“Doing what, exactly?”
“Blythe, the detectives are turning their suspicions over to the FBI. If we’re right about this, then this is bigger and more dangerous than we could ever imagine. I’m already a target, and I can use that to our advantage. I wanted to make a difference, and this is how I can do it. If I pretend to play by their rules, then I can uncover them and bring them down.”
Stunned, I stared at him. I could not be hearing this right. “You’re going to uncover and bring done a shadow organization. Jack, you’re a politician. You’re not a cop or an investigator. You can still help by giving them the information you know, but beyond that—”
“And what happens if they don’t move fast enough? What happens if I’m pressed to push through a bill that I know might harm people because someone’s life is in danger?” He shook his head. “I can’t do that.”
“So, what exactly are you proposing? You’re going to pretend to do as they asked?”
“I am.” He reached for me. “Blythe, to do that, I have to let you go. At least temporarily. I can’t put you in danger.”
“Temporarily?” Stepping away from him, I stared at him. “You can’t be serious. You’re breaking up with me so you can play undercover cop in a group that’s already killed two people? Have you lost your mind?”
“I’ll do whatever it takes to keep you safe. It’s just temporary, Blythe.”
“Temporary is when you have to relocate for a job and there’s a few months before I can move to follow you. Temporary is when you’re in the middle of a huge project, and you can’t focus on our relationship for a while. Temporary has a deadline, Jack. This isn’t temporary. This is insane.” Gritting my teeth, I glared at him. “I love you, Jack, but I can’t support this. You’re going to get yourself killed, and I can’t watch it happen.”
“Blythe…”
Before he could change my mind, I whirled around and stomped out of the room. Tears were filling my eyes, and even Hale called my name, but if I stopped for even a moment, I was afraid I might collapse.
Grabbing my purse, I pushed the button to call the elevator and didn’t breathe again until the doors opened up to the parking deck. It was only then that I realized I didn’t have a way home.
Fumbling for my purse, I tried to pull out my phone when a stranger stepped out. “Ms. Hemsey? I’m Glenn. I work for the building. Congressman Drayson called and asked that I give you a ride home. If you’ll wait just a minute, I’ll get the car.”
How ironic that Jack and I had just broken up, and I still needed him.
That just made everything hurt even more.
Twenty-Four
Jack
Klaus and Hale both stared at me as I stood by the window. I held my breath until I saw the dark sedan carrying Blythe drive away, and even then, my chest constricted with pain. I’d wanted to let Blythe go so she could survive. Now, unsure if I could get her back, I didn’t know if I could survive.
“Are you sure that you’re making the right decision?” my father asked. “It’s admirable for you to want to destroy this group of people, but your life won’t be easy. If you’re turning Blythe away now—”
“It’s for her own good,” I interrupted. I couldn’t listen to my father, who’d spent the past week telling me how I was weaker with Blythe, to tell me now that I was making a mistake. “I would rather that she hate me than to have to plan her funeral.”
“You’re assuming that we can’t protect her. Jack, we are powerful men. Klaus is part of a powerful law company. You can’t possibly think that we would let anything happen to Blythe.”
Turning my head, I glared at him. “Are you kidding me? Now, after I’ve sent away the woman I love, you want to be her fucking champion? I will not risk her life just because it brings me pain to be without her. When this is all over, when it’s safe, if it’s not too late, I’ll marry her on the spot and never let her go.”
Klaus cleared his throat. “As difficult as this is going to be for you, I think the first thing we need to do is call a press conference. Your name is cleared, and we want to address that. I’ll plant a reporter who will specifically bring up Blythe. Once you admit that the relationship is over between the two of you, we’ll start investigating the people who might have hired Sherry to begin with. Maybe we’ll get lucky, and it’ll just be one person with a ton of blackmail power.”
There was something in his voice that made me frown. “You don’t really think it’s just one person, do you?”
“I think there are an awful lot of bodies for there to just be one person.”
“I could do it,” Hale chimed in. “And I’m not the only person in Florida with wealth and power. I don’t think we can discount there just being one person, but you’re not wrong. We could be looking at a group of men.”
Wonderful. Now my own father was admitting that he could be the one behind three dead bodies and severing the love of my life. “First I need to let David and other key players of my staff know what’s going on. Then we’ll do the press conference. I think I should let David get in touch with Blythe. The reporters are going to hound her. Christ, I’m ruining her life.”
Unsteady, I leaned against the counter and closed my eyes. By the time this was all over with, chances were good that I’d never win her back. Swallowing hard, I continued, “We need to keep in contact with the detectives so we can connect with the FBI.”
“Are you sure?” Klaus asked. “This is a dangerous road that you’re taking, and once you start going down it, I don’t know that you’ll be able to change your mind.”
“I’m sure,” I said with hardened determination. “I want to bring those bastards down and show them what happens when they mess with me.” I looked at Klaus. “I’m going to the office. Let’s get to work.”
