by Shayla Black
“Is she sure?” Roman knew sometimes he forgot even habitual things.
Zack flushed slightly. “I’m sure. Trust me. I heard that sucker lock.”
Ah, she’d slammed the door in his face. Zack’s night hadn’t turned out as well as his had. If one didn’t count the fact that Gus refused to look his way now. “What did the security cameras catch?”
There might not have been one trained specifically on the room Liz was occupying, but there would surely be one in the hall.
“I’m pulling the feed right now,” Everly explained. “Zack wants us to handle this in-house. Secret Service knows something is happening, but they don’t know what. We intend to let them think this is a personal issue, some squabble going on between friends and staff that Zack has decided to fix. They’ll believe it.”
It was a smart play. There was a ton of drama going on between them right now, and there was no way the sharp, trained agents hadn’t noticed. This kind of late-night gathering wouldn’t come as a surprise, especially if everyone seemed calm and on the same page in the morning.
“Why aren’t we calling them in?” Liz wrung her hands again. “I should have gone straight to Thomas, but after what I read, I thought the president should see it first.”
Or more likely, she’d been scared and wanted to walk straight into Zack’s room so she could feel safe again. Poor bastard. Zack couldn’t afford to keep Liz as close as Roman intended to keep Gus. Liz’s safety depended on everyone believing she was merely an employee, nothing more.
Gus sent Roman a pointed look. “I would also like to know why the Secret Service isn’t involved. It’s almost as if you guys know something we don’t.”
Of course, keeping Gus close had its disadvantages, too. He cursed under his breath.
“What’s in the folder, Zack?” Sometimes it was best to ignore her jabs. If Zack was comfortable with Liz and Gus knowing what was in the letter, then he had to be as well. If the contents were as serious as it seemed, he had no choice.
The door opened again, and Connor strode through. “Well, I figured out how they snuck that package in.”
Gabe looked up from the screen. “Did someone have the key to her room?”
Connor shook his head. “Didn’t need it. I found a hidden passage. The whole place has been renovated a few times over the centuries, but those secret passages the servants used to get food quietly from the kitchen to the guests still exist. Liz’s room is easily accessible. No key required and no cameras recording. I would bet Everly’s going to come up with nothing.”
“Someone can come into my room at any time?” Liz asked, her voice shaking.
“Obviously I’ll have you moved.” Zack had his encrypted cell in hand. “I want a secure room and I want to know the name of every single person who’s been in this house today. There must be a security log.”
Connor held up a hand. “I can get that for you, but you should know one of the tunnels I followed went out to a storage shed on the grounds. It looks as if it was bricked up in the past, but someone took a sledgehammer to it. I crawled through the opening and only had a moment or two where I thought I might have to grease myself up to get through. That was a tight space.”
Everly looked up from the screen. “I’ll see if anything gets picked up on the CCTV right off the grounds. At this time of night there can’t be too many people milling around. If I can get enough to run through facial recognition software, we might get lucky.”
“It’s London,” Zack pointed out. “It’s always busy, but you should definitely try. Now that we’re all here, we should talk about what Liz found. This is a piece of blackmail intended to force me to change the way I negotiate with European leaders.”
Roman felt his heart squeeze. This was the drop of the shoe they’d been waiting for. “What are they blackmailing you with?”
Zack was quiet for a moment. “You, my friends. If I don’t downplay the transatlantic pipeline, the person who delivered this intends to ruin all of you. Every one of you in this room.”
“How?” Roman didn’t quite understand. He’d expected whoever was out there to come directly at Zack.
Then again, Zack would throw himself on the sword, but he would fight to the death to save his friends. The enemy was obviously smart enough to know that.
Liz sniffled. “I read it, but I didn’t understand it all. Some of it doesn’t make sense. I get the part about Gabe and the FAA.”
Gabe groaned. “They want to bring up that shit again? I thought we were done with that. I didn’t have a reason to kill Mad. I wanted him alive. And the NYPD now believe that Mad’s own employee brought that plane down because he was going to expose her human trafficking operation.”
