Total pages in book: 113
Estimated words: 107115 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 536(@200wpm)___ 428(@250wpm)___ 357(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 107115 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 536(@200wpm)___ 428(@250wpm)___ 357(@300wpm)
Madison didn’t dare leave her room until Todd banged on her door at five o’clock. “Out. You’ve been in there for hours, so you should be ready. The grandparents want to talk.”
Normally, that would inspire dread. Now, Madison breathed a sigh of relief as she smoothed down her dress, grabbed her purse, and opened her door.
The limo ride to the estate was tense. Todd glared at her. Matt was still pissed off. Ethan cracked jokes no one heard.
They’d barely made it inside the monstrosity of a house when Madison realized this wasn’t going to be like other family dinners. Roger was pacing. Cynthia wasn’t sauced. And the moment she stepped into the room, everyone whose last name was Pershing glared daggers at her so hard it gave new meaning to the phrase if looks could kill.
“You’re finally here.” Agatha sniffed as if their tardy arrival seriously inconvenienced everyone.
Except they were fifteen minutes early. Still, Madison didn’t point that out. The woman wouldn’t care.
“You two would like to talk to me, I hear.” She gripped her purse tighter, fear and adrenaline searing her veins. She felt like she might throw up, but she pressed on. “Alone, I hope.”
“Not without me,” Todd growled, grabbing for her arm.
Matt was faster and pushed her behind him. “You don’t touch her.”
Todd snarled. “And I know you do, you son of a bitch. Every chance you get.”
Winston acted as if the two men weren’t about to throw down in his very posh living room. “Let’s talk now, Madison.” He glared at Matt. “Alone.”
Palms sweating, she nodded and fell in behind the old man.
Matt wrapped a hand around her arm. “I’m going with you.”
She closed her eyes. He would see this as a betrayal, and god, it hurt her to hurt him. But she had no choice.
“No. We’ll be having a simple conversation. They won’t hurt me.” Except with their sharp words. “Just keep Todd away, please.”
Fury broke across Matt’s face. He ground his teeth together. “This isn’t smart.”
“I’ll be fine.” She turned to Winston. “Your office?”
He nodded sharply. “Follow me.”
Agatha brought up the rear as the old man ambled toward the senator’s office, dominated by black furniture, leather, and intimidation. The door swung closed behind them, and Winston made a great show of settling in his giant leather office chair as if it were his throne. Agatha stood beside him, his coconspirator and verbal assassin. Madison settled into the guest chair, refusing to flinch when they glared.
“What the hell happened yesterday?” the senator snapped. “You cost us thousands of dollars with that fainting stunt you pulled. What are you up to?”
She wasn’t letting them railroad her or take control of the conversation. “I’m not here to talk about that. You won’t believe me, but Todd drugged me, so I won’t be defending myself against his bullshit. But we’re renegotiating this divorce deal.”
“The hell we are!” he shouted.
“I insist. If you’re not aware, Todd is seducing a French diplomat’s underage daughter. Ring any bells?”
Winston and Agatha exchanged a silent glance that spoke volumes. Yeah, they had at least suspected. Now she had their attention.
“I have film of her sucking his cock, if you’d like to see it.” She withdrew the computer from her purse. Neither replied. “And before you try to take this device from me, you should know that I’ve extracted the footage, made multiple copies, and set up emails with the video attached to send to my contacts at AP and Reuters, the French embassy, the girl’s father, and your opponent’s campaign manager. So, if you touch, detain, or threaten me, the emails will autosend. Are we clear?”
“You bitch,” Agatha growled. “Biting the hand that feeds you…”
“Yeah, arsenic,” she shot back. “I know that filing official divorce paperwork before the election is a nonstarter for you and that I can’t move out of Todd’s place without my absence being noticed, so this is how we’ll play what happened yesterday to our mutual advantage: You will tell everyone in the next few weeks that I fainted because I’m pregnant. That’s sooner than you wanted to announce, but you’ll get longer to milk my condition. In exchange, I’ll be much too ill to attend most campaign functions. Pick three—max. That’s all I’ll do. I also won’t be attending anymore family dinners, and I don’t think you’ll miss me. You will remove all the surveillance equipment from my bedroom and bathroom. I want some goddamn privacy and not to feel like I’m being watched during every shower and bodily function. It’s disgusting.”
“You’re a Judas. Of course we’re watching you.”
“Then I guess you want the world to know that the rumors about Todd’s predilections are true and that you’ve done nothing about his multiple instances of statutory rape. That will be good for your campaign.”
Winston ground his jaw but said nothing else.