Chapter 51: Crumbling... again.
Tom walked toward the valet without looking back, despite how heavy one part of him had been.
He accepted the key from the valet and muttered a ’thank you’ then slid into the driver’s seat, and shut the door. For a moment he simply sat there with his hands on the wheel, there was a question he needed an answer to.
He raised his head in the direction of where the system’s notification usually hovered and spoke up;
“Alright. Explain. Why did you send me here?”
The System’s voice came through with its usual ease, faintly amused.
[A curious host is a good one.] A brief pause then the system continued; [You were here for two reasons. First – to remind your target what it feels like when her composure slips. Stella Marchetti has been trying very hard to pretend you were a temporary lapse. Seeing you today, calm, well-dressed, and competent in front of her fiancé, was a useful correction.]
Tom’s jaw tightened slightly. He started the engine but didn’t pull away yet.
[Second,] the System continued, [you needed to establish a presence with the spouse. What kind of Netori leaves the original man completely unaware of who is taking what belongs to him? Recognition matters. When the truth eventually surfaces, it lands harder if he already knows your face… and has already measured himself against you.]
Tom’s brows furrowed. The bluntness of the information settled heavily in his chest. He wanted to question the logic behind that but blinked. He had known the System was perverted. He had known it was mischievous. Hearing it spelled out so cleanly still landed differently but he told himself there was no need questioning.
“Uhm… What an interesting explanation.” Tom muttered more to himself.
[It is.] The System sounded openly pleased. [And speaking of interesting – that little performance your wife tried to stage back there? Claiming she invited you for brunch? That was impressive improvisation. Almost convincing, if one ignored the way her fingers locked onto your sleeve like a woman trying to hold a story together by force. You handled it well. Cold, measured, and public enough to sting.]
Tom exhaled through his nose and finally put the car into gear.
“Did I?”
[Yes, you handled it well.] [Don’t let your heart tell you otherwise.]
Afterwards, the rewards from the missions settled into place without ceremony – the money and the stat. He didn’t bother checking the notifications. He already knew they were there.
Then he pulled away from The Langford without looking back.
~~~~~~~~~
Back inside, Sienna maintained the small smile she had plastered on her face as she told Tom to go attend his meeting, until the moment she reasonably could not.
Adrian had already turned the conversation back toward the upcoming shoot in his polished and composed manner. Stella responded at the appropriate times, but Sienna could feel the other woman’s attention lingering a second too long on the space Tom had left behind.
However, she couldn’t dwell on that long enough to read a meaning to it as the noticeable strain in her interaction with Tom was still making her feel embarrassed.
She had introduced Tom as her husband, attempted to frame the encounter as intentional, and instead he had dismantled the lie with quiet insistence in front of a senator and one of her most important clients.
It was annoying. It was unacceptable.
“Please excuse me for a moment, I need to use the bathroom.” Sienna said smoothly.
Stella nodded. “Of course.”
Sienna walked toward the restroom with measured steps, in a perfect posture perfect and controlled expression even though her heart was pounding. Only when the door closed behind her and she confirmed the small lounge area was empty did the mask slip.
She braced both hands against the edge of the marble counter and stared at her own reflection.
“What the fuck was he doing here?” She gritted out at her reflection as if it could provide a response.
The suit alone was a problem. She had recognized the cut and the quality the moment she saw it. That was not something a man without serious money simply acquired. Then the way he had spoken, the ease with which he had stood beside Adrian Cole, the clean refusal to play along with her cover story… none of it matched the man she had married.
Had he come deliberately to embarrass her?
How would he have even known she would be here?
The questions stacked without answers. Sienna pushed away from the counter, pulled out her phone, and dialled the bodyguard she had left in charge of monitoring Tom’s movements. He answered the call immediately it went through.
“Why wasn’t I informed the moment my husband left the house?” Sienna asked sharply, not bothering about exchanging pleasantries.
“I called you, ma’am. It went to voicemail.”
Sienna closed her eyes for a brief second. “Then you call again. And again. Until I answer. That was the instruction. Since when did you stop following my instructions?”
“Do I need to replace you?” She snapped.
“Sorry, ma’am. I thought you were busy so I decided…”
She ended the call without allowing the man to finish whatever that was on his tongue. Then she set the phone down harder than necessary.
She forced herself to inhale slowly, then exhale, watching her reflection until the sharpest edge of her expression smoothed out again. The launch was still the priority. The collection. The image. She could not afford visible cracks.
She had acted while thinking on her feet that recognition from the senator would mean well for her business but Tom had fucked it up.
She clenched her fists and closed her eyes. Then the ever optimistic business woman part of her rose convincing her that not all hope was lost. She could handle it.
She opened her eyes after a second, straightened her dress, adjusted a single strand of hair, and grabbed her phone.
She was about to reach for the door when her phone chimed.
Sienna glanced down at the screen – and stopped.
Whatever she saw there drained the remaining color from her composure. Her fingers tightened around the device, tremor running through her hand as she stared at the notification, the carefully rebuilt control from moments earlier came crumbling all over again.