Page 24 of Wild Ever After
He brushed his hand over her hair, which pointed in every direction. “Drink before it gets cold,” he said, walking away from the food and her. He sat heavily in the same chair as he’d held her in last night.
“I didn’t betray your trust. I didn’t break my promise to you. But I trusted where I shouldn’t have.” He looked at her, standing across the room where he’d left her. “I’m so very sorry.”
“Who wasn’t it?” she asked, nibbling at a pancake.
“Adriene.”
“The new staffer?”
“Yes. Though, she’s no longer on any staff.”
“Why?”
“I fired her.”
“No, why’d she do it?”
“Money. She was hired by Briars’ campaign. She was very good with computers and came with excellent references. I hired her to beef up my social media, redesign my website, and to do an analysis of where we could connect in different, better ways with our voters.”
“Wait… Briars?” Bella’s eyes widened. “Glenn Briars?”
Harry nodded. “Yep.” He shouldn’t have been surprised. Glenn had been after every seat Harry had run for and been elected to since junior high. The only time Glenn ever won was when Harry had been off at college, but as soon as Harry returned to Charleston, Glenn no longer won.
He was desperate to follow in his father’s footsteps, to live up to his family’s high expectations.
Glenn Briars didn’t run for public office out of a sense of duty or with a desire to make anyone’s life better. He did it because he was told he would.
It was no wonder he lost elections. The voters could feel his lack of interest, his lack of heart. It was why Harry had one that first election to the senate, beating out the senior Briars. Only now, it wouldn’t matter.
“Why did he pay her? What was he looking for?”
“He wanted to know my plans for re-election.”
“Did she follow us that night?”
“No. She was already there by the time we arrived at the club. She’d heard a conversation between and snuck into your private phone.”
“And the photos?”
“Bella…. Please dear God… Please tell me you knew they were fake? You had to know. I would… I could never…”
“I do know. Of course I knew.” Bella hung her head. “There were others.”
“Others?” Harry’s mouth dried up and his heartbeat slowed to a crawl. “Others what?”
“Pictures.”
“Of me?”
“Of me.”
“Wh…” Harry couldn’t hide his confusion. “Tell me. Now.” His brain kicked into overload. There were pictures of Bella? He’d kill someone. With his bare hands.
“A few days before the night at the club. They were sent to my personal email. The one I only used for correspondence between us. They were images of me meeting a woman in a few restaurants and one of me and her outside our house. Only, she wasn’t a woman I’d ever met. She was, though, the woman in the photos from the club scene.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“I never had a chance. Things were so busy, so crazy that week. Don’t you remember? We were hardly ever together and barely had time to talk until the masquerade ball. And that wasn’t the place to bring it up. Then the club and the…”
