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At two in the morning, after Vaughn and I had finally returned from sneaking Arden out of her sorority house and over to Dalton’s as a temporary security measure, I’d finally turned off my phone and fallen asleep tangled in Vaughn’s arms.

“Where’s Arden?” she hissed. “The two of you were supposed to be here together, and her parents haven’t heard from her since yesterday.”

“And they can’t track her phone?”

Which was safely in her room, even though Arden wasn’t.

Janine pursed her lips. “She’s at the sorority house. I want to know why she isn’t here.”

“Apparently, she’s been throwing up.” I wrinkled my nose and met Janine’s eyes. “I don’t know what the heck she’s come down with, but I hope to god it doesn’t kill her.”

Janine’s eyes narrowed for a fraction of a second, like she was trying to decide whether the double meaning of my words was intentional. Which meant she knew everything about the situation.

I hadn’t really doubted it. If there was one sacrosanct rule of a political campaign, it was to be honest with your campaign manager so they could help you avoid pitfalls. Janine was a master at that, given the number of pits my absolute conniving dickwad of a father insisted on falling into.

It remained to be seen if she could help him avoid an actual landslide, but we’d soon find out. Because I was now bound and determined to make sure the ground dropped out from beneath him.

“Well,” she said, tilting her head. “We can still make the announcement about your engagement⁠—”

“No, we can’t,” I said firmly.

“Bett—”

“No, Janine.” I folded my arms over my chest because it wouldn’t work for me to be too easygoing about this. “Not unless you want me to immediately start a social media offensive about my father’s illicit affair with a young, innocent campaign staffer. And I do mean offensive.”

Her delicate nostrils flared. “If you think you can go up against the entire party, Bett, I assure you, you’re wrong.”

“If you think you can force two unwilling adults into a marriage, you’re wrong. And before you say it, I know you don’t actually think you can force me into a marriage. You just want the optics of the announcement before Election Day. And you also probably think you can keep me contained until then. Let me guess, you’ve already asked Demere for special permission for me to miss the next couple weeks of classes to campaign?”

I actually didn’t think they’d go that far, but she surprised me by opening her mouth and closing it again.

I snorted and rolled my eyes, then covertly checked the time on my phone. Ten minutes until the service started.

Vaughn had made me promise to check in with him as soon as the service was over. At first, he’d insisted on coming with me, but I’d reminded him his presence at church, especially since news of the fight had broken on social media, would be like throwing fuel on an existing fire. Besides, he had his own important job to do right now.

But I knew he wouldn’t hesitate to show up if I failed to check in, even if it meant burning the plan we’d come up with to the ground.

“Janine, listen,” I sighed, trying to sound tired instead of angry. “There’s no need to be adversarial about this. Arden and I just need a little more time, okay? I’m not planning to alert the fucking media. Can you even imagine? You think I’d want the world to know my father impregnated my girlfriend?”

And, okay, maybe I let a little anger slip during that last part.

But it was honest, and I hoped that sold my act.

“Keep your mouth shut!” she hissed, darting a glance at the cloakroom door. “Jesus, Bett. Do you have any idea what this will do to his campaign if it gets out?”

I blinked at her. “You think it will impact the campaign?”

She closed her eyes and took a breath as if praying for patience. “We need to get ahead of this story.”

“It’s not happening today. She’s sick. But you have me. I’m here like the senator told me to be.”

She pulled out her phone and made a call. Within seconds, a campaign staffer came rushing in with makeup to cover my bruised cheek. When she was done with me, I almost looked normal.

Unfortunately, nothing in her little bag of tricks could take the crazy out of my eyes.

I moved back into the church and ignored the whispers as I found my place with my family and leaned in to kiss my mother on the cheek.

When my father beamed at me and reached to shake my hand, I acted like I saw someone behind me so I didn’t have to shake it.