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“Shit. I’m sorry, man.”

“As I said, it’s for the best.”

“I guess. I’ll talk to you on my drive back to Houston. Time to go face the Samina tiger and hope she doesn’t eat me for breakfast.” Ashur pressed the off button on the phone and then gazed out to the water.

After a few moments, he turned and walked inside the house. I quickly pressed myself against the wall and stayed out of sight.

My mind reeled. What was I going to do?

With Tara, there was no way Ashur wouldn’t win. He was too conservative for a so-called Independent, even with Veer’s liberal-leaning tendencies on his ticket. It was Tara who would show he was more than a politician.

Tara had endeared herself to the younger demographic of the nation. Because of her, there had been an influx of people joining humanitarian efforts, not only in the US but all over the world. Her international popularity would open doors our current president had shut because of his antics.

My hands shook as a sense of betrayal settled on my shoulders. Ashur and Veer were positioning themselves for a ruthless fight for the presidency. They were checking all the boxes to win.

Veer had held this secret close to his chest for months. There was no way a decision like this was spur of the moment. We were lovers, friends, and I thought so much more.

If he and Ashur won, I’d go up against them in four years.

I pressed my palms to my eyes, letting my tears drip down my cheeks. Ashur was taking my dream and making it his. And on top of that, Veer was helping him do it.

How could they do this to me?

How could the man I loved position himself between me and the one thing I’d spent my life working toward?

Accepting Ashur’s proposal was the reason Veer had made the final decision to end us. He was on a timeline. It was either I gave up my ambition for him, or we broke up.

No, that wasn’t fair. Veer had wanted me to marry him a year into our relationship, and he’d never once told me I had to give up the future I’d planned.

Oh God, why hadn’t I said yes? Then we wouldn’t be in this situation.

Inhaling deep, I reined in my emotions and thought of a game plan. First, I was going to have my tea with Sam and enjoy her company for the short time we had left together. Then, I was going to tend to my guests before we said our goodbyes. Finally, when it was just Kevin and me left, we were going to re-strategize our game plan for the next few months. This news would affect him as well. And if there was one thing we were good at, it was adjusting our plans for the future.

Chapter Eleven

Two weeks after leaving Austin,I exited my car at the basement entrance of the Rosewood Washington Hotel in the heart of Washington DC. Ashur had yet to make his big announcement, something I knew would occur any day.

I’d spoken with Samina in great detail about what was going to happen, and I’d resolved myself to the fact that more than likely I’d go up against Ashur in four years. It hurt deep inside to know people who I considered family would become my enemies. No matter how we felt behind closed doors, in public, we’d have to stay strictly along party lines. The worst part was my best friend would side with her brother and I couldn’t expect anything else of her.

Then there was Veer. I hadn’t heard from or spoken to him since he left my house that weekend. The only news I’d heard about him was when Veer had ruffled a few feathers in Texas by repeatedly voicing his opposition to the president’s spending bill, especially his handling of education funding for states falling behind the national average. Veer and I had conflicting views when it came to government spending, but education was an issue we agreed on. Texas was almost at the bottom of the list on education, and our state needed to increase funding for public schools.

A few of my colleagues had given me the side eye when I informed them I wouldn’t be voting in support of the president’s spending bill. I may have been his public protégé but I wasn’t his puppet, and people were going to know it.

Releasing a sigh, I focused on the guards approaching me. There was no point in wallowing in a situation that I had no control over. At this moment, I had more important things to handle.

Spreading my hands out, I waited for security to frisk me and then take me inside.

“Senator Camden, Mrs. Edgar is waiting for you. As you were informed earlier, no one is to know this meeting occurred,” the first lady’s secretary, Mary Davis, said the moment I passed through the doors.

“This shouldn’t be a problem since any news of this would be detrimental to both of us.”

She was protective of her boss, something I could respect. Mrs. Amanda Edgar had endured humiliation and criticism that would have destroyed a weaker woman. She’d experienced the plight of many women who thought they had a loving and committed marriage only to learn it was all one-sided. Except, the first lady’s was through a public discovery.

The news of the affair broke during a family vacation the president and the first lady had taken with their adult children. A national newspaper reported the president had had a five-year affair with his assistant and had only ended it weeks before taking office. Mrs. Edgar was further embarrassed to learn everyone around her had covered it up.

She’d held her head high, knowing that divorce wasn’t an option until the president left office without causing more scandal. Instead, she threw herself into projects that meant something to her, everything from childhood literacy to women’s health. Her work was the only saving grace for the current administration.

“This way. We have a long walk, but it is necessary.”

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