“I’ve never quite believed that was the only reason,” Roman murmured under his breath, along with a curse. “How exactly do they intend to revive the scandal? What’s the angle?”
“They claim they have proof that I shut down the investigation and instructed the head of the FAA to rule that it was pilot error,” Zack replied.
“You didn’t do that. You merely requested that you be kept up to date.” They had been relieved when the agency had ruled the way they had—not because they agreed with their findings, but because it kept Gabe out of jail.
“This person claims to have documentation between my office and the head of the FAA,” Zack explained. “They’ll leak it to the press if the prime minister and I reach an agreement to bring American natural gas to Europe in the next ten years.”
“You said us.” Gus perched on the edge of her seat. “What exactly is he threatening the rest of us with?”
Zack opened the folder. “You apparently made a sex tape, Augustine.”
Gus scoffed. “Probably several. Let it out. I don’t care as long as my butt looks good.”
“Augustine,” Roman growled.
She shrugged. “Seriously, if that’s the best they’ve got on me, it’s no threat at all. I don’t give two shits.”
Roman clenched his jaw. “This isn’t a joke. It could hurt your career.”
“Or I’ll be the Kim Kardashian of DC and grow my Twitter following by millions,” Gus shot back. “Look, I’ll weather this just fine. Dax and my mom will be upset, but not exactly surprised. Kind of like you.” She addressed Zack again. “So take me out of the equation. What about everyone else?”
She was right, and once Roman stopped looking at a possible sex tape like a jealous lover, he realized it wasn’t a very strong threat. He shouldn’t be terribly upset by it. He didn’t like it, of course…but Gus had been a bit wild in her younger years. Probably now, too. Still, she wouldn’t be ashamed. She wouldn’t let a sex tape throw her for a loop. She would likely take a bow and wait for the spotlight to fade.
Because she was tough. Because she knew what she wanted and she didn’t let anything stand in her way.
Damn, he admired her.
“What about Connor and Lara? Do they know about Capitol Scandals?” Roman asked.
Liz turned to look at Lara. “Wait. Are you sincerely telling me that the biggest rag in the Beltway is run by Connor’s Disney princess?”
Connor folded his arms over his chest. “How do you know it’s not me? You immediately go to Lara. I can run a website, you know.”
A brilliant smile crossed Gus’s face. It was one of the things he found fascinating about her. She could find the absurd or ironic in almost anything. “She knows because you have no sense of humor whatsoever, Connor. You are the single dourest man in the world besides Roman. You couldn’t come up with even one of those headlines.”
“My favorite was the article titled If the President’s Penis Could Talk,” Liz said, putting her hand over her mouth as if to stop herself from squealing. “I’m fangirling so hard right now. You have a lot of fans in the press office.”
Lara had flushed a deep red. “In my defense, his penis had some extremely intelligent things to say about environmental law.”
“Could we s
top talking about my…junk,” Zack growled, then took a deep breath. “No, there is nothing in here about Capitol Scandals, but thanks for outing Lara.”
Gus flashed a superior smile. “I knew.”
“You did?” Liz groused. “Damn, I’m always the last to hear anything.”
“No one told me. I figured it out a long time ago and kept it to myself. Sorry,” Gus murmured to her friend.
Zack waved the conversation off. “Capitol Scandals isn’t mentioned at all. No, this is a different threat. It’s about Connor and an operation he was responsible for in South America that led to the deaths of three civilians.”
“Shit.” Connor reached out for his wife’s hand, tangling their fingers together. “I know what you’re talking about. That op was beyond complex, and we got some bad intelligence about a narcoterrorist group. Things went wrong. And yes, some civilians died, but I stand by that mission. We saved a lot of lives by breaking up that group.”
