Rook (Political Royalty Book 2) Read Free Page B

the unshed tears shining in her eyes wrecked him. “This thing between us—whatever it is—it’s going nowhere. And neither of us can afford the damage we could do to each other.”
    He stepped closer, intending to pull her into his arms and convince her she was wrong. The door opened behind him and he took a quick step back, proving her point. The hallway was empty, but he hadn’t known that. He’d only been thinking about her and what he wanted, not what they needed to do to keep the wheels from falling off a campaign that had finally begun to pick up speed.
    “Let me handle this,” she said as she knocked on the door to room twelve fifteen.
    A surprisingly optimistic looking Justin opened the door. Haven didn’t wait to be let in; she strode across the room to the very pregnant woman, sprawled across the couch. Haven reached for the remote and turned off the television, ignoring the other woman’s protests.
    “Hello, Brandy,” she said, holding up her phone for the other woman to see. Whatever was on the screen made her face go pale, and she struggled to sit up. “Why don’t you tell me who paid you to lie about the senator?”
    “No one. I told you the truth,” she said, but it was a feeble protest, and she didn’t bother to meet Shep’s gaze.
    They had her. Whatever Haven dug up had changed the game. They just had to play things out to the inevitable end.
    “Lying is going to make this much more difficult than it needs to be.” Haven rocked back on her heels, laser-focused on the other woman.
    “I’m not lying. He’s the father of my baby.” Keeping one hand on her swollen belly, she jabbed a finger at Shep. It was the first time she’d looked directly at him, and he watched her for a moment, trying to puzzle out if he’d ever met her before. If he had, he didn’t remember.
    “The senator can’t have children.” Haven said the words slowly, with the authority of someone who knew them to be the truth.
    The other woman’s face drained of color and he wondered if the shock was bad for her, considering her condition.
    “Our attorneys have started working on the preliminary filings for a slander suit. If we move forward, the police will have to decide if they want to pursue blackmail charges. I’m not sure about North Carolina, but I believe most states still allow mothers to be with their babies for twenty-four hours before the infants are put into foster care.” She waited a moment to let her words sink in. “Before I tell them to proceed, I’m going to give you one more chance to answer my question. And think very carefully before you do because I can prove I’m telling the truth and we both know you can’t. Who hired you?”
    The other woman’s nostrils flared, and she pushed against her forehead with the heel of her hand. When she looked up, fear and resignation etched every line of her posture.
    “Jack Crouch.”
    “Tall, short blonde hair?” asked Walker, meeting the woman’s gaze for the first time.
    “Yes.”
    “Crouch is Jenson on again off again muscle,” he said.
    Bastard. He should have known. Jenson was the only one in the race dirty enough to think of something like this with the resources to take a run at him.
    “I was supposed to get the senator to agree to pay me and then go to the press.”
    Haven nodded her head as if she’d had something she already knew confirmed. “Excellent. Now this is how the rest of this situation is going to go. I’m going to take care of your boss and you’re going to leave here and never mention the senator’s name again. If I hear so much as a whisper connecting you and that baby you’re carrying to Senator Walker, I’m going to unleash our team of lawyers and sue you into oblivion. You will spend the rest of your life defending yourself from slander suits.” She paused for a moment, watching the other woman.
    Shep could practically see the weight of Haven’s words settling on the other woman’s shoulders. If she hadn’t