Page 44 of A Man of Prestige

I hang up and watch my rearview mirror where the sun is rising behind us. A new day is dawning and so is a new power regime.

Silence fills my car as I park a few blocks from Ella’s apartment. Fortunately, her building is connected to another building with an underground garage. We enter the back way through an alley, and she uses her lock-picking skills to get us inside.

“You’re scary with some of your skills,” I mutter as my mind continues to swim with the events of the early morning.

By the time we enter her apartment, the sun is rising over the city. She walks out to her balcony and puts her forearms on the railing. I join her and we watch the sun get higher until it’s above the Capitol building. I replay everything that’s happened since last night over in my head. My brain feels slow and jumbled, probably from the shock.

She finally reaches her hand over to mine. “I’m sorry.”

I place my hand over hers. “It’s not your fault.”

“I know, but still…” She trails off and looks over at me.

“What now?” she asks.

“Fuck if I know.”

She turns toward me. “We need to find who did it.”

I nod slowly. “I know. I just…I need to process it all. I mean, fuck, the president was just killed.”

“I know. That’s why we need to process it all now,” she says adamantly.

I look back in her apartment. I have no idea where we are being listened to and that unnerves me, but what makes me even more uneasy is that I don’t know “who” is listening. I don’t have a fucking clue because all the prime suspects just died in a ball of fire. Forget that one of them was my father. Forget that two of them were my best friends’ fathers. Forget that one of them was a fraternity brother who was also president. I can’t begin to process it all right now. But she’s right. We do need to know because we could be next.

My phone pings with an incoming text.

Conner: Done. We need to talk.

Sebastian: Same. When?

I look to Ella. “Now,” I text back.

“We’re meeting at the safe house,” I explain.

“The safe house?”

I forget that she doesn’t know about it. “Vivienne has this place she uses, and we’ve taken it over for the purposes of our current…mission.”

“What about our security?” she asks as we head down to my car.

“They are currently…dissolving any information that might compromise us,” I explain as we ride down the elevator.

She rolls her eyes. I lean down and kiss her, pushing her against the back wall of the elevator. I’m taking what I need from her. I want to get lost in her, even if just for a moment. At first, she doesn’t respond, but a few seconds later, we’re clawing at each other as our tongues tangle. The ding of the elevator has us slowly pulling away from the other.

“We’ll finish that later,” I announce as I grab her hand and head to my car. I take us the long way and park at a grocery store parking garage. I can see the Washington Monument in the distance between the buildings. Something about that is comforting. If it can withstand everything it’s seen, then perhaps I can, too.

We’re quiet as we walk. The shock hasn’t worn off yet. I haven’t even begun to unpack the events of the past twelve hours. I’m not sure if I ever will be able to unpack them. In the course of one day, I learned that I had a daughter who died, and I watched my own father die before my eyes. A part of me that still feels wonders if Sadie knows yet or Hugh.

I glance around us as I open the door to the apartment building. When we get to the apartment, Ella reaches out and grabs my hand. I glance over at her.

“Do you think…it’s safe?” she asks as she motions to the apartment.

“I do.”

She nods. I squeeze her hand, letting her know it’s fine. She looks up at me and mouths, “I love you.” I gaze into those caramel eyes.

“I love you more, star,” I murmur before I give a knock on the door. A moment later, Vivienne opens it and ushers us inside.

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