For the hundredth time, Zack asked himself why, when he and the guys had decided to bring the women closer, he had insisted Liz should come, too. The minute Mad suggested the women should be here, the room had exploded in chaos. But they’d all agreed on one thing: their women needed protection and they needed to understand the risk. Events were forcing them to huddle up, and he hadn’t been able to stand the thought that Elizabeth might be on the outside.
“Mad, I want real explanations now,” Roman demanded. “You can’t just show up and expect us to wait around for…what? Do you have a presentation set up? You do. You asshole. You have a presentation, don’t you?”
Mad shrugged. “I can’t help it if I know how to put on a show. And everyone involved needs to see it. I shouldn’t have to tell you how serious this is. I know you’re all pissed at the way I went about this. My ass may not be the only one at risk, but I’m the one who’s been alone all this time.”
No, Mad was wrong about that, Zack mused. Lately, he’d felt so damn alone without Elizabeth. Since he’d forced himself to put distance between them, he realized how much he’d come to depend on her being part of his everyday life. She was often the first person he saw in the morning and the last person he spoke to at night. Even if he wasn’t with her, he would call her before he went to bed. Oh, he would say he had business to discuss, and he always managed to come up with something relevant. But then he would ask her about her day, and she would tell him all the crazy stuff that had gone on in the press room or laugh about how Gus had managed to take down some annoying lobbyist. Eventually, he would look at the clock and realize that hours had passed.
He missed her so fucking much.
“Apparently, you weren’t alone,” Dax argued. “You had Matthew Kemp, Thomas, and whoever this mystery guy is.”
Zack listened with passing interest. Sure, he was curious about the mystery guy, too. Well, he should be. But he had an almost fatalistic acceptance that nothing they said or did would truly matter. If he was Sergei, then his whole life had been a lie and everything he knew, especially his days as president, were over. Even if he survived his resistance against the Russians, he would have to resign in disgrace. Then everything he’d worked for would have been in vain.
Yet he could remember a time when the notion of not being the president had been the most freeing thought of all. If he hadn’t won the election, he might have had a life with Elizabeth…presuming she wasn’t a Russian operative. Maybe he would have embraced the career of his choice while bringing up a family differently than the way he’d been raised. He could have embraced love above duty for once.
Without Elizabeth, all Zack had was the presidency and his legacy. Didn’t that sound empty as fuck?
“You have to understand my partner in all this is actually quite intelligent. When I nudged you to look into him, I didn’t realize you would go crazy and fall in love.” Mad huffed at Connor. “I actually prayed you wouldn’t kill the pacifist chick because she was so obviously wrong for you, but I suspected from her blogs that she had valuable information. Except about Zack’s penis. I didn’t need to know any of that. But I was pretty sure Everly would work well with her. But most of all, she was close to my partner…and at the time I didn’t really know him, so I needed you to investigate.”
Connor’s jaw had dropped. It might be the first time Zack had ever seen Connor Sparks completely at a loss for words. In fact, they all were.
“Are you talking about Freddy?” Zack scowled.
Freddy Gallagher had been living next to Lara Armstrong when Connor investigated her and her website, Capitol Scandals, which had been the bane of Zack’s existence since it hit the DC scene. Connor had gone in to find out what she knew about Mad’s “death” and the surrounding conspiracy. Her neighbor Freddy, a longtime conspiracy theorist, had discovered the proof that Joy’s death hadn’t been the result of an assassin’s bullet meant for Zack gone astray. Someone had intentionally murdered Joy to sway the voting public into sweeping Zack into office—and the plan had succeeded.
Mad nodded. “Yeah, that’s him. At the time, Freddy wasn’t too keen on sharing what he knew, so I maneuvered Connor where I was sure he would come into contact with Freddy. Lara was the vehicle since I knew Freddy would peg Connor as a government suit and be too suspicious to talk to him outright. I gambled that Lara was aware of Freddy’s investigation and that Connor’s instincts would kick in. I worried like hell that Connor would fuck everything up. I never imagined he would get down and dirty with the vegan princess.”
