Not the plan, p.28
Not the Plan, page 28
She fell back on her bed. Daniel, Glenna, and RJ were all pushing her toward him, telling her to give him a chance, that he and her dreams weren’t mutually exclusive. And that he loved her. She hoped that they were right, because now she knew: She was in love with him. Her doorbell rang.
I’m not ready to see him. She was on her feet and headed to the door before she’d made the decision. She swallowed hard and wrapped her arms around herself to keep from shaking. At the door, she took a deep breath.
“Hi,” he said, barely making eye contact over the rim of his glasses.
“Hi…yourself,” she managed. “Will you come in?”
A smile crashed across his face, full of relief, as he stepped inside.
“Did you think I wasn’t going to let you in?” she asked, closing the door.
He looked down, hands in his pockets.
“I wasn’t sure what to think,” he said. Then he peeked back up at her.
The shyness he always hid was on full display. The contrast with his virility melted her heart while lighting her body on fire. It got difficult to breathe.
“RJ called,” she said, sliding her hands into the back pockets of her jeans. “He cleared you a path.”
Karim nodded, smiling. “RJ has been…an unexpected friend,” he said. His voice was already heating her up.
“Um.” She swallowed and rubbed the back of her neck. “Yeah, he’s a good guy. He said you went to Ike’s? Oh! Sorry! Why don’t we sit down?” He nodded and followed her to the couch. She sat first, perched on the edge of the seat. He did the same.
“Do you have your laptop?” he asked.
“Yeah.” She got it from her bedroom, opened it, and put it on the table. He pulled a blue USB key out of his pocket and plugged it in.
“I’m sorry it took me so long to get here,” he said, focused on what he was doing. “Peter and Julian wanted to celebrate after the insurance bill passed. Had to play along.”
“Thank you,” she whispered, unable to look at him. “For what you’re doing.”
“It’s my pleasure, Isadora,” he said. His voice had that deep, soft tone to it. It was the same right after they’d made love, when he was relaxed, and they were talking about nothing, and he was caressing her skin. She let out a heavy breath, meeting his gaze.
His cheeks tinged pink, and he looked down at his hands. “This morning, Julian brought me into his office to show me what he had on the other senators. After I got over the shock, I realized those might not have been the only videos. So, I went to Ike’s while they were in session after lunch and…convinced the owner to give me what he had on Julian and Peter.” He’d leaned into the couch, sliding his hands under his thighs.
“How did you convince him?” she asked, confused at his position.
“Hmm.” He looked at his lap and then back at her. “I told him Julian lied to him. Not far-fetched, so he believed me. And then I gave him a different USB key with a video-eating virus.”
“You didn’t! Karim, that’s awesome. I’d have been so focused on getting the videos I wouldn’t have thought of destroying the others,” she said.
He blushed. “Thanks, Isadora.”
“Why aren’t you calling me ‘Isa’?” The question was out before she’d recognized that she wanted to know.
“I thought maybe you wouldn’t want me to anymore.”
She sighed. His eyes were so sad and unsure.
“No, Karim. I think, I owe—”
His phone rang.
“Shit. It’s Julian. Gimme a second?” he asked.
“It’s okay.” She nodded. She got up from the couch and went into the kitchen. Tapping her fingers on the counter, she was close enough to follow their conversation, but didn’t, too caught up in the storm roiling inside her. I want him. So much, so, so much. But even if there was a way to have D.C. and Karim, how could he trust me now? What if I just tell him? Tell him how I feel, spit it out, and whatever happens, happens. He’s been so—
“Isa?” He’d finished his call and joined her in the kitchen.
“Yeah?” She turned. He was two small steps away. He took a half-step forward but stopped. A shiver went through her as she remembered the last time they’d been in her kitchen, in almost the same position, both naked. He’d scooped her up, sat her down on the countertop, and kissed, mouthed, and sucked his way down from her ear to the inside of her opposite thigh. It had taken an eternity. By the time he’d reached his destination, she’d been shaking with want.
He let out a puff of breath and moistened his lips. She asked herself if he was remembering the same thing.
“I, um…have to go,” he said.
“You do?”
“Yeah, I’ll leave the key with you, okay?” He turned to leave.
“Oh, okay. Thanks,” she said, following him toward the door. “Peter’s going to request a vote on the presidency tomorrow?” she asked.
“Yeah.”
“That’s what I figured. Did Julian set you up, Karim?” Her question was soft, asked as he stepped through the doorway.
“He did.” He nodded. “I think he wanted to force me to get angry and quit or align myself with him for good.”
“Oh,” she said.
“I lied to him, Isa. I’m playing along until I…um…we…well, you and Daniel find a way to stop him. Then I’m done.”
“Are you going to leave?” Hot, acidic fear crackled in her chest.
“I don’t know.” He shrugged. “If he’s managed to damage my reputation as much as I think he has, I’m pretty much done in the California legislature. I may even get disbarred for fraud. Then I’ll need a new, new start.” He paused, nudging her doormat with the toe of his shoe. “But at least this time I’ll really start fresh; Laila signed the divorce papers. Threatening to go after her money was my way out. I’d better go. See you later, beautiful?”