“Apparently new information has come to light. One of those civilians was the son of a cartel kingpin.” Zack was looking down at the information he’d been given. “The man known only as El Guapo has no idea the CIA was behind that raid, and he’s been looking for someone to blame for his loss. If this classified information came out, you and Lara would be in grave danger.”
“Where is this asshole getting his information?” Roman found the threats to his friends and brothers maddening. “How does he know these things?”
“And why does he think a bunch of e-mails between Roman and Joy would be a problem?” Liz asked. “That’s the one I don’t understand.”
The whole room went quiet. Roman froze when he saw Gus’s face flush. She seemed to turn in on herself.
He’d never really discussed Joy with Gus, but he knew Joy had talked about him to Gus. She had talked to Gus about their odd relationship. How hard had it been for Gus to stand quietly while her friend had purged her conflicted feelings about Gus’s own ex? He would bet she’d never once told Joy about their history, or she’d made it all sound like a long-ago fling that simply hadn’t worked out. She would never have made Joy feel guilty for her feelings or as if they were in competition. She would have been a steadfast friend.
“Joy and I had a flirtation,” he admitted to everyone in the room. “Some of the e-mails could be considered scandalous since she was married to Zack at the time. I should have been smarter, but it seemed innocent. It certainly started that way. Most of the e-mails are merely friendly. But later ones talk about things that would be interpreted salaciously.”
Liz hadn’t known, and the surprise on her face told him she found his admission shocking. In truth, admitting it out loud felt wrong. Saying it in front of Augustine, not an hour after he’d been inside her, made him feel somewhere close to ashamed.
Liz turned to Zack. “What does he have on me? I haven’t had any affairs. I’ve basically been a nun for years.”
“Your sister,” Zack replied quietly.
She shook her head. “What about her? Annie’s in the middle of a divorce. She’s too busy fighting for custody of her kids to get naked with anyone and have a fling.”
“Your sister spent two weeks in a mental hospital when she was seventeen,” Zack said quietly.
“Because she had PTSD. She was in a car accident and lost her best friend. Six months later she was still struggling and she thought about hurting herself. My mother got scared and took her in for an evaluation,” Liz explained quickly. “She was a minor. That information is supposed to be private.”
“Nothing is private,” Connor said with a sigh. “Even sealed records can be found, opened, and exposed. They could have hacked the hospital or gotten the information through insurance records. And I’m sure your brother-in-law’s lawyer would use that against her.”
“So we have to figure out who sent this to us and how I can mitigate the damage as much as possible,” Zack said. “I don’t want to hurt my friends, but I can’t give in to blackmail. The future of the country is too important.”
Gus stood. “Don’t worry about me. I’m a big girl. I’ll let my mom and Dax know what’s coming, but if I had a copy I would release it myself so it couldn’t be used against you. And if having a sexually adventurous woman on your press team is too tawdry, then I’ll happily turn in my resignation.”
“Absolutely not,” Roman said quickly. “You’re not quitting.”
Zack grinned, the first time he’d shown any amusement all evening. “And I would decline to accept that resignation. As for Liz’s sister, let’s hire the best lawyer we can and dig up some dirt on her soon-to-be ex. We’ll give her as much ammo as possible.”
“My vote is to release the e-mails between Joy and me.” Roman hated the thought of those secrets becoming public. But he hated Zack giving into blackmail even more.
He remembered the day he’d received the first personal missive from Joy, roughly a year before the campaign for the White House had begun. All their previous exchanges had been purely business, though Roman had occasionally sent comics or absurd news items to make her laugh. Her responses until then had been like the woman herself—seemingly shy and quiet, even in e-mail. But she’d broken the barrier between them by sending him a message that asked if he ever thought about her.
Roman shifted his gaze to Gus. She would have boldly walked into his office and told him she wanted him. She wouldn’t have played around or written him so she didn’t have to face him in person. She would have been upfront. Then again, if Gus had been married, she would have divorced her husband before she flirted with another man. “It only hurts me. I was the one in an emotional relationship with my best friend’s wife. Not you. It makes you look like a freaking saint.”
