High Card Bluff (House of Cards Series 5)

(17) Full Circle

Adri had thought that Catwalk would help shift some of the focus off of her and put it onto Honey's fashion line, but somehow it had only served to put even more attention onto her and that damn video. On the plus side, she'd definitely gotten a lot of work offers after all the free publicity, but on the downside at least half those job offers were against her usual contract terms.

For the first time since she was sixteen, Adri let her parents act like her agents and focused on trying to figure out what to do next. Of course, with her family and loved ones, it was never as simple and straight forwards as 'get over it and move on.' Honey and the James' all insisted that Adri hand over the list of people trying to violate her contract terms to the lawyer, and her parents didn't hesitate to do just that, so Adri figured in for a petty penny, in for a righteous pound; she told the lawyer about everything that had happened to her, by whom, and what she could recall doing in return. There wasn't anything Ms. Sawyer could do about the past incidents yet, but it'd felt a little freeing to tell someone who didn't immediately ask her why she hadn't told anyone at the time.

For a while now Adri had been trying to figure out what to do with her future, and it felt like the universe had conspired to suddenly force her hand. If she wanted to walk away from modelling 'for a while', right now she could and it wouldn't hurt her reputation at all. She'd enjoyed parts of teaching other models, but the whole experience was tainted by Desmond, and she had no desire to take over his role as show host. She had one year left to finish her Bachelors and after that Adri could either go for a Doctorate, or pursue life outside of school. Normally at the midpoint of summer, Adri would already have a booked solid schedule for modelling, and have already determined the courses for the next year. Regardless of the shit show her life had become, Adri was determined to keep her school life as tidy as possible. so she took the week, and weekend, after Catwalk to just focus on deciding her course load for her last year.

It gave her the time to simply settle and try to recover from the rapid upheavals her life had taken this summer. It also gave her and Tom a chance to catch his parents up on what had happened at all the parties this far, and what they'd been able to find out. Their tracker may only give off location information every ten minutes, but that information was a goldmine of where he had been, and who he could have been meeting.

"There's something that's been bothering me about the whole thing," Tom scowled, clearly not happy to have little to go on, "it all feels somehow a little... familiar. The whole, no new business after midnight, the way they engage in business, all of it. But it's still unpredictable."

Adri could understand his frustration, trying to explain something she didn't fully, confidently know could leave her sharp; it often left her brother silent. Tom seemed determined to go ahead even with only instincts to lead him. "Add to that, the implication that Jerred and his goons are watching me and both Tom and I think it's time to hand every bit of information we have over to the hiring body."

"Si," Maya didn't hesitate to agree, and maybe it was because Maya had never treated Adri as fragile, but her concern didn't feel condescending.

"It's easy enough to tell Leanne that I'm taking some time off socializing after the Catwalk, but they'll still be expecting you at some of these rallies," Adri decided to try and work on some of the issues they could resolve.

"I already have a text indicating that there is business this weekend, and that Jerred doesn't want me to miss out." Tom put the text in reference on the table. "We worked so hard to get in, now we're reaping the rewards of our labor."

"Be careful what you wish for?" Dri felt her lips curling smirk

"Brat." Tom said it like he would Reinita and Adri was glad for her model is composure. "Take the Jeep." Carlitos ignored their flirting and kept the discussion professional.