Page 40 of Shattered Reign

“Did my father know that you were the one who sent the photos?”

“He was aware because the return address was mine.”

She didn’t know how much she’d changed the trajectory of my life with her actions. She had no idea that my parents would have forced me to marry someone to keep all that quiet and how I defied their wishes by helping to expose my father. It wasn’t something she needed to know.

Diana took a deep breath before continuing. “I wanted him to know that these were available so he could take the necessary steps to protect the reputation of his family. It would have been too easy to leak them myself and start some trouble, but that’s not how I wanted to win an election. Then the information about him came out and...”

“Did you have anything to do with that?”

Diana shook her head vehemently. “Absolutely not. My team didn’t find out anything about that, so the information must have been buried pretty deep.”

“Do you have any information on any other scandals I should probably know about?” I asked.

She sighed and shrugged before speaking. “There was nothing else major that we’ve come across, but I can’t guarantee that there aren’t more out there. We’ve done our due diligence, but you never know.”

She rose from the table and stretched. “I don’t want to stay in your hair for too much longer. I have another appointment I need to get to.”

I watched as she gathered her purse and walked to the door. Just before she opened it and stepped across the threshold, I spoke again. “How did you know my father didn’t already tell me you were the one who sent those photos?”

Diana turned to look back at me, her hand still on the door. “I can tell you’re a very driven young woman, Bianca. That will get you far in life, trust me. But I assumed there was no way in hell you would have let me get away with sending those photos to your father without saying a word to me. I gave you some time in case he didn’t talk to you about it right away, but I figured by now, enough was enough. Even if he hadn’t informed you about the photos at all, I would have still admitted my involvement with them to you today.”

With that, she walked away, leaving me in the conference room to ponder what the hell had just happened.

After a few minutes of replaying every second of what had just occurred over and over again in my head, I managed to get up from the desk, left the meeting room and headed to the elevator bank.

I checked my phone as I entered my apartment. Easton should be on his way back to my place soon.

But everything stopped when I looked down at the floor. I immediately backed out of my apartment and jogged back to the elevators. I put my phone to my ear and prayed that the call I needed to make would connect.

When it did, I almost yelled.

“Hello?”

“You need to get back here now.”

22

UNKNOWN

Icouldn’t help but watch. I was sitting in a heavy armchair, its upholstery so black and sleek that it looked as if it belonged in a hip, minimalist bachelor’s pad versus being a part of this lavish apartment building. I was pretending that I was reading the paper, engrossed in the current events going on around the world instead of what should be occurring sometime within the next hour.

I couldn’t deny that I was enjoying the fact that I knew what was about to happen before anyone in this lobby did.

A couple of people studied Diana Caldwell when she walked in, speaking together in hushed voices as she walked by. It felt as if the whole room had stopped and all that could be heard over the soft murmurs was the sound of her heels clicking as she walked across the floor. I assumed residents recognized her from the campaign ads she’d been running. I knew that she’d raised plenty of money and had been giving Van Henson a run for his money even before the scandal broke.

Of course, I recognized her too, but I was excited about her arrival for an entirely different reason.

Diana walked up to the front desk. I assumed to ask for the woman of the hour. I watched as the attendant at the front desk told her that the person she was looking for wasn’t answering their request and that maybe she should come back another time.

Diana looked around the lobby, slightly unsure of what she should do. I could understand that feeling because it reminded me of when I first started, having been thrown into this field. What I assumed she’d come here to do wasn’t her forte. When she decided that she would stay and wait, I commended her because now she wasn’t wasting both of our time. I settled back in the chair I was sitting in as anticipation grew within me. This upcoming meeting of two unlikely people was going to happen, and I had the best seat in the house to watch.

My attention shifted from what was going on in this lobby to what was occurring outside. A well-kept and polished black SUV pulled up to the front of the building and I couldn’t help but grin because I recognized the vehicle easily.

Bianca.

She was finally here.

Since she had arrived, the next act of this scene was about to unfold.

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