Page 26 of Sinful Palace

“All right.” She lifted her head again, an embarrassed expression on her face. “Everyone knows I used to be a model, but would you believe me if I told you I was also a college girl when I was your age?”

“I had no idea. Where did you go?”

“Yale.”

My brows rose. “Wow, really?”

She flashed me a sheepish smile. “Trust me, I didn’t get in through my intellect. I was a legacy, and my parents made a sizable donation.”

“I think it’s still impressive. What did you study?”

“Something similar to what you’re studying now. Politics and international relations. I wanted to go to law school afterwards, but then I had to marry Chuck, and it all fell by the wayside, because he wanted to have children almost right away.”

I swallowed a hard lump in my throat. It broke my heart to see the parallels between Elizabeth and myself. We both had similar dreams and ambitions for ourselves to the point where we’d gone to college for the exact same majors, only to be told none of it would matter once we were forced to marry a man we didn’t really want or love.

If I remained trapped in this situation, the same thing might happen to my future daughter, if I ever had one. I couldn’t bear the thought.

“Do you want to go back to college?” I asked Elizabeth.

She shook her head. “No. It’s too late for that now. I brought it up because of the things I was interested in when I was studying. Even though I wanted to get my law degree at some stage, I was always more interested in the political side of things.”

“Your family is very involved in that sort of stuff, right?”

“Yes. Mostly the men. They’ve never really listened to any of my opinions, though. They’re quite set in their ways.”

“How so?”

“You know how most people pick a side and stick with it? Liberal or conservative?”

“Uh-huh.”

“They’re like that. But I never was,” she said. “Do you want to know my dream political situation?”

“Sure.” I leaned forward, clasping my hands in my lap.

“Well, I despise the whole two-party system. I think it creates more problems than it solves with the constant back-and-forth and nonstop fighting over partisan issues. So I think it would be great if we had a president who declared himself—or herself—an independent before seeking similar people for staff and cabinet positions. No one with staunch loyalty to one side in particular. I think we’d see a lot of changes happening in the country if that happened, instead of the constant squabbling we see now. The good kind of changes.”

I nodded. “I agree,” I said.

Elizabeth raised an eyebrow. “Really? I always assumed you supported your family’s platform.”

“Nope.” I shook my head. “Believe me, you aren’t the only one who’s sick of the two-party system dominating everything. A ton of people are. I’m just not allowed to state my opinion on it publicly, given my mother’s status.”

“Oh, I see. That makes sense,” she said. Her perfectly-waxed brows dipped in a pensive frown, and she leaned closer to me. “Anyway, when I was your age, I was very invested in bringing about that kind of change. I always wished I could get involved in a campaign for a serious independent candidate.” She sighed and twisted her fingers again. “That was my passion. That was what I wanted to do for the community. I thought it would make a huge difference.”

“You could still get involved with something like that,” I said, lifting my brows. “There’s a few independent parties out there that could really do with some new support.”

Elizabeth shook her head. “Chuck would hate it. You know how fiercely he’s aligned himself with the Democrats. It wouldn’t look good if his wife suddenly started going against that and supporting a third party candidate.”

“He wouldn’t necessarily have to know. You have money and influence all on your own, so you could easily help out in certain political groups if you wanted to. Lots of people do that while staying under the radar.”

She twisted her lips. “I suppose so. He doesn’t really monitor what I do or where I go. As long as I keep myself looking good and don’t rock the boat, I don’t think he really cares what I do with my time,” she admitted.

“Well, maybe you should look into it, then.”

She dropped her eyes to her lap, looking embarrassed again. “I’ve actually been keeping my eye on certain people over the years, wishing I could help them. There’s one man in particular I’d really love to get involved with.”

“Who?”

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