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LUCAS
Ahalf hour before the press conference was set to begin, Olive still hadn't arrived. Claire's school was only fifteen minutes away, meaning that even if she'd puttered around at school, she should have been here by now. And Jeff would have called me if there'd been traffic.
As I paced the backstage of the convention center, Claire's phone going to voicemail for the third time, Jessie came striding out of his dressing room, pieces of makeup paper tucked into the collar of his shirt. He ripped them out, twisted on his smile, and threw up his hands.
Lowering my phone, I sighed.
"You ready, bud?" Rubbing his hands together, he grinned. "You fucking did it."
"What?"
"The hacker," Jessie grinned. "The Quinn fucker. He's gone. I just saw the news."
"Jessie...keep it the fuck down," I hissed.
"Hey, cool it, man," Jessie grinned. "You kept up your end of the bargain, showing me how serious you are with your business, and it's now clear that this is how you'll be by my side in the White House." He slapped my shoulder. "This is good, buddy."
I'd never wanted to punch a grown man before as I did right now. But this was a huge opportunity, one I still wanted. Breathing through my annoyance, I forced a smile.
Jessie grinned. "I'm thinking I'll go out first and announce you as my VP. I'll read the speech about Olive's arrest, mugshot, toxic relationship, and explain how I'm going to double down harsher penalties for abuse victims, yada, yada. Then you guys will come out."
Rubbing my chin, I lifted my hand. "There's just one problem."
Jessie's face froze, his smile disappearing and he stared at me unblinking. "You know I don't like the word 'problem,' Lucas. Unless it's followed by the world 'solution.'"
"Right. So...the solution would be Olive and Claire arriving."
His expression fell. "They're not here yet."
I took a deep breath, and then spotted Jeff slipping in through the backdoor. I was about to give Jessie the good news when the door closed again. Olive and Claire weren't with him. My heart skipped. Jeff's eyes were wide, his shoulders tense. He was carrying the weight of someone with bad news.
Oh, shit. Something bad had happened. I felt it in my bones.
Without saying anything to Jessie, I curved around him, heading straight toward Jeff.
Jessie called after me. "Get it together, Lucas."
I ignored him, picking up my pace to reach Jeff. He must have been able to read the expression on my face because he raised his hand. "Everything's fine. Well...I mean, they're okay."
Sighing, I gripped my heart. "Jesus, okay good. So what's going on? They're nervous? Sitting in the car?"
"No," Jeff said. "They're not coming."
Jessie had caught up to us. "Excuse me, did I hear that correctly?"
I lifted my hands to try and keep Jessie from freaking out. "Where are they?"
Jeff's shoulders slumped. "I'm sorry. You told me to always listen to her as long as she had security—and don't worry, they're with her."
"Hold on." I lifted my hands. "Where are they?"
Jeff shrugged. "Olive wanted to take Claire to a playdate."
Jessie threw back his head. "Oh, you got to be a fucking kidding me. So this isn't happening? Great, this isn't happening." He spun on his heel, throwing his makeup papers onto the ground as he yelled for his publicist.
This was the least of my concerns right now.
"Don't worry," Jeff said. "Security is with her, so she's fine."
