From the hallway outside, the occasional distant ding of the elevator reaches through, but I know it doesn’t stop on our floor. My mother’s security team took it over, preventing anyone from coming anywhere close.
Something attracts my attention, and I turn away from the window to see my mom walking toward me, her movements sharp and decisive as she removes her suit jacket. She pushes up the sleeves of her ivory silk blouse with the kind of energy that means someone is about to get steamrolled. That someone is me.
"You need to make a statement immediately," she announces, her voice clipped and low. I know that voice. It’s the senator voice, not the mother voice. “It can’t be avoided anymore.”
I sigh as the world closes in around me. I knew this was coming sooner or later. I just fooled myself into believing I could get away from it all. I glance away from Mom to Caroline, hovering with her tablet like an anxious fairy godmother. I’m surrounded by people who claim to care about me, yet I feel profoundly isolated from all of them.
"What kind of statement?" I ask, though I already know the answer.
“First thing is to apologize for your lack of judgment and admit you partied too hard. You need to own yourmistakes and say that you learned from them. You’re a college girl, people will understand.”
Mom crosses her arms and pinches her lips as I stare blankly at her. She knows the video is a fake and that I’ll never be able to walk that line if I publicly admit to that. She knows my reputation will forever be tainted. She simply doesn’t care. Or she doesn’t care enough.
“But that’s not all, is it?” I hear the hollowness in my voice, and I hate it. I sound weak and defeated. I guess it’s who I am in the end. Weak little Rona.
“Then you need to tell everyone that you were taken advantage of by Darhg and that he used his position of power as your bodyguard to get his way with you.”
My jaw drops at this, and I blink a few times while my brain processes what Mom said.
“What? You can’t be serious. Darhg didn’t take advantage of me.”
Mom rolls her shoulders and lifts her chin. This is a stance I’ve seen her take with countless people over the years, usually with people she intends to strong-arm into doing her bidding. She’s ruthless and merciless when it comes to her power games. But I also see signs that tell me she knows how wrong this is. The tendons in her slim neck are tight, and there’s a tick agitating her left eyelid.
She knows it’s wrong. That doesn’t mean she will back down.
“It’s gone far enough,” she says in the same even, hollow tone of voice. “Darhg crossed the line when he turned his professional relationship into a romantic one. That’s the whole story. All you have to do is read it.”
Caroline slides a printed draft across the table, not glancing up at me. I pull the page closer with the tip of my finger, like picking it up might burn me. When I glance at it, I see highlighted phrases that make my stomach turn. Words designed to destroy Darhg's reputation while salvaging mine. Or more like salvaging my mother’s.
No. Not this. Never this.
Anger and grief boil up in my chest as I read the carefully crafted lies. They want me to throw the man I love under the bus to save face for Mom's political career. They want me to destroy the only person who's ever seen me for who I really am.
I push the paper back across the table with more force than necessary, and it slides, then falls down to the floor in a slow, dramatic arc.
"No." My voice cracks slightly, but the word comes out clear and final. "I won’t do this to him. Not for you, not for anyone."
Mom’s eyes flare at my defiance, and the familiar tug toward old compliance patterns wars with my newfound determination to protect the man I love. For once in my life, love wins.
"Rona, darling—" Caroline starts, her voice taking on that bright, patronizing tone that means she thinks I'm being unreasonable.
"No," I repeat, louder this time. "I will not agree to any public statement that demeans his character or professionalism. I’ll apologize for the deepfake if you want, but you leave Darhg out of this."
Mom's expression hardens into something that could cut glass. "This isn't about your feelings, Rona. It's about salvaging what we can from this disaster. You will do it."
The dismissal of my feelings as irrelevant shouldn't surprise me anymore, but it still stings. My voice steadies with each word as I meet her gaze directly.
"If you make me choose between protecting him and protecting your optics, I will choose him." I steady myself for what comes next. “I love him.”
The words hang in the air like a declaration of war. Mom's jaw tightens, her politician's mask slipping for just a moment to reveal something raw and angry underneath.
"You don't understand what you're risking," she says, her voice shaking just a little.
"I do." I stand straighter, drawing strength from somewhere deep inside that I didn't know existed. "But I won't lie about the man I love, and I won't let you destroy him."
Mom faces me with an expression of blank shock. I understand. I never stood up to her. Sure, I rebelled a few times, but when push came to shove, I always caved in. Not this time.
Her lower lip trembles, and the tick continues to agitate the corner of her left eyelid. If I didn’t know any better, I’d say shelooks afraid. Or hurt. Maybe both. But I do know better and I cross my arms over my chest, refusing to be the first to look away.
