Page 25 of Wild Ever After
“Why didn’t you tell me the next morning?”
“Because you were already so angry. You were shouting orders, firing off questions to everyone. You had the house in a frenzy looking for answers. The media was outside. Your mother was on the phone. Noah and Riley were upset. When was I going to tell you?”
“Bella…” Harry shoved his hands through his hair and tugged, relishing in the bit of pain. He sat forward in the chair and hung his head, his arms resting on his knees. “I would’ve never taken you to the club if I’d known.”
“I would have told you. I wanted to tell you. I needed to tell you.”
“I swear I thought we were safe. I thought I’d taken all the necessary precautions. You said the woman was the same in your photos as in the papers?”
“Yes.”
“He must’ve been trying to make it look like we were both having an affair with the same woman.”
“But why?”
“Because he’s a dick.”
Bella smirked. “Yes. He always has been. Do you know who she is? The woman from the photos?”
“His mistress. Adriene took the photos from the club and I’m going to assume she did the same with you and doctored them all.”
“And he did all this because he wanted to know if you were going to run for re-election?”
“He overheard a conversation regarding a potential run for governor.”
“Governor? You were going to run for governor?”
Harry flushed and hung his head. He never made major life decisions without Bella’s input. “I was in the prelim stages of gathering information and I wasn’t sure it was something I wanted to seriously pursue. I hadn’t had the chance to talk to you about it and I didn’t want to do so without having answers to questions I figured you’d have.”
“I still don’t understand why Briars would care. It’s not like you wouldn’t beat him if he ran for the Senate again or for any other office.”
“It was a way to discredit me with the voters, a way to get me out of the way. I’ve run conservative each time and here I am, into some pretty serious kink with what looked like a woman other than my wife. And by sending photos to you of the same woman, I’m going to guess they planned to use that in case my career wasn’t fucked up enough to their liking.”
“Was it?”
“If you’d read the papers, turned on the television, or talked to Riley about any of it, you’d know that yes, it was.”
“How bad?”
“Let’s just say I’m free to pursue any other line of work I want. I won’t be running for senator, governor, or any other office from here on out.”
“Oh, Harry…”
“Don’t. Don’t be sorry about any of it, Bella. You didn’t do this.”
“But the club…”
“The club was not just your idea. It was mine, too. I didn’t know we were being watched like that. I brought her into our lives. It’s why I sent you here, to Baltimore.”
“I know.”
“I was trying to protect you.”
“I know.”
“I didn’t want you touched or tainted by the shitstorm that was about to hit.”
“I know all that, Harry.”
