Page 47 of Dirty Secret

"Don't worry, I was more interested in Mr. Felipe Aragon, but it's impossible to get through to him." He pointed toward Felipe, who was turning the corner into the ballroom where the gala was being held.

"Felipe is my friend. Don't think I'm going to tell you anything about him. Excuse me, uh . . ."

"Tanner. My name is Tanner McQuaid."

My lips twitched due to recognition. "Aren't you the journalist who did that opinion piece about the disappearance of Senator Fitzwilliam and his son?"

"Yes, but I don't—"

Heidi clasped her chest. "Oh yeah! It was all about some crazy conspiracy theory that the attorney general's cousin, Senator Fitzwilliam, disappeared over twenty years ago because he knew too much about something the president was hiding. What was it again?"

Tanner's eyes dropped, and he lowered his voice. "That he consulted with the mob to get elected."

"No, no, that's not it. That's not the funny one. I mean, it's funny, but the one that had me rolling on the floor was when you mentioned Senator Fitzwilliam hid in the mountains with his son in fear that the president would poison him. That the president was forcing the CDC to work on a top-secret drug and he was going to use it on the senator."

Both Heidi and I burst into laughter, causing a few heads to turn our way. Her hand grabbed my arm, and she held herself up as she struggled to breathe.

"I wrote that two years ago . . .. The paper was trying something new. They wanted something that would grab people's attention. It's not as if I wanted to write that piece."

"No one was twisting your arm, either. Excuse me, Mr. McQuaid, but we have a gala to get to," I said and tugged Heidi's elbow.

We were still chuckling as he called out, "I wanted to ask about your marriage, Ms. White."

Heidi stopped mid-stride, causing me to stumble back. Did I hear him right?

"Married?" I stared down at Heidi.

There was no mistaking the look on her face—guilty. She nibbled her bottom lip, wincing as her eyes turned up to meet mine. "It only lasted a few days. I was young and in college."

"So, it's true?" Tanner stepped forward and Heidi, after taking a deep breath, turned to face him.

She nodded but didn't say anything else. I was confused and for a second, angry that she didn't confide in me. But watching her struggle with her past reminded me that I was far from perfect. I lied to her, and she forgave me. This was her life, and the best thing I could do was to support her no matter her past.

I slid my fingers around her elbow. We moved past the gala room and down the hall. I wanted to take her far away from here. This place, the questions, the people . . . they were all things she hid from. I wish she knew—no matter what her father did to me—that I would always protect her.

We were right outside the kitchen with waitstaff moving furiously past us when we came to a stop.

"Max, I wanted to tell you, but my father insisted that no one could know about it. That they wouldn't understand why a senator's daughter would marry a man like that."

Did the man hit her? Was he a criminal? Now I was worried that there might be a good reason she kept her marriage a secret. That her life would be in danger if it was revealed.

"Like what?"

Her shoulders sagged. Heidi covered her face with her hands and I tried to hold back my snicker as she mumbled through her fingers.

"What? I can't hear you."

Lowering her hands, Heidi looked up at me and my heart jumped. There was fear in her stare and I hated that whatever it was hurt her like that. "I said, I married a male stripper."

I opened my mouth to respond but nothing came out.

"My parents had been trying to get me to marry Felipe since I turned eighteen. They refused to understand that I wasn't his type and that I didn't feel that way toward him. Their only concern was a perfect political marriage. On my twenty-first birthday, my parents threw me a big party, but my brother, Brandon, tipped me off that my father was going to announce my engagement to Felipe without my consent."

"Felipe proposed to you?"

Heidi twisted the corner of her lip. "Sort of. He had yet to come out to his parents and felt that if he pretended to be with me, they would be happy. Also, he was having trouble with a guy he dated in college, and I would be a perfect way of making that guy disappear. Felipe admitted he wanted my dad to spook the stalker away. He apologized for that later and said it was wrong to use my friendship like that."

"But that doesn't explain the stripper."

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