“Oh, he did both.” Dax looked like he was going to go pop some corn and enjoy the drama.
Connor turned on his best friend. “Hey, since my courtship of my wife didn’t include marrying another woman and wasting years of our lives, unlike some people, I’m the smart one here. I had Lara under control in a couple of weeks.”
“Really? Are you talking about the same woman who recently ran an ‘exposé’ about all the ways my company is polluting the earth?” Gabe asked with a sigh. “Because it doesn’t feel like you’ve got her under control.”
“She loves the earth.” Connor shrugged. “Look, she and I have a deal. I don’t get involved with her protesting and she doesn’t ask me about my CIA contacts. Or why I sometimes have blood on my clothes when I come home. But she’s excellent at getting that out of dress shirts. Saved me a ton of money.” He turned back to Mad. “We need to have a serious discussion about Freddy. He’s a lunatic.”
“And a menace.” For the first time since they started talking, Dax looked serious. “I barely survived breaking into his apartment. Did you know about that, Mad? Did you know about the land mine in his foyer? Walking into that place was like an obstacle course in a deadly Three Stooges cartoon.”
Mad looked at him as if he’d gone mental. “Why do you think I didn’t go in myself?”
Glowering, Dax stood.
If Mad wasn’t careful, he would get another beatdown. Zack didn’t need to hang around for this. Clearly, Mad wasn’t going to divulge any important details until he made a big production out of it. That shouldn’t surprise anyone.
Zack rose as Mad and Dax faced off and walked to the bar, his thoughts turning.
How would Elizabeth take Mad’s return from the dead? Would she be shocked he was alive…or did she already know? He would have to watch her carefully. Yes. That was why he was bringing her here. He needed to watch her, keep her close so he could monitor her every expression, word, and move.
Of course he couldn’t get any closer than being in bed with her.
Maybe he’d played their game all wrong. He’d pushed her away so that no one would think to use her against him. But if she was in on the conspiracy, drawing her close made so much sense.
All the better to eat you…
Yes, he was the Big Bad Wolf in this scenario, and she was sweet Little Red Riding Hood with her basket of treats. Damn, but he wanted a taste of that. Needed it. Had craved it for so fucking long.
“Can you believe this?” Roman had left the crowd to join him, empty glass in hand.
Zack refilled it. “We should have known Mad’s death was a ruse when he made sure a good percentage of the ‘mourners’ at his funeral were his favorite hookers. Hell, nothing takes out Mad. He must have a deal with the devil.”
“Sometimes I think he is the devil,” Roman shot back, then glanced into the great room where the guys were arguing about which one got to take off Mad’s head. “But I have to say, I’m fucking relieved he’s not dead. Something feels right about the world again. Despite the fact that he could have just called and told us what was going on.”
“You know why he couldn’t do that.”
Roman sighed. “You’re not Sergei.”
Zack sent him a pointed look. The evidence was not in his favor, and Roman needed to acknowledge that.
“Fine, we don’t know anything, and Mad’s not talking yet.” Roman leaned against the bar. “But I know this. If somehow you a
re this mystical Sergei, you won’t let the Russians use you. Their plans will fail because you’re a man of integrity. You’ll step down before you’ll steer this country wrong.”
“Will I?” He’d been sitting up every night asking himself that question. “Haven’t I already let them manipulate me?”
He hadn’t announced the natural gas pipeline that would free Europe from Russian control and fill American coffers. He’d put it off indefinitely. Was this the first compromise he would make in a long line of them to keep his loved ones safe? How easy would it become to give in just a little more each time?
“You know how to fix that. I’ll release that correspondence between Joy and myself, and Gus doesn’t mind if her sex tape gets out.” Roman took a long swallow. “I will hate that part, but I bet she looks gorgeous. You’ve got Liz’s sister handled.”
“There’s no way to manage the other threats. I’m at the end of my rope. Connor and Lara’s lives will be in danger. Gabe and I can probably deal with the heat from the FAA investigation, though. I did not kill that report.” According to everything they knew, someone from the press office had.