Page 7 of Wicked Royals
I held up the little china plate with the slice of cake. “She also asked for a piece of her birthday cake,” I said. “If she doesn’t have this now, she’s going to miss out. They cut it without her, and everyone’s going nuts overit.”
The men didn’t say anything in response tothat.
I sighed and tried one last time. “Look, I’ll just hand it to her and leave. She won’tmind.”
The agents exchanged glances. One of them finally shrugged and relented. “Okay. Justyou.”
“Thankyou.”
They let me through the low gate. I couldn’t walk on the paved part of the pool area, because it was covered in a certain type of tile that made me trip every time I wore heels, so I stepped over the neatly-trimmed grass which ran along the left side of the pool area instead, masking the sound of myfootfall.
As I drew closer to my mother, I finally saw who she was talking to. It was Jamie Torrance, one of President Rutherford’s senioradvisors.
He was relatively young for such an important job—somewhere in his thirties—but he had the goods to back it up. For years, he’d worked as a successful political fixer and campaign manager, and then he’d been offered the job of White House Communications Director. After that, he’d been tapped for the advisor position by Rutherfordhimself.
The closer I got, the more I could hear of his conversation with mymom.
“I’m sorry, ma’am, but it’s not looking good,” he was saying. “I organized the exploratory committee like youasked—”
“Covertly, I hope,” Mom cutin.
“Of course. Rutherford has no idea,” he replied. “Anyway, the results weren’t exactly what you hopedfor.”
“Howso?”
Jamie’s tone turned reluctant. “Well… peopledolike you. In fact, most of them love you. You poll verywell.”
Mom scoffed. “So what is it, then? They still aren’t ready for a femalepresident?”
“It’s not that. Like I said, they love you, but they love Rutherford more. He’s the most popular politician in recent history. You know that.” Jamie rubbed his chin and let out a small sigh. “Not only that, it’s very rare for a vice president to run against a president. It’s even rarer for one to actuallywin.”
“So what are you saying? I shouldn’t botherrunning?”
“I wouldn’t advise it. If you run against Rutherford in 2020, all the people who currently love you could turn on you in an instant. They would see it as a betrayal of the party.And…”
“Andwhat?”
Jamie let out another sigh. “Like I said, Rutherford is very popular. Even if peopledidn’tsee you running against him as some sort of betrayal, he’d still win over you. It’s a numbers game, and he has moresupporters.”
“So what would you do if you wereme?”
“I’d keep my head down and stay on as his Veep for now. He’s going to win the next election by a landslide, and everyone knows it. The Democrats are too unpopular right now to win an election anytime soon,” Jamie said. “So you stay with Rutherford until the end of his second term, and then you run in 2024. That way it doesn’t look like a betrayal, and you’ll have his full support. It’s a guaranteedwin.”
“It’s a guaranteed win six fucking years from now,” Momsnapped.
“But—”
She cut him off. “Do you have any idea what it’s like to be me,Jamie?”
“No,ma’am.”
“Well, let me tell you. Being Rutherford’s VP is an abject humiliation. Everyone loves him, but he’s an incompetent baboon.I’mthe one who gets everything done, even when he shuts me out of every meeting and keeps me stuffed away in the Eisenhower Building. I’m the one who should be fuckingpresident!”
Jamie held up his palms in a conciliatory manner. “You’re right. I believe in you, ma’am, and I know you should be president. But this is just the way things are. I’msorry.”
“No. I can’t do this for six more years. I won’t.” Mom rubbed her forehead. “Screw it. We’re going with PlanB.”
“Plan B?” Jamie’s voice rose slightly. “That’s the nuclearoption.”
