“NorwillI know. I’m in the dark about everything, Dad. You’re the puppet master, pulling the strings so you can always have your way. You pressured me to run when I said I wasn’t ready, and here I am, in way over my head.”
“You can still do this.”
“Does it matter if I want to do it?”
He furrows his brow. “Why wouldn’t you want to? What thirty-year-old in their right mind wouldn’t want the kind of power and influence that comes with being a United States Senator?”
“It was never for me, Dad. It was always for you.” I swipe the tears away from my cheeks.
“I’m sorry, Reagan. I truly am. I wish I could tell you to follow your heart, but…I need you to do this.”
My heart races back into overdrive. “Youneedme to do this? What does that mean?”
“Having a secret family is expensive,” he says with a heavy sigh. “For twenty years, I’ve had to find a way to support them without anyone knowing.”
My stomach churns with a sick sensation as my father’s words sink in. This hole he’s dug for himself just gets deeper and darker.
“You sold out,” I say softly. “You’re crooked.”
“I accepted payments in exchange for votes I likely would have cast anyway. That’s not crooked.”
“Not according to the Stan Preston School of Ethics, no. But then, neither is deceiving your wife for twenty-two years.”
“Reagan—”
“I have to get out of here.” I close my eyes, and more tears slip onto my cheeks.
“Let’s just slow down and figure this out,” my father says in his most placating tone.
“The only one with shit to figure out is you,” I fire back. “Twenty-four hours.”
He shakes his head. I wait for him to meet my eyes before dropping a bomb of my own.
“I’m seeing someone, Dad.”
“Oh?”
“Yes. Jude Titan.”
His grimace says it all—this news bothers him more than me finding out about his secret family did. I’ve been nothing more than a pawn in his game all along.
“Dammit, Reagan.”
“You should be thanking me. Now you know why those photos haven’t been leaked yet.”
“If it gets out that you’re seeing him, you’re done. Ruined.”
My laugh is bitter. “I’m ruined, all right. But it’s got nothing to do with Jude.” Picking up my purse and keys from the counter, I give him a final look. “Twenty-four hours.”
“I won’t be given an ultimatum by you.”
“She deserves to hear it from you. It’s the absolute least you can do now.”
I walk out the door and dig my big, dark sunglasses out of my purse. I can hide my smeared eye makeup behind these glasses, but there’s no way I can conceal my emotions. My world was just turned upside down. The campaign couldn’t be further from my mind.
I’m not going back to the bus. I’ll text Lexi that she can send everyone home until further notice. The only person I want to be with right now is the one who gets me like no one else. I send Jude a hurried text:
Me: I need you. Can we meet?
