Chapter 86: Money Doesn’t Solve Everything. Says Who?

Jenna didn’t say sure.

She held him there for a moment with the expression she used when she was deciding how much of a problem something was going to be.

"Where are we going exactly?"

"Someone I know is in the building. Something looks off about the situation."

"Something looks off." She repeated it. "That’s the whole explanation?"

"For now."

She crossed her arms. "Adrian. You just asked me to follow you somewhere in a building we’re supposed to be leaving. Give me something real."

He glanced toward the elevator.

"I don’t know exactly what I’m walking into," he said. "But I think someone I know is in a situation she doesn’t want to be in, and I’d rather find out I’m wrong than find out later I walked past it."

"She."

He didn’t answer immediately.

Jenna’s eyes narrowed.

"Are you doing this on purpose, or are you just like this?"

"Probably both."

That earned him a look.

"I’ll tell you the name when I know what we’re actually dealing with."

She studied him for another second.

"Do you actually want me there, or would you just rather not walk into something alone?"

He could have given her the easier answer.

Something reassuring.

Something that made the request sound less strange.

Instead, he considered the question properly.

"I don’t know what I’m walking into. I’d rather not do it alone."

That landed differently.

Jenna’s arms slowly dropped.

"Fine. Show me."

They took the elevator to the third floor.

The doors opened onto a corridor that was quieter than the lobby by a considerable margin. The carpet was thicker. The lighting was softer. Even the walls seemed designed to discourage anyone from lingering without an appointment.

Adrian walked.

He read the signs as he went.

Creative partnerships.

Content registration.

Private studio arrangements.

Talent representation.

He slowed slightly at the last one.

Jenna noticed.

"That’s not the idol section."

"No."

They kept walking.

A few doors later, the corridor opened into a wider reception area. A receptionist sat behind a desk, sorting through a stack of documents while three people waited along the wall.

The paperwork on the desk looked less like audition forms and more like contracts.

Then he saw the two people standing near the far end.

Dina.

And a man beside her.

Adrian recognized Dina first.

Her brother was older and taller, dressed simply enough that nothing about him demanded attention. He stood with one hand in his pocket while the other rested loosely at his side, listening to the receptionist explain something.

He didn’t look nervous.

He looked settled.

That bothered Adrian more than nervousness would have.

People who were nervous still had room to change their minds.

Dina looked up.

She noticed him before her expression caught up.

Her shoulders pulled inward.

For half a second, the face she’d been wearing disappeared.

Then it returned.

Adrian caught the gap.

Beside him, Jenna went still.

Adrian started walking.

Dina moved before he reached her, intercepting him several steps away from her brother.

"What are you doing here?"

Her voice was low.

Not angry.

Worried.

"This has nothing to do with you."

"I’m not trying to make it into something."

"Then go."

"I’m asking whether you actually want to go through with this."

That stopped her.

Dina looked past him briefly, toward the reception desk.

Then back.

"I need the money."

It was said quietly.

Not defensively.

Like she’d already repeated the sentence enough times that it no longer needed justification.

Adrian glanced toward the documents on the desk.

"How long?"

She frowned.

"The contract."

"Three years."

He looked at her.

"Three?"

She nodded.

He looked toward the desk again.

Three years was longer than he’d expected.

"What happens if you change your mind?"

Dina’s silence answered before she did.

"There are penalties."

"How much?"

"I don’t know exactly."

Her brother stepped closer.

"You know enough."

His voice wasn’t hostile.

It was controlled. Measured. The kind of voice someone used when they didn’t want a conversation turning emotional.

He looked at Adrian.

"You know her from somewhere?"

"We’ve met."

"Then you’ll understand this is a practical matter."

His eyes moved briefly toward Dina.

"Whatever your relationship with my sister is, it isn’t a factor in what she’s here to do."

"What’s she signing?"

"An agreement."

Adrian waited.

The brother didn’t elaborate.

He looked at the paperwork again.

The visible figure near the payment section was much smaller than the amount the company was asking for upfront.

Not impossible.

Just uneven.

The kind of unevenness that made people desperate enough to accept the rest.

