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“She was hoping for a private moment to speak with you,” I told them, as I took a seat on the couch and placed Ethan on my knee.
“Sweetheart?” her mother whispered, as she brushed the strands of her blonde hair.
“I’m fine. I should head back.”
“I don’t understand,” President Colemen said as he looked between us.
Before he had a chance to say another word, the door opened and Neal came in, dressed quite sharply in black suit and red tie.
He looked straight at Olivia for a moment, and as she took a timid a step forward, he all but cut her down with a look of disgust and anger in his eyes, causing her to take a much larger step back.
“Right on time, big brother, your wife here has a lot of press to do today, isn’t that right? I’m sure you both can come off as a loving couple for the camera,” Liam said as he waved him inside.
“Yes, I can. Is there anything else you need?” he asked, and I glanced at Liam who smirked.
We’d broken him, which meant that we had to fix him…but that part would come later.
“Wife,” Neal called for Olivia with an unfamiliar harshness that caused her to shudder.
She took his arm, and turned to leave.
We were still going to need to watch out for both of them. Neal had proven his loyalty for now, but as easily as he’d turned against his wife, he could’ve turned against us, if Olivia played on his emotions. He may have been trying to hide his affection for her, but it was still there.
“Who are you texting?” Liam asked me, and for a moment, the old me wanted to tell him to mind his own damn business.
“Sedric. I think it would be best he stayed on their tail as well.” If I knew Sedric as well as I thought I did, he was livid about the situation. He didn’t take kindly to betrayal.
The stupid First Lady stood in front of me with her hands propped on her hips as if I was supposed to be intimidated by that. “Whatever you’re doing to my daughter, I’m asking you to stop. She’s a good person and I know good isn’t something you people are familiar with, but—”
“Should I take this, or would you like the honors?” I asked Liam as I stood holding Ethan to my chest.
“Knock yourself out,” Liam replied, as he took Ethan from my arms and allowed me to face the wannabe Jackie-O.
Clasping my hands together, I rolled my shoulders and smiled. “Your daughter is not a good person. You are not a good person. None of us in this room are good people. That’s why we’re able to stand here today. We’ve all made deals, we’ve all signed our names in blood, and we’ve all looked the other way at some point. I believe in good people. I know they’re out there, feeding the poor, clothing orphans and all that shit. But they do not cross over into our world; they are not in our story, because once again, they are good people. If Olivia was good, she would have walked away when she could. If you were good, you would have never allowed her to marry into this family. You would have never gone back to your husband, and you wouldn’t be the First Lady. You. Are. Not. A. Good. Person. So let us all be clear on who we are. The good people are the voters, the middle class, the poor, is that something you want to be?”
She didn’t answer; she just shook her head.
“I thought so.” I took a step closer to her. “Why don’t you go back to picking out china and reading to kindergarteners or whatever primitive things the First Lady does?”
She made it to the door when Evelyn came in.
“It’s like you can read my mind,” Liam said to her, as he rocked a sleepy Ethan.
“Mr. President,” She shook Colemen’s hand with a smile.
“It’s nice to see you, Evelyn.”
Meeting my eyes, she took Ethan into her arms and I kissed his forehead as the little guy rubbed his sleepy eyes. Colemen raised his eyebrow at me as though he was shocked that I could be a mother.
“Come on, peanut.” She nodded at him as they left.
Great. Now we can get to business.
“Where can we listen to Avian speak?” I asked him.
Nodding to the door, we followed him out and into a separate office. There, Ivan spoke as Avian Doers, head of the F.B.I. Those who were already sitting around the table stood for the President as he entered, and I could clearly see how much Colemen enjoyed it. Money was not the root of all evil, it was just a vehicle that got you to power.
“Ladies and gentlemen, may we have the room?” he asked them. And without question, they all took their leave.
I focused on the words coming out of Avian’s mouth partially amazed at how a snake like him could fit so well with the rest of us. “Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen of the press. I will not be answering any questions today. Many of you are aware of the tragic and unfortunate events that have occurred with a few select former agents of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and I would like to inform you that there is currently an in-house investigation underway. More cannot be said about the individual agents at this time, as many of the operations being handled were classified—”
“How is a federal agent murdering a hooker in a hotel room with hundreds of thousands of dollars and drugs classified information?” a man yelled, cutting him off.
“Does President Colemen have any comments on the matter?”
“What of the agent that was found hanging from the bridge?”
“Can you confirm that an agent was kidnapped from the Embassy?”
Avian stiffened, as his face remained hard and flat. I would have even dared to say that he was starting to feel stressed.
“Don’t you just love the press?” Liam whispered to me.
“When we’re controlling them, yes. Yes, I do,” I replied.
“As I said,” Avian spoke out once again. “I cannot answer any more questions at this time. However, I will say that I plan to do everything in my power to make sure a thorough investigation is completed. When we have solid information to share, we will do so.”
“When you said I would take a hit, you never said it was going to be like this,” the President whined as he watched the press conference being held by no other than the resident pain in my ass, Avian.
“What else does taking a hit mean?” Liam asked him as he leaned against his desk.
“The FBI are the police of the United States! I am the head of the United States. By attacking him like this, you’re undermining me. I won’t be reelected if people cannot trust—”
“Why do we have to keep repeating things to these people?” He turned to me as I looked through the email Declan sent me on my phone.
“For some reason, they keep underestimating our intelligence even though we continuously prove that we’re not idiots.” I said in return.
“I understand that you both have your grand master plan, but you need to give me something to work with. I have a staff of people all trying to do damage control, while I’m sitting on my hands. I cannot just take this. FBI agents are failing everywhere,” Colemen snapped.
“Tell them that you are being updated on the situation and your prayer goes out to all of the people and their families who have lost their lives in service to their country. Then remind them that what makes America great is checks and balances. The FBI is not your personal army, and tell them that you are speaking with the director to see what can be done,” Liam directed him.
