Page 92 of The Senator: Raphael

The room is full of staff and the closest—and most influential—supporters. It’s almost two in the morning and I can see the exhaustion on their faces. It was a long run, a tight battle with our opponents, but we’re still in it, and we have a fair chance at winning.

The results are not official yet, we have a bit of a margin on our opponents, but there are still votes to count and percentages to gain.

Silver approaches me with a smile but her slow pace reveals her exhaustion. “Dave told me there’s a man in the back waiting for you. He says his name is Cop, but I don’t know if I heard it right,” she whispers in my ear and my blood runs cold.

The one and only time Cop came to me it was to give me the worst news I’ve ever heard. It’s been months since I saw Jenny, and fear that something has happened to her grips my stomach.

Matthew, as if on cue, turns to me and frowns. I smile, hoping to be convincing.

“I have to go talk to him. I’ll be right back,” I whisper in response.

“I’m coming with you,” she says firmly, and I stop, looking her straight in the eye.

I’ve never brought anyone with me when meeting with him, but she knows what I do, and I promised her to not keep any secrets. She’s smart, she deserves my full honesty, and I’ll probably need her more than she needs me.

I grab her hand and walk toward the back door. When I step into the hall leading to the front entrance on one side, and to the conference room of the hotel on the other, I spot Dave in front of one of the small conference rooms doors. I make my way to him quickly, suddenly less tired and more nervous. Silver follows close behind me.

Dave opens the door into the well-lit room and I spot Cop in a suit staring at an art piece on the far wall. This is the first time I’ve seen him all cleaned up, and without his beard and ever-present hoodie, I struggle to recognize him.

“Sorry to interrupt your big night.” He smiles at me and nods at Silver, not even questioning her presence here.

“Not a problem. Is there news? It’s been months since I saw her.” I can hear the nervousness in my voice and Silver squeezes my hand tightly.

“Big news, something that can’t wait,” he confirms and my stomach drops.

“Can you cut to the chase? I have something going on in the other room that requires my attention.” And I want to know what happened to Jenny.

He chuckles and shakes his head. “Okay, okay. I’ll cut the bullshit. Tonight, we are conducting the biggest sting against the organization to date. At this moment, they’re arresting fifty-six persons involved in human trafficking exploitation. It’s a high-profile operation, involving politicians and many well-known faces in the US.” As he explains, my heart starts pumping faster in my chest.

“This is fantastic! This is absolutely amazing,” I blurt out, happiness and excitement filling my chest.

He smiles and nods. “It is. And if you try to contact Jenny, she won’t answer,” he adds, and my heart stops dead as fast as it started to run.

“What do you mean? You know Jenny?”

Again, he nods. “We always knew about her, and we kept an eye on her. We let you talk to her because she trusted and spoke with you. But the place she was in wasn’t safe anymore. They would have guessed there was a mole and found her. We took her out and put her in a safe place. She’s fine, heathy and starting a new life,” he reassures me.

I sigh out loud. So many emotions overwhelm me in this exact moment, but the only one I focus on is relief. She is safe. She is heathy and safe, and that’s the only thing that counts.

“Thank you.”

“Good. I’ll let you go back to your night.”

“Wait. Is there a reason you choose the midterms to take them down?”

He smirks. “They’re so focused on the big news in politics they weren’t paying attention to what was going on around them. They didn’t even realize something was off.”

He doesn’t wait for my reply, he just walks out the door and disappears in the same ghostly way he did all these years I’ve known him.

“If you ask your father, maybe you can find out where she is.” Silver’s voice makes me turn around.

She’s worried and seems surprised when I smile. “No. She’s fine; she’s starting a new life. I helped her as much as I could, now it’s time for someone else to take care of her. I can’t save every woman on this earth, at least not one at a time. I need to focus on winning the elections and saving women one law at time. That’s my plan, my grand scheme, to create a safer world for women.”

She looks at me like I’m the most important person on the planet and that is all I need to walk out of the room and go back to claim my victory.

When I step inside, Matthew runs to me. “Where the hell have you been? They just gave us the results—you won! You won, Raphael! You’re California’s new senator!”

I did it. I fucking did it! I stepped into the big tank. Now it’s time to swim and fight and chew my way up to the top.

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