* * *
Within hours, the office was abuzz with work as my team contacted newspapers, political magazines, broadcasting stations, and prominent bloggers. The crowd outside had only lessened a little in the past day, but that would change once the word was out. At least, that was the hope.
The door to my office suddenly closed, and I whirled around. David was glowering at me. “Of all the things I’ve called you over the years, idiot has never been one of them. Let me rectify that now. Have you lost your mind?”
I turned back to the window. “I’m telling you the truth because I trust you and not because I want to hear your opinions. I’m doing this, and you can’t talk me out of it.”
In the window’s reflection, I watched him shake his head as he sat heavily in the chair across from my desk. “There is another way. Resign your post. If you don’t have power, then no one will want it. You can still marry Blythe and live happily ever after.”
I snorted, the sound filled with all the bitterness I felt. “So, you think that I should cower before them, and let them win?”
“I think that you’re my friend, and I want you to live a long life. The agents are going to investigate, and they’re going to figure it out. When it’s all over, you can run for office again or open your own law practice or go on a psychic vision quest. Whatever you want, so long as you’re alive to want it.”
“No. Hell, David, this is personal. Someone is targeting me. How long until they’re targeting all the people I love? I’ll do whatever it takes to protect them.”
“Even breaking her heart?” David asked me softly.
“I hate that she’s hurting, but I can’t take the chance that anything could happen to her.” I glanced at the clock. “Is everything set for the press conference?”
“Yeah. She’ll be watching, you know.”
I knew that she would be watching. I’d spare her as much pain as possible, but the next coming days wouldn’t be easy on her. The best I could do was to ask the media to spare her during this difficult time.
Even to me, it sounded like a canned response.
The news vans started pulling up, and I gritted my teeth. “It’s time.”
&
nbsp; Half an hour later, I walked out on the steps of the front of the building. The press was situated in a square taped off by the police, and the crowd that had picketed earlier were now standing quietly by to hear what I had to say. Flashbulbs started going off, and I steeled myself.
“Thank you all for joining me today. I’d like to update the public in the ongoing investigation in the murder of Sherry Carin. The detectives are investigating the possibility that the recent murder of businessman Hirsh is connected. I am thankful to say that I have been cleared as a murder suspect, which will allow the detectives to focus on other suspects while I get back to working for Miami.” I gritted my teeth and took a deep breath. “I’ll take a few questions now.”
“Congressman Drayson. Why do they think there’s a connection between the death of Carin and Hirsh? Were they in a relationship?” an older woman asked.
“I’m not comfortable divulging information in the investigation without the detectives here.”
“Is the connection your girlfriend, Blythe Hemsey?”
The question smacked at me, and I almost growled into the microphone. “As I just stated, I’m not comfortable divulging information into the investigation.”
Klaus’s planted reporter seized the opportunity and stepped forward. “Congressman, is it true that this has put a strain on your relationship with Ms. Hemsey?”
A strain. That was a nice way of putting it. Still, I appreciated him not coming right out and asking if I’d walked away from the woman I’d spent so much time defending.
“While I don’t want to take up too much time discussing my personal life, I will say that Ms. Hemsey and I are no longer together. She is still a wonderful woman, but we both decided that we wanted to focus on our careers. The investigation has taken me away from my work, and I am ready more than ever to catch back up. Recent events have also affected her projects, which she will be focusing on. Unless you have big checks to donate to her wonderful cause, I ask that you give her some space at this time.”
They shouted at once as they tried to ask more questions about my relationship with Blythe. I waited calmly until I heard one asking about my policies and pointed to him.
“What’s next for you, Congressman Drayson?”
“Before this investigation, I was working with the officials in Jacksonville in a combined effort to expand on the Clean Water Act, and that’s what I’ll be focusing on from here on out. Safer working conditions for our fishermen and a cleaner environment for their catch. We are a city that relies on the water to help support our economy, and we need to pay more attention to what we’re putting in the water so we can continue relying on it.”
I answered a few more questions before I thanked the crowd and turned to head back inside. Just those few minutes in front of the camera being grilled about Blythe exhausted me.
“Good job,” David said stiffly. “Everyone out there will be cheering your name soon. You’re the hero again.”
“You say that like it’s a bad thing,” I muttered.
“No. It’s not a bad thing. You had a vision when you first entered office, and it was everything that you said out there. Only then, your vision was to help people. Now, you’re intentionally painting a target on your back.”
“You’re either with me on this or not, David, but I can’t do this if you’re going to constantly judge the decisions I’ve made.”
David’s face eased just a little. “You’re like a brother to me, Jack. Of course, I’m with you on this. I just hope that you know what you’re getting us into.”
“I have no idea,” I admitted. “But I’m determined to find out.”
Twenty-Five
Blythe
Rachel turned off the television and turned to stare at me. “Did he just say what I think he just said?”
“Yeah.” My heart broke as I reached for a stack of papers on my desk and needlessly straightened them. I needed to keep busy. “He’s been cleared of all charges. Isn’t that great?”
“Blythe.” She pointed fiercely at the television. “He just said that the two of you broke up. Mutual decision. That is insane. Tell me that you aren’t letting this happen.”
