“Daph, I promise he’s going to leave you alone.”
Her eyebrow rises as she scrutinizes me. “How can you be sure?”
“I have my plans for Brent. I just need the right time to execute them. For now, I threatened him and told him that if he even implies he saw you at the club, then I’d kill him and make it hurt.”
Daphne shakes her head, disappointment painted over her face like she’d been hoping for more. “He’s in politics, Tris. He gets threats all the time.”
“In person?”
Daphne shrugs. “It happens more often than you’d think. Besides, he has money. He could hire protection. A bodyguard or a P.I.”
“I wiped the club’s system,” I remind her. “There are no traces of any of us being there. He doesn’t know who I am.”
Daphne pinches the bridge of her nose. “That’s all the more reason for him to hire someone.” She shifts on the couch and tucks her feet under her. “You do know he’s your best chance at stopping the bill in the Senate? He’s influential, and if his party rallies behind him, the Senate won’t have the votes to pass it. That’s why my parents were trying to get me to talk to him. They thought I could use my feminine wiles to convince him to rally his party in Dad’s favor.” Even though she rolls her eyes at her own words, the thought of Daphne being prostituted out by her own parents makes my blood boil.
I haven’t struck Grover Fox from my kill list yet. And every time Daphne talks about her parents, I’m tempted to add Grace, too, for good measure.
Why is she so damn protective of them? Sure, they’re her parents, but they loathe her. If she said the word, I’d raise Grover to the top of my kill list. I made a promise, but the more I learn about her parents, the more I can’t figure out why she wants me to keep it.
“There are other ways to stop the bill.” I don’t know what they are, but I’ll sure as hell find any other way if it means protecting Daphne from Brent. “I’m not letting him breathe a second longer than necessary.” It was so damn tempting to kill him yesterday—to slide a shiny piece ofglass across his throat and watch him bleed out on a Persian rug that cost more than my first car. But I can’t wipe traffic cameras and CCTV footage across the entire city. There would be a federal manhunt if a senator was murdered in a country club—and I couldn’t risk putting Daphne in their crosshairs.
Hawkeye takes the lull in conversation as an invitation. He launches himself onto my lap, oblivious to the tension shifting between his mom and dad right now as his alligator squeaks in his jaws.
“I’ll do it soon,” I promise. “But it’s risky. I need to get the timing right.”
“How long does it take you to plan something like this?” There’s an innocence in her voice that doesn’t match the energy she’s giving off, like she’s trying to logic me into a corner to give her the date of Brent’s demise.
Being attracted to smart women is rough.
“It depends.” I keep my answer vague. “I need to confirm his schedule. Hack into his phone. Check his calendar, his living arrangements, and his security detail. Everything. I can’t make a mistake. And you’re right. He might hire extra protection, so I’ll need to see what his next moves are.”
Daphne’s shoulders slump in dissatisfied resignation.
“What happened between the two of you?” I ask. The question’s been gnawing at me since we made our arrangement in my basement, and I thought I’d find answers, but there’s nothing. Not a police report. Not a social media post. Not a text exchange or a trail of phone calls.
“He raped me.” She speaks the words so monotone and matter-of-factly that it’s robotic.
While I had a suspicion that something like thathappened, having it so bluntly confirmed shocks my system.
Scooping Hawkeye up, I lift him in my arms and scooch over to Daphne’s side of the couch. I deposit our happy furball beside me and pull Daphne onto my lap and into my arms.
Her muscles are stiff for a moment until she relaxes and snuggles against me. She settles her head in the crux of my neck. The sweet vanilla smell of her perfume tickles my nose until it gives way to a warm, feminine undertone that’s distinctly Daphne.
“We met at a charity auction last year. He’s ten years older than me, and I thought he was charming. He was so easygoing and fun to be around. We went out on a couple of dates, enough for tabloids to pick up on it. The President’s Daughter and the youngest senator in America. It was a political Hallmark movie.”
Her tone tenses as she continues. “One night when we were at my place, we had a couple of drinks—just two. I don’t remember anything halfway through that second glass. It was like I went to sleep, but when I woke up, I was sore. My muscles hurt. I felt stretched out down there.” She points to her thighs and shudders. “I knew he did something. And it burned. I don’t think he used any lube. It hurt for days. But the details were fuzzy, and I couldn’t remember exactly what happened. It was a blur. He drugged me.”
Her rapist drugged her.
And, goddamn, I feel like the biggest schmuck in the world for spiking her drink at the bar.
“I’m so sorry, Daph.” I press a kiss to the top of her head. That light contact is more for me than for her. I need to ground myself before guilt consumes me. “I had no idea.”
A puff of air escapes her like a sarcastic laugh. “How could you? Between his family and mine, they made sure no one found out.”
“Your family?” Unease pricks at my skin. I don’t like where this is going.
“I didn’t know who else to go to. My friends would have tweeted about it, not like they’re really my friends. I was raised around politicians and their kids, so no one genuinely cared about me. They wanted to get closer to Dad. So, I went to the only people I thought might defend me.” Daphne’s voice tightens. “Mom blamed me. She said I’d gotten drunk, and it was my fault. She refused to let me go to a hospital to get tested. I had to go to a CVS for a Plan B pill the next day. Dad’s private physician came to the White House to draw blood for an STD check. I had another one done a couple of months later with a different doctor, without them knowing. I was clean both times. But I couldn’t go to the hospital after it happened. Or the police.”
