Page 40 of A Man of Power

My little dove is smart, too smart.

My phone pings with an incoming text. I pull it out of my pocket and look.

Aiden: I have information. Call me.

“Everything OK?” she asks.

I nod and stick my phone back in my pocket. “It’s fine. Aiden was looking into something for me.” I let her other question die without an answer because I don’t want to tell her the truth. There’s a visceral need to protect her. And exposing her to that information will do the exact opposite.

“Aiden’s a doctor, right?” she confirms. I suppose I’ve never really talked about them with her.

“Yes, he is.”

“Why’d you decide to become a politician and not a doctor?”

Her question is a valid one. It’s not as though I didn’t think about it when Kara was sick, but family duty calls. Some families are doctors and mine were politicians. My father always expected me to run for his district. When my grandfather decided to retire, they made a conscious decision to wait until I was old enough to run for Congress. Then Dad ran for my grandfather’s Senate seat and vacated his, leaving it open for me. It’s the way our world operates. Everything is calculated and planned, sometimes years or even decades in advance.

“Family reasons,” I answer because it’s not a lie.

“Your family expected you to be a congressman?” she says, her eyes a little wide.

“More like, it was assumed,” I explain.

“Such a strange world you live in,” she mutters.

I fight the smirk on my lips; she has no fucking idea. A memory dances in the recesses of my mind.

“Fuck this. I’m not doing it!” I yell. My father doesn’t even flinch. He merely stands and walks around his desk. We are eye to eye, and I could take him if I wanted to, but I don’t, I don’t move a muscle.

“It’s too late for choices, Sebastian. You made your bed the second you took the vow.”

I hate him. I hate that he’s right. I hate that my fate is sealed of my own volition.

“What are you thinking about?” Alexis asks, her eyes now directly in front of mine.

I cup her cheek and run my finger over the silky skin. “Nothing, little dove. I should go. I have things to do.”

I don’t give an explanation and she doesn’t ask for one as we get a taxi and head back to the office. I know she’s contemplating all the little pieces of my life that I just unveiled for reasons that I can’t process. I, on the other hand, am thinking about all the strange pieces of my life and how I ended up here, at this moment, spilling micro-pieces of secrets to this gorgeous woman that I have no right to be with. Hell, if I do care about her, I should push her as far away from me as I can.

A strange decision washes over me as we approach the white-domed complex. I have the taxi drop us at the corner by the garage.

“I’ll take you home,” I say.

“My things?” she replies.

“Will be there tomorrow, unless you need something?”

She pats her pocket and pulls out a small wallet with a key attached and shrugs. “I suppose my computer will be safe.”

I drive her home. The silence between us feels like a dark cloud brewing in a storm that’s still far away but close enough to see. It’s only a matter of time.

She hesitates as she gets out of the car, pausing with the door open. She doesn’t turn to me as she speaks. “I know that sharing that wasn’t easy for you, and I know there’s much more that you didn’t say. I’m sure you have your reasons, but…I just want you to know that you can trust me. I’d never say anything to anyone, ever, regardless of what happens between us.” With that, she gets out of the car and walks into her building, leaving me in both awe and shock at her words.

I want to dumpster dive into what she said, analyze the hell out of her words and her life, and ponder if what she said could be the truth, but I don’t have time for such luxuries, right now, I need to talk with Aiden.

I press the call button on my steering wheel.

“Hello?” Aiden answers.

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