isn't it? [taylor swift]

chapter 48

"It started when you found out that Dylan had been the one to leak the photos of you and Lauren Jauregui kissing in 2016," Adrian explained. "I... I knew it wasn't what you wanted, but it was what I felt was necessary."

Leia said nothing. Her red-rimmed eyes were focused on his face, no further expression on her face as the man sat across from her. 

He had arrived shortly after Thena had followed them up into the apartment, having clearly already been on his way. Leia wasn't sure she wanted to know which one of the four others in the room had sent him a text - she just knew it was another thing that had seemingly been going on behind her back.

"I had reached out to Rickman Grant - you know, my friend at the Police Academy?" Adrian continued, a small smile on his lips as he brought up the man that Leia had met once or twice since she had been taken on by Adrian years prior. His smile dropped slightly as she didn't even so much as quirk a lip at the same that once caused her to smile. "I... expressed my concerns... about an unnamed person in your life and it was him who gave me Thena's contact."

Adrian's voice softened as he leaned forward, his elbows resting on his knees. The weight of his confession seemed to press down on his shoulders, causing them to slump ever so slightly.

"Leia, I... I made the decision to start building a case on Dylan almost two years ago."

Leia's fingers curled into the fabric of her jeans, her knuckles whitening with the force of her grip. The ticking of the clock on the wall seemed unnaturally loud in the silence that followed Adrian's words.

"For months, nothing came of it," Adrian continued, his voice tinged with a mixture of regret and determination. "It was just a file, growing dusty in the back of my mind and honestly, I thought Thena had ignored my voicemail. But then..." 

Thena cleared her throat, drawing Leia's attention away from Adrian.

Just looking at the blonde right now sent another burst of anger and betrayal down Leia's spine. Georgie was avoiding her gaze in the corner, her arms wrapped around Tate who seemed oblivious to the awkward tension in the room. Riven and Azul were sat on the loveseat beside the coffee table, both trying to avoid her scorned look.

"I hadn't ignored Adrian's message," Thena explained, her voice low and steady. "But I was already knee-deep in my own investigation."

Convenient, Leia thought. Because that's what Thena had just admitted to her moments prior - that all this talk about publicity and how she'd been top in her class at University was actually a big, fucking lie. 

Thena wasn't an up-and-coming publicist - she was a fucking FBI agent.

"It was pure coincidence," she continued, a wry smile playing at the corners of her mouth as she ignored the seething look that Leia sent her as soon as she noticed the woman's lips quirk upwards. "Or maybe fate, if you believe in that sort of thing. I was looking into a series of drug-related incidents at some high-profile parties in LA and New York. The kind of gatherings where the guest list reads like a who's who of young Hollywood and the music industry."

Leia's mind raced for a split second, memories of the first time she'd been with Dylan flashing before her eyes. The wild parties, the constant supply of drinks and pills, the way he'd slowly isolated her from her friends and family. Checked out.

"When Adrian's message came through, it was like the missing piece of a puzzle falling into place," Thena said, her voice tinged with a mixture of professional satisfaction and personal concern. "His concerns about Dylan's behaviour towards you, combined with what I'd already uncovered... it painted a picture of someone far more dangerous than just your average party boy."