Overwhelmed by all the information, she nodded, closing the door as he walked away. She slid down it, tears threatening. On the edge of a huge crying jag, she stopped short.
No, Isadora. No! You have not come this far and worked this hard to let Julian Brown fuck it all up. She forced herself to her feet, fear and rage swirling into a searing charge. She had to use the energy before it burned her up. The USB key caught her eye.
* * *
—
“It’s awfully convenient,” Isadora said to Daniel on the phone, twenty minutes later. She’d separated the videos by participant and managed to watch as little as possible to verify that yes, they featured who the file names said they did, and they were compromising. Isadora had to give Julian credit—he’d managed to film the ones least likely to give in to habitual forms of pressure. That fact nagged at her. It had to mean something, having material on people who wouldn’t have given in any other way.
“Convenient?” he asked.
“Yeah. That these specific members would find themselves in a compromising position somewhere they could be filmed. Your colleagues aren’t novices.”
“No, they aren’t,” Daniel said. “Or they shouldn’t be. Ike’s has its reputation, but how could Julian have been certain that these members would do anything worth filming? Do you think he hired professionals? You watched the videos; did you recognize any of the women?”
“Yeckh, no. I didn’t watch. I played only the first few seconds to be sure of the members’ identities.” She’d heard a couple voices, which was difficult enough. Those were giggles and laughs she’d never erase from her memory. “It would have made sense for Julian to bring in a prostitute to be certain he’d get useful material. But, correct me if I’m wrong, aren’t the parties at Ike’s closed? To avoid that sort of thing?”
“I think you’re right. Staff, members, and lobbyists only.”
Isadora leaned back into the couch, letting her head loll on the armrest.
“Staff, members and lob—” The hairs at her nape stood on end. One woman’s voice had been a little familiar, she thought. Then it all clicked.
CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE
Isadora
The grate of cement plus bumper didn’t register this time. She only noticed once she was out of the car and headed to the elevator. Her car would be fine parked half on the bumper that day.
She could still save Daniel’s presidency and her reputation. And she’d apologize to Karim. She only hoped she could do it without humiliating herself. Fidgeting in the elevator on the way up, she almost lost her temper at having to stop at each floor. But when she glanced up in time to see Karim talking to Daria just inside Julian’s office, Isadora shoved her hand against the closing elevator doors and headed straight for them.
Karim jerked his hand off Daria’s shoulder as Isadora approached. Isadora flashed him a smile, hoping he’d understand she wasn’t upset about him touching Daria, but he’d have to wait for her to say so.
“Daria,” Isadora said, trying to make sure to warm her voice as much as possible. “Can I have a minute of your time?”
She glanced up at Karim, then back at Isadora. Her lips opened like she was going to speak, then she closed them and nodded.
“Do you mind coming to my office?” Isadora asked.
“I’ll…uh, I’m here if you still need to talk, Daria,” Karim said, hands in his pockets.
“Please, Karim,” Isadora said, heat pricking her neck and cheeks. “If it’s okay with Daria, I’d like for you to join us. And bring Julian’s drive?”
His surprise was so adorable Isadora would have loved to hug him, but it wasn’t the time.
“Sure,” he said. “If that’s okay?” he asked Daria.
“It is,” she said.
* * *
—
Unlocking the outer office door, Isadora had a moment to reassess her plan. Daria might not have been ready to tell Karim everything just then. She’d cross her fingers that Karim could be patient with her for a couple more minutes.
“Karim, sorry to ask this, but would you mind getting the coffee started while Daria and I speak privately in my office?” She hoped her smile didn’t look as brittle as it felt.
“No problem.” He smiled back and soothed her nerves. She noticed the clock over his shoulder.
“If my assistant arrives, just tell her you have an appointment with me?”
“Sure thing,” he said. And his smile was even better, warmer. Made her feel like they were on the same team again.
She relaxed, gave him a real smile back, ushered Daria into her office, and closed the door. Daria started speaking before Isadora got into her seat.
“You know, don’t you?” she asked.
“Yeah, I do,” Isadora said.
“Do you hate me?”
“Hate you?” Isadora asked. “No. Why would I?”
“Because I helped Julian blackmail those other senators to vote for him to be pro tem,” Daria said, voice wavering as she stared at Isadora’s desk.
“You mean because Julian forced you to help him? And when you told him you didn’t want to do it anymore, he blackmailed you too?”
All the color drained out of Daria’s face.
“How did you know?” Her question was so soft Isadora had to lean over to catch it.
“Because all of the rooms at Ike’s were bugged. There’s a video of you telling Julian that you wanted to stop, and he said he’d use the videos against you too. He didn’t know he was also being filmed.”