“Or an idiot, but I can live with that, too. Not anything the press hasn’t said before,” Zack quipped.
His friend had been much more careful. Despite the fact that he’d planned all along to be with Liz after his presidency ended, he’d never sent her e-mails anyone could use against him.
“Besides, they have no idea what I was thinking at the time,” Zack murmured obliquely, though Roman knew the yearning for Liz he implied. “That leaves us with two problems. The FAA scandal coming back will hurt me, and it could definitely have an effect on Gabe and Everly. It could send both Bond Aeronautics and Crawford stock down.”
“We’ll be fine.” Gabe put a hand on his wife’s shoulder. “I’ve got excellent lawyers, and the NYPD considers the matter very much closed. Without any proof to refute them or criminal charges forthcoming, the story will go the way of gossip and blow over.”
“I’m not so sure about that.” Roman knew conspiracy theories could haunt a presidency. He needed to talk to Zack and the guys alone. “But we’re all tired tonight, so why don’t we reconvene in the morning? Does Liz have a new room? A secure one?”
“Gus’s room is secure,” Connor offered. “The tunnel was blocked to that suite. I’m having her things moved in there. They can share for a bit.”
Gus helped Liz up. “Yes, I think Liz will feel safer with a roommate.”
“No.” They had a deal, and Roman knew if he let up for a second, getting her back in his bed would be one hell of an uphill battle. “By all means, help her settle in. But you’re staying with me. We’re not done, not by a long shot. Unless you’ve changed your mind.”
Unless she was willing to reveal everything about her investigation to everyone in the room here and now. He knew he was being a bastard and he was planning on telling Connor anyway, but after waiting so many years to touch her again, he wasn’t giving her up until he was good and ready, despite the fact they’d all been threatened tonight.
And if he didn’t like the dirt the conspirators dangled over her head, well…that was his problem. After all, he’d let her go. Anything she’d done with another man after their split had been consensual and none of his business. He’d hardly been a saint, either. Of course, he fully intended to find the unscrupulous bastard who�
��d taped her and make him pay. She didn’t deserve either the scorn or blame that might come with the video being released. Despite everything, she was behaving in a very Gus-like fashion, being bold and brave about the possibility. No one took her down. No one made his baby feel small.
No one except him.
A vision of her expression that night thirteen years ago hit him square in the gut. Her righteous fury, yes. But he remembered her pain most. He hadn’t been kind that night, hadn’t been the man he should have been.
In fact, her expression tonight had looked hauntingly similar. Why?
Roman didn’t know.
“No, I haven’t changed my mind,” she snapped. “I suppose I’ll go to bed, then. If I had to guess, the good-old-boys’ network has an emergency meeting and once again, we’re not invited. Come on, Liz. I’ll help you get settled in my old room.”
Lara stood up as well, shaking her head. “I can’t attend good-old-boys’ clubs, so I’m going to call my dad and check on Lincoln. Zack, you do what you need to. Connor will handle this. If someone comes after us, we’ll deal with it in a calm and humane way.”
Connor cupped his wife’s shoulders, looking down into her eyes, their connection a palpable thing. “I am not going to sit down for a conflict-resolution summit with a crazed drug dealer who wants to murder you.”
“Of course not. You’re going to very humanely put him down,” Lara agreed. “You can kill him, but it can’t hurt.”
“Quick and easy, baby. I promise.” He kissed her lightly.
“We’ve both learned to compromise. It’s so important in marriage.” She turned and followed Gus and Liz out the door.
Everly closed the lid of her laptop. “I’m going to our room. It could take a while to run all the facial recognition software, and I’m afraid I’m still pretty jet-lagged. You boys don’t stay up too late plotting.” She turned to Roman when she reached the door. “And you should seriously think about what you’re doing with Gus. I know she seems invulnerable, but she’s just a woman when it comes to you. You can take her apart with a harsh word.”