The brother noticed where he was looking.

"The problem is money. If you can solve that, then solve it. Otherwise, this doesn’t change anything."

Adrian looked at Dina.

She wasn’t looking back.

"What’s the figure?"

Her brother told him.

Adrian didn’t react.

He took out his phone.

His balance appeared.

$21,088.14.

Five thousand would leave him with $16,088.14.

He did the subtraction once.

Then again.

Five thousand dollars was enough money that he shouldn’t spend it casually.

He looked at Dina.

She still wasn’t meeting his eyes.

"Give her a week."

His brother’s expression tightened slightly.

"A week doesn’t address what we’re dealing with."

"It addresses the immediate part."

"Which is?"

"She doesn’t have to sign this today."

The brother studied him.

"You’re offering the money?"

"Five thousand now. The rest follows at the end of the week."

"For what?"

"No conditions."

That finally changed the man’s expression.

Adrian held his phone loosely.

"I’m not buying anything from her."

The brother said nothing.

"I’m giving her time to decide without the money making the decision for her."

A long pause followed.

Then the brother gave him the account details.

Adrian entered the amount.

His thumb hovered over the confirmation button.

For one second, he thought about how ridiculous the situation was.

He’d come to this building because Jenna had an audition.

Now he was standing on another floor, about to send five thousand dollars to someone he’d barely known long enough to justify knowing.

He pressed confirm.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

TRANSFER CONFIRMED

Amount: $5,000.00

Balance remaining: $16,088.14

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

The brother checked his phone.

The confirmation arrived.

He read it once.

Then again.

"I’m not expecting anything in return," Adrian said. "And neither should she."

The brother lowered his phone.

"What do you actually want from this?"

"I already told you."

Adrian looked at Dina.

"She gets a week."

Dina finally looked at him.

Something shifted across her face.

Not relief.

Not exactly.

Something closer to disbelief that he’d actually done it.

"You shouldn’t have done this."

Her voice was quieter now.

"I told you I didn’t want you involved."

"I know."

Adrian didn’t soften the answer.

"I know you can handle your own problems. This isn’t me saying you can’t."

She kept her eyes on him.

"I’m making sure the decision isn’t happening because you had no other option. That’s all."

Her mouth opened slightly.

Nothing came out.

Her brother looked between them, then toward the reception desk.

The transfer had gone through. Whatever argument remained, he didn’t seem interested in making it.

He turned toward the door.

Dina picked up her bag.

She followed him.

Adrian watched her cross the room. At the edge of the doorway, she paused. For a second, he thought she might say something.

She didn’t.

Her eyes met his.

Then she left.

The door closed behind her.

Jenna waited.

She didn’t immediately speak.

Neither did Adrian.

The reception area had returned to its normal rhythm. Paper moved across the desk. Someone whispered near the chairs. A printer started somewhere behind the wall.

Five thousand dollars had disappeared from his account.

Nothing else in the room seemed to care.

Jenna finally looked at him.

"I honestly didn’t expect you to do that."

"Neither did I."

She gave him a sideways look.

"Why did you?"

Adrian glanced at the closed door.

"I saw her standing there."

He paused.

"It sits less wrong than watching her sign the paperwork."

Jenna was quiet.

Then she looked at the door.

"So you’re not trying to save her."

"No."

"You’re just giving her an exit."

"A temporary one."

Jenna looked back at him.

"Okay."

A beat passed.

"Okay."

Adrian put his phone away.

His balance was still $16,088.14.

Five thousand dollars gone. No cashback. No Wealth Points. No notification. Nothing.

Just money he’d decided to spend.

He looked toward the door again.

The hallway beyond it was empty. Dina hadn’t looked back.

For some reason, that was the part that stayed with him.

He sighed and glanced back at Jenna, who still had her eyes on him oik she was skeptical about what had just happened.

"We should probably get back to Rose. She’s still waiting upstairs."

Jenna didn’t respond, a beat later she glanced back at the door and smiled. "Yeah. She’s probably already waiting for us." She walked a bit to casually towards the door. "C’mon... let’s go."