“Said every loser before you too,” Imogen added.
Troy drew himself up, seething. “There was nobefore me.”
I began to do the math. A year after we’d moved into the house, not long after Arjun died… Barnes confirmed it soberly: “Troy was the first.”
“Did we meet?” I asked, fighting to stay unaffected. “When you worked for Barnes?”
“Oh, yeah…” Troy said bitterly. “His royal highness, vacant as a crash dummy, but maybe that’s what happens after a lifetime of head trauma.”
“Do not speak to him like that!” Barnes yelled, but Troy was undeterred.
“You always loved people fawning over you, wafting into the office with your asinine little edits for his speeches, so desperate to be relevant. That’s how I knew you’d fall for that stupid promo photo story. It wasn’t even me in the photo. I pulled it from the network’s archives in New York,you oblivious dolt. You might have been the last to see your marriage was a sham, but I always knew.” Troy scowled. “Even when he fucked those other guys, he always came back to me.”
“Sorry, do you want him to say you’re special or do you want me to?”
Troy looked like his teeth would crack his jaw was so clenched. “We laughed when I pitched you returning toEndeavor. He loved my idea of generating fodder for the divorce—”
“No, Troy made one offhand comment, and the next thing I knew you were in Italy,” Barnes protested, fighting for my eyes. “And he certainly never told me Shawn was on this season, let alone that he would force him on you!”
I ignored Barnes; my feelings couldn’t get in the way. “But, Troy, no matter how much you humiliated me here, you had to know you’d never ride off into the sunset with him, right? You’re not exactly the political wife type, certainly not for Barnes’ constituency.”
“I didn’t care about him being a senator! I told him to leave you and move to LA years ago, but he had to stay in DC because of you—”
“No, because hewanted to be a senator, you moron.”
Spit flew from Troy’s mouth like venom. “You’ll never know him like I do. What he actually wants, who he really is! Who do you think he was making those videos for?”
And then all the pieces were there. “Barnes sentyouthe sex videos?” I asked, prompting Troy to blink, as if retracing his words. “Troy, I underestimated you. You did realize he’d never leave me, so you needed me to leave him. Barnes, was Elliot Markovich working for you at the same time as Troy?”
“They overlapped by two months,” Barnes said, gravitating to my side.
“So Troy goes west, and Elliot becomes the flavor of the month,” I continued. “Naturally Troy stays clingy even across the country, so you share some naughty videos to make him feel like he’s still on your mind but mostly to keep his mouth shut…” It was all so clear now. “You’re Elliot’s anonymous friend, aren’t you, Troy? The one who ‘inspired’ him tocome forward? I bet Elliot hadn’t even saved his video, so thank goodness for your treasure trove.”
“That’s a batshit theory,” Troy snapped. “I would never hurt Barnes.”
“Of course not, you weresavinghim. Liberating him from me and the Senate both.”
“After the Elliot tape broke, you begged me to step down, but I didn’t.” Barnes’ voice was suddenly soft as he saw it: “You leaked about my credit card at the RNC. You were there in Florida. I joked with you about using the wrong card. I assumed the auditors found it… but now I’m guessing you tipped them off to guarantee my resignation.”
Troy reached for him, both hands shaking. “Barnes… we’re so close to what we want.”
“I want my family back!” Barnes recoiled. “I wasn’t going anywhere with you! I might have let you put Luke in a compromising position by casting him, but then I realized that wasinsane. The only reason I manipulated you into bringing me here was to protect Luke and fix all the mistakes I made, starting with the night I was dumb enough to sleep with you.”
“You’re just saying that because he’s here,” Troy said quietly.
“He is here, so compare yourself. Why would I ever choose you over him?”
“Well, I haven’t touched you since you signed your contract, so good luck finding a shred of footage that proves we were involved at all,” Troy replied, eyes glazing over.
“I can help with that,” Erika volunteered from where she stood by Zara’s handheld camera, red recording light blinking. “Should I play it back for sound, Troy?”
“I didn’t consent to being filmed!”
“But, sweetie, youdid,” Greta said. “Doesn’t every crew member sign a waiver to appear on camera just in case? You know, for the sake of the story?”
“It doesn’t matter,” he fumed, returning to me and Barnes. “Thenetwork won’t fire me over rumors, and I can promise neither of you has a hope in hell of winning that final now.”
Barnes inhaled, defiantly holding his gaze. “Zara, get my phone from your safe.”
