A muscle twitched in his jaw, but otherwise his expression remained calm.

“Did you get that information from those papers James Ryan sent you?” he asked.

I froze. What?

“You didn’t know, did you? Of course he sent them. Who else do you think had access to that information?”

My gaze narrowed, not sure I believed anything he said, feeling like I no longer knew which way was up.

“Why? Why would he do that? Why would he risk implicating himself?”

“Because he didn’t know it was his son’s unit. Because when he found out his son was alive, he wanted to do right by him. Because he was a fool who didn’t have what it takes to follow through. To reign.”

My eyes closed. So it hadn’t been intentional; Matt had just been a casualty in his father’s greed.

I opened my eyes and stared at the man whose lap I’d once sat on, who’d bought me a bike when my mother refused to get me one, and wondered where the hell it had all gone wrong.

“Did you? Did you know Matt was in that unit?”

I didn’t know why the question mattered so much, but it did. Maybe for the same reason that Matt had asked me what his parents’ reaction had been to his funeral. Because even though we knew better, and even though we told ourselves we really shouldn’t care, we did care. They were still our parents and their indifference still hurt.

“It didn’t matter.”

It was the final confirmation of what I’d always known to be true, the ultimate shattering of any ties we’d ever had between us. Killing his daughter’s fiancé was less important than protecting his business relationship. I shouldn’t have been surprised, and at the same time, it still stung. He truly valued nothing above himself.

“Is nothing sacred to you? Nothing off-limits? You abused the trust of the people who got you elected. Did you forget about them? That you serve your constituents? Did you ever care or did you just get into politics to hoard power?”

“Please,” he scoffed. “You know nothing of what it takes to run this country. Nothing about the behind-the-scenes machinations that are required to make this country work. You’re so fucking naive to think that you have any right to judge me. That you should have a seat at the table.”

“Is this how you sleep at night—you’ve somehow convinced yourself that you’re a special snowflake who’s immune to the law and common human decency?”

“One day you will grow up and you will realize that sometimes people have to be expendable. That sacrifices have to be made.”

He wasn’t even the littlest bit sorry. He genuinely thought his behavior was excusable, that somehow allowances could be made for all of the destruction he’d wrought.

“I will never think that. Will never look at people as a means to an end.”

“Then you will suffer for it. Don’t be stupid. Don’t throw your future away on some boy. You have a good job. Good instincts. You could be so much more than this.”

I couldn’t believe he actually thought he could sway me, that he knew so little about who I was.

“What? I could be you? No, thanks. I want no part in what you’ve done.”

“This is bigger than just me. You’re smart enough to know that. You won’t be safe forever. That boy has a target on his back, and if you’re with him, you’ll be caught in the line of fire.”

A chill ran down my spine. “I’ll take my chances.”

“You need to think really hard about what you’re doing. About the choice you’re making here. Regardless of what you’ve thought about me, I haven’t been your enemy. You don’t know what it means to have me as an enemy, and trust me, you don’t want them as your enemy.”

So it wasn’t just him and James Ryan. How deep did this thing go? Where did it end? Was he right? Was I naive? Was this merely the cost of doing business?

“Does it mean you’ll have me tortured to get what you want?” I jerked my chin, ignoring the thread of fear filling my veins. “You’ve been my enemy since you ordered to have Matt’s unit killed. I would have thought that a master strategist like you would have realized that a long time ago.” My voice rose, promise shining through as I made the vow I was determined to keep. “I’m going to take you down.”

“With what proof? You have nothing; you wouldn’t be here if you had what you needed. Do you really think I got this far by being careless and making mistakes? That I’m going to be outsmarted by a child? There is nothing to find.”

I still wasn’t giving up.

“If you think that’s going to stop me, you don’t know me at all. One way or another, you will pay for what you did.”

“Careful, Kate, that sounds like a threat.”

“It’s a promise.”

I strode past him, not bothering to glance his way, crossing over the threshold, feeling like I could breathe as soon as I left his office, even as my shoulders buckled under the weight of the bounty on my head.

I walked down the hall, my footsteps growing faster, ready to get the hell out of this house. I hit the stairs, memories of all the other times that I’d felt like this, times when I’d choked on the manners and image of being a Reynolds. I reached the base of the staircase just as my mother emerged from the dining room, a frown on her face.

“This is unacceptable,” she hissed. “The Brysons are about to leave. You’ll come say good-bye to them and apologize for your rude behavior.”

I sucked in a deep breath, wondering if this was the last time I’d ever see either one of my parents. It was a shitty ending, yet strangely apropos.

“I’m sorry, but I’m not going to do that.”

Her gaze narrowed. “It was too much to hope you’d changed, wasn’t it? That you’d finally become the daughter I’ve always wanted you to be, rather than a rebellious, angry girl intent on destroying this family with her carelessness.”

I ignored the barbs. I wanted to believe it was just my father, that I at least had one parent who wasn’t wholly consumed by greed.

“Do you know what he’s been doing? Do you care about the blood on his hands? Or is it all just business as usual for you?”

Her lips pursed in a tight line. “You need to leave. Now.”

I ignored that, too. “He’s going down. He can’t keep hiding bodies and secrets, not in a town like this. Especially, if he’s going to run for president. Do you really want to stand next to him at some podium while he confesses his sins? Do you want to keep supporting him? How long do you think it’ll be before the blood spills over onto your hands, if it hasn’t already?”

I just wanted to see one flicker of emotion, one indication that she cared, wanted to feel like I had one parent I could rely upon.

“You need to leave,” she repeated, his eyes hard. “There’s nothing here for you anymore.”

And that was it. I’d known it years ago, but this was the final nail in the coffin.

I held her gaze. “There never was.”

I walked out of the house, each step taking me closer to Matt and farther away from an empire built on death and destruction, ready to topple it all like a castle made of sand.

Chapter Seventeen

An explosion rocked D.C. this evening …

—Capital Confessions blog

Matt

For the first time all night, it felt like the fucking anvil had been removed from my chest, the sight of Kate walking toward me, blue and white dress swaying around her, blonde hair waving in the breeze, making it possible to breathe again.

I got out of the driver’s seat of her car, wrapping my arms around her and pressing a swift kiss to her temple.

“Thank god you’re safe. I’ve been going crazy just sitting here.”

I’d parked a few blocks away from her parents’ house, close enough to be in range of the panic button, but far enough away to keep from attracting attention.

I released her and opened the passenger door, the urge to get her to safety overwhelming. I didn’t want to be here any longer than I had to be. She settled in and then I swung into the driver’s seat and started the car, my hand finding hers across the console as we drove away. Her fingers were ice.