Page 116 of Not the Plan

As Karim sped back to the office, his phone beeped with a text.

RJ:Insurance bill just passed.

“Fuck!” shouted Karim, punching his fist into the steering wheel.

CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO

Isadora

“Peter may call for a vote on pro tem tomorrow,” Isadora said to Daniel when he returned to the office after the senate had adjourned for the day.

“Are you sure, Isa?” Daniel asked. “They just went against me on a bill, nothing else has happened that’s drastic enough for them to turn on me like that.”

“According to Karim, Julian has sex tapes on the senators who voted for the insurance bill.”

“He has what?” Daniel whispered.

“I know, it seems very far-fetched. That’s why I said itmayhappen tomorrow. I don’t trust the source. However, it lines up with my previous impressions.”

“But if it lines up with what you expected, you can trust Karim. That’s good news,” he said.

“Daniel!” Isadora surprised herself with her tone. “Sorry. You can’t seriously put my…emotional…uh, life on the same level of importance as the presidency?”

“Why can’t I, Isa?” he asked. “They’re equally important.”

Isadora didn’t know what planet she was on anymore.

“Daniel. Priorities here. We have to do something to stop this.”

“Isadora, if I’m meant to become president pro tempore, I will. If not, it wasn’t meant to be. But you…” He stepped closer to her, putting a hand on each shoulder. “You need to understand that your happiness is also important, worth fighting for.”

At the moment, she was fighting not to cry in front of him again. “Daniel. Letting myself…feel something like that for, for a man…It’s too dangerous. If I hadn’t opened myself up, if I hadn’t let Karim in—”

“Julian would have still found a way to be Julian. And you wouldn’t have been nearly as happy as you’ve been of late. It’s none of my business what happened, but I think it might be worth giving him another chance.”

She straightened her posture. “Okay. I will take that under advisement. But about the pledges to vote for you, what do you want to do?”

“Sex tapes?” he said, grimacing and sitting on the couch for visitors.

“Yeah.” She leaned against the desk across from it.

“I don’t know that there’s much we can do. How many are there?”

“According to Karim, at least six files.”

“Whew. Okay, then.” He stroked his chin, gazing at the floor. “If Julian is threatening to make the videos public, I don’t want to do anything. The last thing I’d want is to put anyone on the spot like that. It’s bad enough that he’s outing them by asking them to go against their pledges.”

Isadora tapped her fingertips against the desk. “Why don’t you reach out to the members who flipped? Privately. Let them know that if they keep their pledge, you’ll find a way to protect them from Julian? Whatever he may have.”

“Pretend I don’t know exactly what he has on them, huh?”

“Kind of lets them save face,” she said.

Daniel shrugged, then nodded.

“You start at the top of the list?” Isadora suggested. “I’ll get in touch with the aides starting from the bottom.”

“Your assistant could help,” he said.

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