“Yes, Master.”
His gaze softens. “Breathe, pet. No one expects you to be a machine.”
“I need to resign.”
“No!” Leo and Jordan say, so forcefully that it startles me.
“You arenotresigning,” Leo continues. “You let Casey-Marie and Angie spin this. The public will want to believe Stella was a victim.”
“But she’s not. She never has been. The only true victimhood she has is Ellis murdering her. She’s always used people.”
“Doesn’t matter,” Jordan says. “The public won’t know that.”
“And I have plenty of pressure saved up to apply to enough people who will come out from the other side of the aisle to support you,” Leo adds. “This is where I can carpet-bomb a swath of GOP lawmakers who will eagerly stand behind you and nod and make all the right noises and shut down anyone, even Fox or FNB or anyone else, who dares to so much as suggest you resign.”
“But…Ciro. This will splash back on him.”
“No it won’t,” Leo insists. “Do you trust me?”
I nod, because of course I trust him.
“Do you trustme?” Jordan asks, and his voice is all my Sir without a hint of the boy.
I nod.
“You make no statements except what Casey-Marie and Angie release,” Leo says. “I’ll have your parents safely here by tonight because they damned sure don’t need to deal with all that bullshit. Your sister’s murder was the last of the attacks that happened here in our country. She’s avictim. She died ahero, trying to warn people. The public finally knows the truth because of the risks she took. Shediedtrying to get the truth out.”
“But…but Belyaevskin—”
“Doesnotmatter in this framing,” he insists. “Parallel track. Related but not important. Stella came forward as soon as she thought she safely could. She was your beloved little sister and your relationship with her was strong, albeit private, before she married Ellis and he interfered, right?”
When my gaze flicks over to Jordan Leo gently jerks my hands. “Right, pet?”
I take a deep breath, hold it, and let it out again. “Yes, Master.”
“Sayit,” Jordan orders. The hard edge to his voice is definitely all Sir.
Another deep breath. “She was my beloved little sister,” I say, the lie thick and fuzzy like rancid cotton balls in my mouth. “My relationship with her was good before she married Ellis. We both cherished our privacy. Despite our ideological differences we were close before she married Ellis.”
Jordan stands there, his arms crossed over his chest, Sir absolutely in the house. “You stayed in the closet for decades before coming out. No one will doubt you could easily keep something like the truth of your relationship with your sister quiet.”
“That,” Leo says, tipping his head toward Jordan.
I’m not sure if I should be impressed or horrified my men can immediately flip into spin mode under these circumstances.
I guess it doesn’t matter. I’m grateful they can nimbly maneuver and rapidly change course as the circumstances dissolve and reform around us in completely different ways.
“We were both private people in many ways,” I say. “I respected her privacy and she respected mine. I didn’t want my position as president to impact her life in negative ways, and she was a self-made professional. She wanted to build her own success and not just hang off my coattails.”
“Good,” Jordan says, nodding. “Keep going.”
I draw a shaky breath into my lungs. “No, I didn’t like or get along with my brother-in-law but Stella was an adult and I respected her decisions. I had no idea she was being abused.”
“Excellent.” Leo squeezes my hands. “Keep things vague for now. In these initial days no one will expect you to remember exactly everything you said. Let it percolate. You’ll have your story hammered out by the time we let you in front of a camera to make a statement.”
I slowly nod. “Yes, Master.”
Leo releases my hands after one last squeeze and speaks to Jordan. “Get him downstairs. Donotleave his side, no matter what. You have full clearance so use it. If anyone tries to run you off, invoke Sir with your boy, if you have to, to make Elliot overrule them evicting you.”