Daria stammered, her eyes wide. “B-but if he didn’t know, how—”
“Karim,” Isadora said. “Once he found out about the videos, he guessed that the owner of Ike’s might have taped Julian too. Do you mind if Karim joins us? It’s perfectly fine if you don’t want him to. He’s only seen a couple of seconds of the videos. Hasn’t seen anything with you, really. But I understand if—”
“It’s okay,” she said. “I was gonna tell him anyway. Ask him to help me. Julian has no business being pro tem.”
“Okay,” Isadora said. She reached for Daria’s hand. “You let me know if you want Karim to leave, or if you want me to, at any time, okay? And Daniel will be in soon. He and I wanted to talk to you before we confront Julian. We want him to turn himself in, but that means what he did will come out, at least to the police. It’s not our place to make that decision by ourselves.”
“Oh God. Daniel must be livid,” she said.
“He is. At what Julian did to you. It’s immoral and a felony.”
“But I agreed to, at least at first.”
“Did he lay out his whole plan?” Isadora asked. “Ask for your input?”
Daria shook her head.
“Did you know you were being filmed?”
“Not at first.”
“And when you told him you wanted to stop, he threatened you. So no, we don’t think this is your fault. But it impacts you, so we wanted to talk to you first.”
* * *
—
“I’m so sorry, Daria,” Karim said, once he’d joined them and Isadora had brought him up to speed.
She dabbed at her eyes with the tissue Isadora had given her.
“You have nothing to apologize for,” she said, attempting a smile. “I knew Julian kept you out of it.”
He shook his head. “But when you came in while we were having lunch. You seemed uncomfortable. I should have followed my gut.”
Daria let out a sad laugh. “And somehow guessed what was going on? You’re a good guy, but you aren’t a mind reader.”
Isadora nodded. “You are a good guy, Karim. I’m sorry I lost sight of that.” She breathed through the coldness in her chest. She’d meant to echo Daria’s praise, not expose her raw nerves.
“Um, thank you…both,” Karim said, blushing, his gaze intent on the edge of the folder in his lap.
* * *
—
Daniel arrived. After a brief discussion between Daria, Karim, and Daniel, Isadora laid out her plan.
“Karim, can you bring Julian here once he gets in? We’ll confront him with the video where Daria says she wants to stop. Then we’ll contact the compromised members and tell them that their videos have been deleted. Next, we call the capitol police and have Julian taken into custody until the local police come for him.”
Karim nodded. “I can do that.”
“I’d rather ask the other members if they want to come delete the videos themselves. Or see it done. So they’re confident it’s over,” Daniel said.
“Makes sense,” Isadora said. “But won’t it be weird for them to see each other? Maybe they don’t want to be in the same room together.”
Daria cleared her throat. “If it’s all right with everyone, I’d rather not be in the same room with all of them at once either.”
“Yes, of course,” Daniel said. “I can speak with them individually. No reason to have a group discussion.”
“There’s just one thing,” Karim said. “I don’t think we can delete the videos. There’s some sort of formatting that prevents transfer of the videos. I bet it prevents them from being deleted too.”
That put a wrench in Isadora’s plans. If the videos couldn’t be deleted, the situation probably couldn’t be handled in-house. Daria spoke up.
“Would the police want them as evidence? As much as I’d like to have those videos wiped off the face of the earth, can we do that?”
“Karim, you’re our resident lawyer,” Daniel said. “What’s your take?”
Focused on Daniel, Isadora hadn’t realized that Karim was watching her until she looked at him and caught him glancing. He cleared his throat and answered Daniel’s question. Then Isadora noticed he hadn’t shaved. What had he said before? He didn’t shave because she’d said she’d be sad to see it go. She’d run away from him, turned her back, but…Had he intentionally kept his appearance the way she liked it?
“…what we’ll do then,” Daniel said. He stood. Isadora blinked. Karim and Daria were also on their feet. She shot to hers too quickly, her chair thudding against the wall behind her. Daniel raised an eyebrow but said nothing as he led their guests to the outer office door.
“Thank you again, Daria,” Daniel said, shaking her hand. “I doubt it will be a problem, you taking a couple days off while this explodes, but if your boss gives you any trouble, let me know?”
“Thanks, Senator,” she said, slipping into the hallway.
“And we’ll see you at nine thirty?” Daniel asked Karim, offering his hand.
“Yes, sir,” Karim said. “He was so excited about today, he’ll be in the office on time. Might take a strong nudge to get him to come to yours, but he’ll be eager to get his drive back.”
Isadora followed Karim’s nod toward her assistant’s desk. She’d forgotten that she’d asked him to bring the drive and had no idea when he’d put it there.
My God. I am messed up. Can I make it through today?
* * *
—
“I don’t respond well to threats,” Julian growled.
“But you expected everyone else to?” Isadora asked. She hadn’t planned on it, but she’d taken over the showdown. She caught Daniel’s lip dance out of the corner of her eye. “And no one is threatening you. Out of courtesy, we’re giving you the chance to do the right thing and tell your colleagues you will no longer blackmail them.”
“Cute, Isadora,” Julian said. He turned to Daniel. “I’m here for my drive. Karim said you have it.”
