What did she say?"

"She accused me of stealing from her. She said every single piece in my exhibition was her original design…" Vivian's crying grew louder. "Gideon, you know me better than anyone. I would never take credit for someone else's work. I poured everything into these designs—countless sleepless nights—and she has the nerve to say things like that about me…"

Gideon's voice dropped. "Where is she right now?"

"At the apartment she's renting." Vivian dabbed at the corners of her eyes. "Gideon, please don't go looking for her. I don't want this to get any bigger…"

"I'll handle it."

Gideon hung up.

Vivian tossed her phone onto the passenger seat. She looked at herself in the rearview mirror. Red-rimmed eyes. Tear-streaked face. She smiled slowly.

Good.

Gideon was the quiet one. But out of all her brothers, he was the one who protected her most fiercely.

Adeline had humiliated her today. Gideon wasn't going to let that slide.

She wanted to see if Adeline could walk away clean this time—the way she always had before.

The moment Gideon hung up, Adeline received a message from Nora.

"Gideon's already sent people to your place. Be careful."

Adeline replied with a single word—"Got it." Then she got up and walked to the window. She lifted the corner of the curtain. She looked outside.

A black SUV was parked beneath the plane trees below.

Four men were inside. The tall figure in the passenger seat was Gideon.

Adeline let the curtain fall. She went to the bedroom. She opened the nightstand drawer. She took out something she had prepared in advance. She slipped it into the inside pocket of her trench coat.

Then she sat back down at her desk. She picked up where she had left off on the design sketch.

She had known Gideon would show up.

In her previous life, when she had tried to expose Vivian's plagiarism, Gideon had sent people to corner her in retaliation. She had been completely unprepared. Two ribs broken. The small finger on her right hand fractured. She spent an entire month in bed recovering. She lost the window she needed to clear her name.

She had always known Vivian would eventually push Gideon to come after her. That was why she had asked Nora early on to keep a close eye on them.

They had shown up sooner than she expected. But she was ready.

She still remembered the last time. How she had stood there crying. Demanding to know why. Gideon had looked at her without a trace of feeling. He had said, "You touched something you shouldn't have."

This time, she was going to make sure Gideon understood exactly what those words meant.

Twenty minutes later, the knock came right on schedule.

Adeline set down her pencil. She walked to the door.

"Who is it?"

A brief silence. Then an unfamiliar male voice. "Electrical maintenance."

Adeline paused for a moment. Then she pulled the door open a crack. Three heavily built men were standing in the hallway.

"Electrical maintenance, this late at night?" she said.

No answer. They shoved the door open. They ripped the security chain clean off.

Adeline's expression shifted to fear. She stumbled backward. "What—what are you doing?!"

"Just here to have a conversation." The one in front turned and closed the door behind him. His voice was curt.

"I don't know you. We have nothing to talk about." Adeline raised her voice.

He let out a cold laugh. "I'd suggest you cooperate, miss. Otherwise, next time we come, there'll be more than three of us."

Adeline looked the three of them over. She seemed to shrink back a little.

They took it as fear. They stepped further into the apartment.

The place was small. Three large men filled it quickly.

"Fine. What do you want to talk about?" Adeline's tone was guarded.

The one in front didn't answer. He walked straight to the work desk. He picked up the half-finished design sketch. He looked it over for a few seconds. Then he dropped it back on the table with a smirk.

"You've got real talent, miss. But sometimes being too talented isn't a good thing."

Adeline stared at him. "So what exactly is the point of this?"

"When someone's too capable, they make people nervous. Get in the wrong person's way, and there's a price to pay."

Adeline's face twisted with fear and anger. "Since when is working hard and being good at something a crime? Stop dancing around it—Vivian sent you, didn't she?"

The man paused slightly. Then he decided there was nothing threatening about the woman in front of him. He dropped any pretense.

"Smart girl. You took Vivian's spot in the competition. You've been going around calling her a plagiarist. Did you really think that leaving the Stuart family meant no one could touch you?"

"That's a lie." Adeline's voice cut sharp. "She's the one who's been coming after me—stealing my designs!"

"So you're planning to fight this all the way to the end?" His eyes went cold. He raised a hand. He gave the order. "Burn every last one of her drafts."

"Don't you dare!" Adeline screamed. She lunged forward to stop them.

The man grabbed her by the arm. He yanked her back.

"Stay still and we only go after the drawings—not you. But if you keep this up…"

He cracked his knuckles slowly. "My patience and my fists don't go easy on anyone."

"Is that so?"

Adeline, who had been struggling just a second ago, suddenly went still. A cold smile crossed her face.

Before he could figure out what had changed, something ice-cold pressed against his neck. A sharp blade was already locked against his carotid artery.