Smoke and Sin (The Perfect Gentlemen 4)

He loved how she looked in them. He wouldn’t complain at all as long as she wore them for him when they were alone and she was naked. It was probably best to not say that out loud.

Roman turned to his best friend. “How are you holding up, Zack?”

Gabe started handing out drinks and they all sat. The five of them. There was an empty seat to Connor’s left. A seat that would never be filled again, despite Gus’s conspiracy-filled daydreams.

Zack accepted the drink. “Besides the fact that I gave in to blackmail and should likely be impeached? I’m great.”

“You simply didn’t mention a project that’s years away.” They’d been over this a hundred times. It wasn’t the right time to push back. They didn’t have enough information. They needed to gather more intel before they moved on the forces working against them.

“It’s a slippery slope, and you know it.” Zack took a long swallow. “And now they know they can control me. The good news is I think I know why.”

“You listened to the tapes?” Gabe settled in.

“Of your mother’s sessions while she was in that psychiatric hospital?” Dax asked.

“Yes, I listened to them. So has Connor.” Zack sat back, crossing his right leg over his left. “I asked him because he’s got some experience with psychology.”

Damn straight he did. The CIA had taught him well. Roman was glad Connor had been willing to do it because he certainly hadn’t wanted to listen in. It would hurt too much to hear the pain of a woman he’d known since childhood. He couldn’t imagine what absorbing and analyzing those sessions had done to her son. “What did you find out?”

Zack took a deep breath, as though steadying himself. “My mother talks about accidentally killing a child while she was in Russia. She was drunk one night and she stumbled around. The problem is even when she talks about the incident, she sounds like she’s drunk. She picked up a baby. Her baby. And she dropped him.”

Connor leaned in. “That is not what she said. She said she thought it was her baby. Never once did she confirm the baby was hers, merely that she thought it was. We know there were at least two infants in the house at the time. You and Natalia’s child. She said she was so sorry and she couldn’t ever make it up. I do not believe she killed her own child.”

Zack’s jaw formed a stubborn line. “I think you’re wrong. She accidentally crushed her infant’s skull, and my father knew she couldn’t have another baby. I believe that child, the real Zack Hayes, was switched for Natalia Kuilikov’s son.” He paused. “Me. I’m Sergei and that’s why the Russians think they can use me.”

Roman refused to believe it. “Zack, your mother’s ramblings might not mean anything. Your theory… It’s all supposition. I believe you are Zack Hayes. You were raised to be Zack Hayes. You’re the best man I know.”

“But if I’m correct, I was born on Russian soil of a Russian mother. I’m a Russian citizen,” he replied, his voice softer. “I’m not only ineligible to be president, I’m the ultimate sleeper agent—the one who has no idea he’s in place. I think I should step down immediately.”

“And send the entire country into chaos?” Gabe asked. “Do you know what that would do to the stock market? Your VP isn’t exactly the brightest bulb.”

“That’s why they picked him.” Dax scrubbed a hand over his hair. “Franklin wanted someone he could control easily, but if you step down, the speaker will likely control him, and we all know that son of a bitch doesn’t care about anyone but himself. No. You can’t step down now.”

“This is not a democracy,” Zack said.

Connor laughed. “Of course it is. It has been ever since Mad brought us together and we first voted on whether to study for our chemistry final or sneak out to watch the girls’ school swim practice.”

They had not studied that night.

“He’s right. Let’s vote,” Dax insisted.

“Guys, this is not only dangerous for me, but for you and all your wives,” Zack pleaded.

“I know how my wife would vote,” Gabe said. “Roman, organize this sucker. That’s always been your job.”

Because he’d understood parliamentary procedure at a very young age. “I call for a vote of the Perfect Gentlemen. All for staying the course and standing behind our friend and our president say aye.”

“Aye,” said Gabe.

Connor nodded. “Aye.”

Dax gave his commander in chief a salute. “Aye.”

“Aye.” There was no way Roman would let him step down. “We fight.”

Zack sighed. He sounded tired, but he looked damn relieved to have his friends on his side. “All right then. We fight.”

Roman took a long swig of Scotch and vowed they would do whatever it took to win this fight, come hell or high water.

* * * *

Zachary Hayes straightened his dress shirt and looked in the mirror. When the hell had he gotten those gray hairs at his temple? They’d seemingly popped up overnight.

I didn’t mean to do it. I wanted to hold him. He was my baby. My sweet baby. I hated what Franklin had planned for him. I wondered if it would be better if I put him out of his misery then and there.

He shivered at the insanity in his mother’s voice. Was that why his father had shoved him in a boarding school? Because he’d been afraid to lose the replacement? How much had he paid Natalia Kuilikov for her baby so he would have a new Zack Hayes?

“Are you ready to go, sir?” Thomas asked.

He depended on the massive Secret Service agent. Thomas had been with him since his first day in office. “Yes. I already sent my bag along.”

“It’s good that you’re taking a weekend to yourself, sir. I can’t remember you relaxing for even an afternoon in years,” Thomas said.

He needed to get away or he might do something he shouldn’t. Couldn’t. But the temptation to wrap his hands around Liz’s graceful throat and strangle her was strong. What else was he supposed to do after discovering that the incriminating e-mails indicating he’d stifled the FAA investigation had come from her office? Her desk. Her laptop. O

h, she’d made a good attempt to cover it up, but she’d been the one to leak critical information to the press. She’d been the one privately communicating with Darcy Hildebrandt. He had proof. Connor had even found an e-mail from Liz telling Darcy that she’d managed to tag Augustine’s phone.

Liz, who had the clearest bluest eyes. Liz, who had always taken such good care of him. Liz, who he dreamed about at night. Liz, the woman he’d yearned for more than any other, even his own wife.

Liz was the snake in the grass. Liz was in bed with the Russians.

How long had she been plotting against him? How long had she been planning to sell him out? Had she done it because she hated him? Because she didn’t care about her country? Because she sought power? Or had she stabbed him in the back simply for the money?

He’d been such a fucking idiot, suckered in by her halo of pale hair, her sweet expressions, and that body he’d kill for.

Hence this trip to Camp David. He intended to get his head right. A guys’ weekend. His best friends and no one else.

Well, except a security detail because he was hardly allowed to use the bathroom without them.

He and Connor would lay out all the details for the rest of their friends. Together, they would help him decide how to deal with the beautiful traitor he’d been in love with for years.

No. He lusted after her. It wasn’t love. It couldn’t be. He didn’t deserve love. Power and money and a father who ranted and raved about his demons, yes. But not love.

“The car is ready when you are,” Thomas said, stepping back out of his room.

How the hell had he gotten here? His problems were pulling his friends away from their wives. Did he have any right to do that? Did he have any right to drag any of them down with his sinking ship?

Hadn’t his ambitions taken enough from all of them already?

He glanced at his cell and thought about calling the whole weekend off. He could shut himself up at Camp David and…