“It’s not entirely true,” I murmured. “But I don’t guess that we are together anymore.”
“No.” Grabbing her own desk chair, she rolled it through our small office and parked it next to me. “This isn’t happening. I think that you’re still in shock because of Hirsh. I know that the whole situation is jarring, but this is Jack. You two are meant to be together.”
Cocking my head, I looked up at her. “Are we? I mean, things have been rocky from the very beginning. I know that relationships aren’t supposed to be easy, but they don’t usually include blackmail and dead bodies. Maybe we aren’t supposed to be together, or maybe we aren’t supposed to be together right now.”
“This is crazy talk. You are speaking crazy talk. Luckily, I am fluent in crazy talk, and what I’m getting from you is that there’s something that you aren’t telling me. Let’s go back to the beginning. At what point did you decide to break up?”
Leaning back in the chair, I closed my eyes. “This morning, and it wasn’t a mutual decision. Jack has decided to play alone with whoever is trying to manipulate him, and he doesn’t want me to be hurt in the process.”
“Oh!” Clapping her hands over her chest, she moaned dramatically. “Blythe, that is great. So you two pretend to be broken up while you date in private. That makes me feel so much better.”
“No. No. We’re over. Aside from the fact that he didn’t leave room for argument, he didn’t think to discuss this with me first. He just decided to plunge himself right in the middle of danger. He just decided that we were over.” Pushing back from the desk, I stood and started to pace.
It wasn’t as hard to watch the press conference as I expected. I had known that he was going to say the words. The pain was already in my heart. Hearing the words didn’t make it worse. He’d made it sound so easy. Like we’d sat down to a meal and casually decided to go our separate ways.
The hardest part was watching his face. There wasn’t any emotion. Doubt was starting to creep in. What if breaking up with me wasn’t as difficult as he’d led me to believe this morning.
“Oh, honey.” Standing, Rachel tried to keep up with my pacing. “I know this is hard, but maybe he’s doing the right thing. Would you be comfortable being with him while you were always looking over your shoulder? This way he can bring the bad guys down. He’ll be a hero, and then he’ll come back for you.”
“And how long does he think that might take?” I demanded. “One year? Two?”
She stopped suddenly and wrinkled her nose. “You wouldn’t wait for him?”
“Wait for him? I’m more concerned that he won’t be alive when it’s all over with.” Exhausted at everything that had happened in the past few days, I leaned against the wall and closed my eyes. All I could see was a dead body, only it wasn’t Hirsh. It was Jack. “How am I supposed to handle that?”
“I think you just need to talk to him.”
“Talk to him?” I snorted. “Weren’t you listening? He’s making all the decisions on his own. No room for conversation.”
Rachel didn’t say anything, and I knew it was because there was nothing she could say. I was knotted up with anxiety and grief and worry. “I need some fresh air. I’m going to take a walk. It will probably be my last chance for a while. The press will be all over me again.”
As I tried to leave, Rachel grabbed my arm. “Blythe, I know that you’re hurting right now, and you’re scared. I also know that you and Jack love each other. Really love each other. Don’t give up on him now.”
I shrugged. “It kind of sounds like he’s giving up on me.”
Rachel let me go, and I walked slowly down the steps and out the door. The warm air hit my face, and it made me think of Jack’s warmth. Grabbing the doorframe, I took a deep breath as my knees buckled. Before Sherry’s body had been found
, I’d hit my high, and now I was spiraling to my lowest moment. How could this even be happening?
Maybe it was happening because I was letting it happen.
Stumbling outside, I let the door slam behind me. On the empty sidewalk, I sank to the step and pulled my knees up to my chest. For a moment, I struggled to breathe.
My head was still in a fog. Things had been so up and down since I’d met Jack. Couldn’t we have had just one normal week to get together and enjoy ourselves? Not fighting our own feelings. Not fighting each other. Not fighting unknown forces.
I’d wasted too much time in the beginning, and now there was no telling if I’d get any more time with him.
Pushing myself up, I started walking when I realized that something was off. My phone should have gone off like crazy now that Jack had announced to the world that we weren’t together anymore. I hadn’t told my parents or any of my friends. They’d all have questions. I couldn’t really give them answers.
So why weren’t they calling?
After checking my pockets and my purse and not finding my phone, I frowned. When was the last time I’d had it?
At Jack’s before I stormed out. Damn it. I’d have to go back and get it.
If I was lucky, I could sneak in and take it before he got back. Opening up the door again, I shouted up to Rachel that I was leaving and hurried to my car. Thanks to Miami traffic, it took me longer than I expected to get to his building, but thankfully, there were no reporters waiting in the parking lot. Parking in the garage, I headed over to the guard, but he didn’t look surprised to see me.
“Ms. Hemsey! The congressman told me to expect you today. He said that you’d left your phone behind. I can open the elevator for you and send you right up.” As he walked around the guard booth, I flashed him a smile and thanked him.
His Fall From Power Page 15
