CHAPTER 76 – Coffee, Codes, and Consequences
Breakfast in the Hale mansion felt like sitting inside a bomb waiting to detonate.
Alex nursed her coffee like it was her only lifeline. Her fork poked aimlessly at the pile of leaves on her plate—some overpriced variation of a salad she couldn’t even identify. She wasn’t hungry. Not really. Just pretending, like everyone else at the table.
The silence was... heavy. Not peaceful. Not even uncomfortable. Just charged, like static before a lightning strike.
Zade sat across from her, arms crossed, brow low. He hadn’t spoken a word since she walked in. He hadn’t even looked at her.
He was still stewing over David’s arrival last night. She could see it in the way his jaw tightened with every sip of his espresso. He probably thought David Brown had come to settle old scores. Reignite some long-buried rivalry between criminal empires. What he didn’t know—what he couldn’t know—was that David hadn’t come for the Hales.
He’d come for her.
And that secret made the bitter coffee taste like victory.
The rest of the Hale family sat in eerie coordination. Forks lifted and lowered in silence. Water glasses clinked. Simon, always composed, barely glanced at her. Melissa muttered something under her breath and gave a stiff nod toward her nephews. Andrea, however, stared.
Not subtle. Not polite.
Just a cold, unblinking, I-know-you’re-up-to-something glare.
Alex didn’t flinch. She kept her face calm, expression bored. But inside, she was calculating.
Something had changed since David’s visit. No more sarcastic barbs or pointed jokes at her expense. No backhanded comments about how she “lacked pedigree” or “needed refinement.” Just silence and watchful eyes.
Good. Let them be scared.
She finished her coffee and set the mug down with a deliberate click.
“I’ll need to leave early today,” she said smoothly. “There’s a meeting with my father I need to attend. Something urgent.”
No one replied.
Not even Zade.
So she rose, smoothed down her blouse, and walked out without waiting for permission.
***
Of course, she wasn’t going to the company.
She drove through the city like a woman on a mission, blending into traffic. Her hair was tied back, sunglasses covering most of her face, a baseball cap pulled low over her brow.
No one noticed her. Just another face in a busy city morning.
She parked three blocks away and walked the rest.
The restaurant was tucked into a side street, lively and bustling with clattering dishes and soft jazz playing over the speakers. She spotted them immediately: David and Arthur, tucked into a corner booth like they met here every day.
David was smoking. Again. Arthur looked like he was debating snatching the cigarette from his mouth and tossing it into the nearest glass of orange juice.
Alex slid into the seat beside Arthur. “Charming venue.”
David blew smoke toward the ceiling. “Nice to see you too, kid.”
Arthur gave her a brief nod. “You okay?”
Alex snorted. “Let’s say my morning was... quiet. Weirdly quiet.”
David smirked. “How’s family life treating you?”
She grimaced.
That was enough to make him laugh.
Arthur didn’t laugh. He leaned forward. “We’ve been talking options. The archive’s our best shot.”
“Archive?”
David nodded. “Your fiancé and his daddy likely keep dirt down there. Documents, old records. Maybe nothing about your grandfather—hell, that case is ancient—but if we find anything illegal, it’s leverage.”
Alex tapped her nails on the table. “When I was at the mansion, I overheard a maid mention something. Said the archive’s on the lowest level underground. No one’s allowed down there except Simon, Zade, and Andrea.”
Arthur raised an eyebrow. “Andrea? Not the third brother, Robert? Only Andrea and Zade?”
David’s lips twitched. “Now that’s interesting.”
“Do you think there’s extra security?” Alex asked. “Guards, cameras, biometric locks?”
“Most likely,” Arthur said. “Which is why you’re not getting in.”
Alex frowned. “Excuse me?”
“You won’t, Alex,” Arthur repeated calmly. “We will.”
She blinked. “You two?”
David leaned in, grinning. “You think this is our first heist, kid?”
She blinked. “Wait—are you both just casually criminals now?”
David gave a half-shrug. “Call it a skill set.”
Arthur looked more serious. “We’ve done this before. Clean entries. Fast exits. You getting caught would ruin everything. But us? We’ve got ways.”
Alex looked between them, the edge of her mouth twitching. “You’re serious.”
“As a heart attack,” David said. “But we need Zade out of the way. Simon will be in the company, most likely, but your charming fiancé? He’s unpredictable.”
“I’ll keep him busy,” Alex said without hesitation.
Arthur nodded. “Good. It has to look normal. Just... distract him.”
David smirked. “Maybe break his heart a little. You’re good at that.”
Alex rolled her eyes. “Don’t push it.”
They ironed out the rest of the plan quickly. Tomorrow night. David and Arthur would slip into the Hale mansion while Zade was with her. She’d keep him distracted. They’d search the archive for anything—anything—that could be used to take the Hales down.
By the time Alex stepped back onto the sidewalk, the sun was higher, the city louder. But her mind buzzed only with the plan.
Finally. A real shot at justice.
***
She didn’t get to the office until after nine.
Luca didn’t question it—just waved her in and asked if she was feeling alright. She nodded, gave him a hug, and slipped into her glass-walled corner.
She tried to work. She really did.
But her mind refused to settle.
She kept staring at her computer screen, her phone, the notepad in front of her. Her thoughts were too loud, racing with what could go wrong, what they might find, what she would do if they didn’t find anything at all.
And then the door opened.
Alex jumped slightly in her chair.
Zade stepped in, looking... unreadable.
He didn’t sit.
Just stood there, arms at his sides, dark eyes fixed on her.
“I spoke to your father,” he said.
Alex blinked. “Okay...?”
“He said you didn’t come in until nine.”
Her heart stopped.
She scrambled for an explanation. Something believable. Something fast.
“I had to meet Michael,” she blurted.
Zade froze.
“What?”
“I needed to ask him something,” she said quickly, trying to keep her voice calm. “That’s all.”
“You’re still in contact with him?” His voice was low. Dangerous.
“No,” she said with a sigh. “It wasn’t like that. It wasn’t personal. It was... a one-time thing.”
He stared at her, jaw clenched, knuckles white.
Then he turned and walked out.
The door clicked behind him.
Alex exhaled slowly, heart pounding.
She didn’t like lying. Not to him. Not about that.
But she didn’t have a choice.
Not anymore.
And the worst part?
She wasn’t sure which hurt more—the lie... or the disappointment in his eyes.