Say Yes, Senator

Marissa didn’t share our enthusiasm. “As I said, we don’t know who they are, but my bet would be someone who knows Camilla.”

Camilla glared at her. “What?”

“Yes. Maybe some ex-boyfriend or something like that.”

Camilla scoffed. “That’s ridiculous.”

“I would like you to refrain from making such assumptions,” I told her. “You don’t know that.”

“Fine. You’re right.” She looked at Camilla. “I’m sorry.” She didn’t sound sorry at all, but I didn’t want to waste my energy on dealing with her.

“Cancel today’s press conference.”

“What? Why?”

“Because I don’t want to go public before I get the facts straight. I want us to find the culprit first before they interview me. Okay? Only after we’ve found and sued this hacker, I’ll hold that press conference.”

“I see. Okay. I will cancel it. Anything else?”

“Make sure not to give any statements on this until I tell you so.”

“And what are you going to do?”

“I’m going to the police.” I looked at Camilla. “I need you to come with me to help identify the hacker. If that is really someone you know, I’ll need you there.”

“Okay,” she agreed.

20

Camilla

I looked between Merritt’s PR team member and Merritt, befuddled by the woman’s hostility. She kept glaring at me, and it was becoming uncomfortable. I had agreed to go to the police station with Merritt and see if I could identify the hacker, scared to even think that it had to do with someone I knew.

When Marissa said that the hacker could be my ex-boyfriend, I dismissed that option as plain ridiculous, but now that I was considering it, I wasn’t so sure anymore. I had a fair share of boyfriends in the past, and thinking that some of them might want to harm me in this way… It was horrible just taking that possibility into consideration.

Then again, what if that was one of Merritt’s enemies? He surely had a few of them. It was a given for politicians. What if someone wanted to harm me because they couldn’t stand Merritt?

A shiver ran down my spine. If that was true—if the person behind this was someone who was against Merritt—then they could go to any lengths to harm him.

I hadn’t realized that by entering a relationship with a high-profile politician I was putting myself at risk. And not only that. I felt terrible that Merritt was compromised in all of this. It was devastating knowing that just because one person wanted to make a change to better, they had to encounter many obstacles on their way.

Then again, maybe this wasn’t the case now, and the hacker was someone else.

“What are you thinking about?” Merritt asked me, putting his hand on my knee. I smiled at the gesture, the warmth from his hand seeping onto my skin.

We were in Merritt’s town car on our way to the police. The partition window hid us from Merritt’s driver, so we had our privacy.

“I’m wondering who that hacker could be. All possibilities are almost equally scary.”

“Do you really think that it could be one of your exes?”

My insides churned in response, and I tucked my hair behind my ears. “I don’t know. Maybe. At first, when Marissa said it, I thought there was no way, but now… I don’t know. I mean, sure, some of them acted like jerks before we broke up and all, but it’s hard to believe that any of them would do such a thing to hurt me. I don’t know.”

“Or maybe it could be someone who did this because of me. I’ve been thinking. I have gained a plenty of enemies during these last few years.”

“But what would they gain with this? Ruin your career?”

“Most likely. And if that’s the case…” He turned so that he was facing me and caught my hands in his. “I’m so sorry that you have to go through this because of me.”