Forty-Nine Books, One Reckoning

e one I' d told him made him look trustworthy. He knotted his tie with practi

h. "Finance committee meeting all mor

d, sipping my coff

gesture, and grabbed his briefcase.

ut on my headphones and opened the app on my phone. His car's Bluet

by the soft rock station he always listene

e purred through my headp

shifting from the serious politician to s

s a sharp edge to her voice, a possessiveness th

said, a hint of wea

I just don't get why you stay with her. She's so cold. Like a rob

en the speeches that made him sound brilliant. I had coached him through debates

d, but there was no force beh

hurry. I've got a surprise for you. Something

h? What

a conspiratorial whisper. "It's about Mr. Darc

at that died a few years ago. She' d posted abo

hur said. "You know I'll s

heading over to the garden

ga

is heart and soul into building after my mother died. The centerpiece was a small memorial grove with a si

e in twenty," Arthu

u more,"

e soft rock music

ding in my chest. This was more than an af

ion bylaws. The garden was public land, but the memorial grove was privately funded an

memorial for her dead cat

. This was a calculated move. A way to stake her clai

didn't call my father. I scrolled through my

tt Ri

was more ruthless and pragmatic than Arthur could

ce a low gravel. "To wha

ady. "I need a favor. I need th

ed to marry Juliet, Everett had put a stop to it. He' d never said how, only that she was "unsuitabl

t," Everett final

destroy Arthur's campaign and tarnish the Shaw family name perma

of love or betrayal, but of power

use. Longe

ront door in an hour,

I had fifty-five minute