Chapter 60

Evelyn Marcus texted me Monday morning. Have what you need. Can meet today. I stared at the message for a long time before I replied. Where? I asked “Parking garage. Third level. One hour” I deleted the conversation and got dressed. Alfred was already gone by the time I came downstairs. Clara was still asleep. Nathan had left early for some study group he probably wasn’t attending. The house was quiet in that hollow way it got when everyone was avoiding each other. I grabbed my keys and left. The parking garage was downtown, attached to a shopping center I’d never been to. I parked on the third level near the back, away from the elevators, and waited. Marcus’s car pulled in ten minutes later. Black sedan. Tinted windows. He parked two spaces away. I got out. He got out. We met between the cars. “You have it?” I asked. He reached into his jacket and pulled out a small flash drive. “Everything you asked for. Took me three days to pull it without anyone noticing.

Last Updated : 2025-12-25

Chapter 61

EvelynA week passed.Seven days of waiting. Of watching Alfred move through the house, oblivious, confident, untouchable. Seven days of holding my breath waiting for the explosion Then Wednesday morning came.I woke up to the sound of Alfred’s phone ringing. Once or twice , Three times more. He grabbed it from the nightstand, groggy, annoyed.“What,” he snapped.I lay there, eyes closed, listening.His voice changed. Sharp. Alert. “What do you mean it’s everywhere?”Silence.“How the fuck did this happen?”I opened my eyes. Sat up.Alfred was already out of bed, phone pressed to his ear, pacing. His face was red. His hand shook.“I don’t care what it takes,” he said. “Get it down. Now.”He hung up. Dialed again immediately.“Lawson. Tell me you’ve seen it.”I reached for my phone on the nightstand. Opened social media .The first thing I saw was a video. Thumbnail showed Alfred’s face, mid-yell, his hand reaching toward someone off-screen. The caption read: Is this the man you want

Last Updated : 2025-12-25

Chapter 62

Evelyn Alfred called a family meeting that evening.I knew something was coming when he called out Nathan asking him to come downstairs, when he knocked on Clara’s door and asked her to join us in the living room, when he looked at me across the kitchen and said, “We need to talk. All of us.”I followed him into the living room where Nathan was already slouched on the couch, arms crossed, face set in that permanent scowl he’d been wearing for months. Clara came down a minute later, hesitant, eyes bouncing between her father and me trying to gauge the temperature of whatever was about to happen.Alfred stood in front of the fireplace, hands clasped behind his back “I want to talk to you all about what’s been happening,” he started, voice soft, dripping with the kind of false sincerity he’d perfected over years of lying to rooms full of people who wanted to believe him. “I know the last few days have been difficult. I know you’ve seen things online, heard things at school, read thing

Last Updated : 2025-12-26

Chapter 63

Evelyn The pool water was cold against my skin but I didn’t care. It was past noon and the sun was brutal, beating down on the estate with the kind of heat that made everything feel slower, heavier, the air thick enough to choke on. I floated on my back, eyes closed, letting the water hold me while my mind ran circles around itself, looping through the same thoughts over and over until they blurred together into something that felt less like thinking and more like drowning. My phone buzzed on the lounge chair beside the pool. I pulled myself out of the water, dripping wet, my skin immediately prickling in the heat, and grabbed the towel I’d left folded on the chair. The phone was still buzzing. Unknown number. I wrapped the towel around myself and answered. “Hello?” “It’s done.” Diana’s voice. Breathless. Excited. The kind of excitement that came from doing something dangerous and getting away with

Last Updated : 2025-12-27

Chapter 64

EvelynI woke up to screaming.Nathan’s voice, loud and raw, cutting through the walls from downstairs. I sat up, disoriented, trying to place what was happening. The clock on the nightstand read 7:43 a.m. Alfred’s side of the bed was already empty, the sheets thrown back in a hurry.More screaming. Angrier now. Words I couldn’t quite make out but the tone was unmistakable. Rage. Pure, unfiltered rage.I got out of bed and pulled on a robe, my pulse already picking up before I even knew what was wrong. My feet hit the cold floor and I moved quickly toward the door, tying the robe around my waist as I went.When I got to the top of the stairs, I could make out the words.“How could you do this? How could you be this fucking stupid?”Alfred’s voice, quieter, trying to calm him down. “Nathan, listen to me…”“No! I’m done listening to you!”I walked down the stairs and found them in the living room. Nathan standing in the middle of the room, his phone clutched in his hand, his face red w

Last Updated : 2025-12-28

Chapter 65

The campaign office was chaos. Alfred stood in the center of the room, tie loosened, sleeves rolled up, phone pressed to his ear while three different staffers tried to talk to him at once. Papers scattered across the conference table. Laptops open everywhere. Everyone moving too fast, talking too loud, the panic spreading through the room faster than anyone could contain it. Lawson paced near the window, his own phone glued to his ear, his free hand gesturing wildly as he barked orders at someone on the other end. When he hung up, he turned to Alfred with a look that could’ve stripped paint. “I can’t believe you let yourself get caught like this,” Lawson said. Alfred shot him a look. “I didn’t let myself get caught. I was set up.” “Set up or not, you were in bed with her. You were naked. You were smiling. The photos don’t lie, Alfred.” “The photos are out of context.” “There is no context that makes this okay!” Lawson’s voice rose, cutting through the noise in the room. Everyo

Last Updated : 2025-12-29