“I’ll have the message sent out in as many languages as possible,” Declan said as he typed on his laptop, and I joined him by pulling out my tablet and reading through the chat rooms.
“Apparently they’ve gained a few thousand followers. Who would’ve guessed?” You could always count on people’s hatred to propel bad news. On top of that, the actual Rsamas had already taken credit for our actions within these chat rooms. We needed to keep tabs on them; if I could’ve found them in less than an hour, the FBI could of as well. Declan and I had spent half the night making sure they weren’t tracked…yet. There was a time and place for these idiots to be caught, and now was not that time.
“We’re here, ma’am,” the driver said as he pulled up to the gate. Parking the car, he came around and opened the door for me as Declan handed me my sunglasses. There were only a few photographers outside with flashing lights, and I smiled and waved to them as Declan and I walked through security. Outside the gate, the guards checked through bags and scanned our clothing. Usually we could walk right through as family.
They wanded us both, and when I showed them my ID, the guard shook his head.
“I’m sorry, ma’am, but you haven’t been cleared,” the fat guard stated as he handed me back my purse.
“I’m sorry?” I said slowly as I stared at him.
“No one gets into the White House without being cleared.” He pointed to the checklist.
“May I ask who forgot to place the President’s family on the list?” I asked him again fighting to keep my smile in place.
He frowned and shrugged. “Ma’am, I don’t make the rules. The FBI gave me the rules. I’m sure it was a mistake.”
My jaw tightened as I glared at him, trying my best not to bash his head in with my phone.
“They’ve been cleared,” Mina stated as she walked up to us.
“I have to get a call—”
Mina dialed and he answered his phone inside his small white booth.
“The Callahans have been cleared,” she said into the phone and the man nodded.
Moving forward, I shook my head. Walking into the White House was like walking into a newsroom. Members of the White House press corps were moving all over the place. They were reading, recording, and trying to get any information they could out of anyone who would talk to them. However, no official seemed to pay any of them a second mind.
“As you can see, our house is on fire,” Mina frowned as she continued walking through.
“It’s only temporary,” Declan reminded her coldly.
She faced him, eyebrow raised, but didn’t say a word. Then she tuned to face me. “Just so you know, Avian came by earlier.”
“Let me guess, he wasn’t going down without a fight?” I asked as we headed to the Oval Office.
“You knew he wouldn’t?”
“I was counting on it.”
I smiled at the President’s secretary who nodded for us to head in from behind her phone. She looked stressed out as she fielded calls.
“We have a press conference in two hours; please don’t tear into him too badly today,” Mina said with a sigh as she pushed open the door.
I looked her over for the first time; she was the only one who didn’t seem stressed or worried. It was like she was going through the motions. In fact, she looked pretty.
“You and I are due for a chat,” I told her, and fought back a smirk when I saw fear flash through her eyes.
“Mr. President, First Lady,” Declan stated as we walked in.
They both stood near the desk.
“Where is Olivia?” the First Lady yelled as she rushed to me and grabbed onto my arm with her long, painted nails. “What did you do to our daughter? I know you did something! Oh my God, I knew something was wrong.”
My very first instinct was to break her bloody hand, but for now I needed them on our goddamn side.
I shook my head at her and whispered in a shaky voice, “She…she’s dead.”
“Oh…oh…oh my God,” she gasped as her body went weak.
I grabbed onto her as she broke down in sobs. I glared at Declan who looked more bored than sorry, until he finally gave in and took her out of my arms. Then I turned to face Colemen.
He was a statue with tears building in his eyes; they must have burned as he glared at me in pure hatred.
“You did this, you killed her.”
I frowned. I wished I had killed her. “No. No, I promise you that I didn’t.”
“You’re lying!” he screamed at me.
Walking over to him, I took his hands and stared into his eyes. “I swear to you, I did not kill her. And in all of the time that we’ve known each other, have I ever lied to you? I’ve always told you the truth even when you did not want to hear it. Olivia was family, and even though she betrayed us, we would never kill family.”
“What do you mean betrayed you?” the Jackie Kennedy wannabe called from behind me as she sat on the couch.
Declan simply stood at her side. So much for comforting her.
Sighing, I faced her as well. “She was working with Avian, he hates this family, and when we found out, we used her to get Intel on him. But when he found out, he killed her…the things he did to her. He sent us a message regarding her fate the same time he sent us one about Sedric. We only just found out, that’s why we came here. He came to visit you, right? He told you?”
Fake tears built in my eyes as I stared at him.
He nodded. “He asked me if I had spoken to her.”
“He was messing with you. He wants to break you. He’s sick, he wants to be the strongest guy in the room, and your daughter, my sister-in-law, got in his way.”
“You got us into this! You dragged us into this war, this is your fault!” his wife screamed, and I fought the building urge to kill her now.
“Avian will pay for this, I swear to God he will pay for trying to destroying your family—our family. We just need your help.” I looked into Colemen’s eyes. “She was your only child, and he did not even give us enough to bury her.”
“Get out,” he snapped at me. The tears fell from his eyes as he went to hold his wife.
“I’m so sorry. I’ve already handled all the details, and when you’re ready to talk, please call me…I know you need time. We all need time. But time is not on our side,” I whispered to them, as I turned back to the door where Declan stood.
Closing the door behind us he shook his head in mock disgust. “How do you fake your emotions without making yourself sick?”
“By remembering that there is a bigger plan. We need them, and they need an enemy. Avian did what I thought he was going to do. A man like him would never just leave, and he would damn sure make that clear.” I wiped the leftover tears from my eyes with ease.
“How did you know that Avian knew about Olivia?” he asked as we walked down the hall once again.
“Olivia hasn’t spoken to him in days, and she wasn’t in any of the paparazzi photos at the funeral. He would’ve put the two and two together, and knowing him, he couldn’t wait to use that to hurt Colemen for trying to push him out.” He thought that no one would be able to track him, but surprise, bitch, I was a people hunter. He thought like me, or I thought like him, maybe it was just in our blood. Either way, I was going to do everything in my power to keep the upper hand.