Page 297 of Lodestar

“Will you comply?”

“No.”

“Would your chief of staff have known that?”

“Yes. He knows my stance on these things. I don’t do deals with terrorists.”

I almost snorted at the irony—his First Lady had been a part of the goddamn ECD.

Unable to stop myself from smiling, my top lip quirked up at the many layers of his ignorance. “What would you do if I told you that Garry Smythe is a top-ranking Sparrow? One of the highest in the land, even.”

He stilled. “Garry Smythe… as in my top advisor?” he choked out.

“Yes. The name David Foundry ring a bell?”

“Of course! He’s my attorney general—” He rubbed the back of his neck. “The second of your two problems?”

“Yes. As highly ranked in the New World Sparrows as Smythe.”

“Garry… Smythe’s known about Aoife for years. He found her for me, for God’s sake. Why’s he leveraging that information now?” He scowled. “You’re wrong. Garry can’t be a goddamn Sparrow. He’s my youngest son’s godfather!”

“I’m afraid he is, sir.”

“Where’s your proof?”

“You don’t want to know what proof I have. If you knew, you’d have to act, and you can’t.”

“Why can’t I? I’m the president of the United States!”

“You’re a POTUS who’s pledged to eradicate the New World Sparrows from his government when his top advisor and his AG are Sparrows! You’d be laughed out of the Capitol.

“They’re a problem, sir. They won’t go away. They’re all pests that are difficult to eradicate but they’re due to meet in a day’s time. I will be intercepting that meeting and they’ll no longer be a problem for either of us. However, I need your help.”

“I don’t need to know this,” he choked out. “If the truth comes out, it comes out. I won’t hide her?—”

“Don’t be selfish,” I snapped, my anger genuinely focused on his goddamn ego and his inability to process that this option wasnotbeneficial for the daughter he professed to care about. “You might be okay with, how did you phrase it? Your ‘dirty little secret’ coming out, but Aoife’s got a life of her own. Do you think she needs to be dragged into your political battles? Her world torn to shreds by the press because you couldn’t keep it rubbered up when you were cheating on your wife nearly thirty years ago?”

His mouth rounded. “She’s my daughter. I shouldn’t deny her?—”

“What you should do is consider her wishes first. If you can protect her from the truth coming out, then that’s what you should do.

“She’s a businesswoman in her own right, an influencer who’s built her reputation on good values. You could destroy everything she’s worked so hard for by being reckless.”

“Reckless? I’d be ruining my reputation too!”

“Unnecessarily!”

“And what do you propose I do?”

“Let me deal with our mutual problems.”

He stared at me. “You mean murder them?”

“I mean ‘deal with’ them,” I said coolly.

“I can’t be involved in this,” he rasped. “Losing my career is one thing; going to jail for conspiracy to commit murder is another.”

“You’re not conspiring to do anything,” I disregarded. “In the aftermath of their disappearances, it will be revealed that David Foundry owns shares in a brothel in Las Vegas. It’s a farm for blackmail as a lot of senior politicians use it.

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