At the Pleasure of the President (The Perfect Gentlemen 5)

Liz tried not to panic. Maybe Vanessa was in custody now and they just hadn’t released the press office yet out of an abundance of caution. Still, she ought to check. “Apparently she’s been using my computer, she probably duped my phone, and she set me to up to look like the bad guy, which is why Roman—and therefore Zack—suspected me. Don’t worry; it’s all okay. I didn’t kill Roman.”

“But I might. Bastard! I knew he was up to something,” Gus swore. “I’ll make him pay.”

“He had his reasons. We’re fine now. So are Zack and I. But you should know all hell is about to break loose. He’s considering telling the American public everything.”

“We should talk about that first. Has he thought about all the implications?”

“If you mean about whether he’s Russian born or not, after today, I don’t think he cares.” Liz tried not to let it, but foreboding continued to eat at her composure. “Let me call you back. I need to talk to Zack. He’s conferring with Thomas. We need to find out what’s going on with Vanessa. Then I’ll let you know. Do you have an agent with you now?”

“There’s one outside the door.”

“Be careful. We hadn’t finished vetting them all yet, so we don’t know if some are colluding with the Russians.” She walked toward the front of the residence, eager to reach Zack. “And as soon as I hang up, call Connor. Tell him we might have a situation. We need him to bring in reinforcements he trusts.” Better safe than sorry. “We have no room for error on this.”

“Liz, you sound worried. Are you okay?” Gus asked.

No. What if Vanessa was still on the loose? What if she’d used the assassination attempt to separate Zack from all his loved ones and put them all in the hands of the Secret Service, where they’d planted their own people?

Zack might still be in danger. Hell, all of them might be.

“Call Connor now.” She hung up and hurried to the bedroom door.

She had to find Zack.

The second she strode through the portal and into the living area, she realized that she wasn’t alone. Trouble had found her.

Vanessa stood in the entryway, gun in hand, right beside Zack.

Liz’s day was far from over.

* * * *

As Zack looked into Liz’s warm blue eyes, he nodded, his heart so full of emotion. Maybe it didn’t sound manly, but he couldn’t deny that he found the devotion on her face so comforting. “I love you. I can’t say that enough. I’m humbled and blessed to have you. Thank you for forgiving me.”

The guilt still sat like a boulder in his gut and probably always would. How could he have ever doubted her? He would never make that mistake again. She was steadfast and loyal and in the years to come, he would learn how to be the best husband to her.

Her chin tilted up and he could see the love on her face. “I love you, too.”

Three words that eased his soul.

With a sigh, Zack forced himself to walk away from her—for now. The next couple of hours wouldn’t be pleasant. He had to get out in front of the press and reassure the country that he was perfectly healthy and fine, and that the government was still running smoothly. Then he needed to sit down with all of his friends and figure out their next steps because he was done playing this game. If ridding the country of this insidious Russian menace cost him his presidency, then he would pay the price, but one way or the other, he would ensure these tyrants wouldn’t be able to infiltrate his country and try to corrupt it again. As far as he could tell, this had been going on for decades, and it stopped with him.

He glanced back. Elizabeth had disappeared into the residence. Already, he knew she would head for the closet and lay out his clothes because she would want him to look as polished and normal as possible. She would do what she always did—make life easy for him.

Moving beyond this conspiracy would be difficult, but Elizabeth would be by his side, so he could handle anything. Even disgrace, if it came to that.

He opened the door expecting to find Thomas there.

He did—but Thomas was on the ground, face down and eerily still.

Then Zack realized he wasn’t alone. Adrenaline blasted through his system as he saw a gun pointed directly at his head.

“I think you should go back inside the residence, Mr. President,” the Secret Service agent standing over Thomas said. Glen Warren. He’d been working with the Secret Service for years. In fact, he was one of Thomas’s best men.

Thomas. Loyal and true. Thomas had two kids and a wife he’d been married to for over twenty years. Thomas shouldn’t be lying on the ground.

He stared at the gun in the agent’s hand. There was a suppressor on the end, explaining why he hadn’t heard anything. Not surprising these criminals were prepared. The assassination attempt had been nothing more than a way to herd him here. And what else? What more had they sought? “I thought you were supposed to take a bullet for me, not put one into your boss.”

Glen shrugged. “You don’t pay as well as the others. Sorry about Thomas. He wasn’t a practical man, so I had to deal with him. Now we get to find out how practical you are, Mr. President.”

“Zachary?” a familiar voice asked.

He turned to find his father coming down the hallway. He wasn’t alone, either. Apparently his nurse wasn’t as invested in his well-being as he’d sworn because the man also held a gun, as did the woman by his side.

He was seriously outnumbered.

“Hello, Ms. Jones.” Zack tried to calm his thundering heartbeat. Violence would go down today, especially if he refused to bend about the pipeline. But he had to keep them away from Elizabeth. Hopefully, Roman would figure out something was wrong, or Connor would return. For once, he even hoped Freddy was stalking him.

Then again, Roman might decide he’d interfered enough and give him alone time with Elizabeth. Connor might still be tied up with the shooter at the police station. And Freddy…who knew?

“Hello, Zack,” she said. “I’m going to call you Zack from now on because I assume my father carried out his mission today. That means I’m running the show now. Tell me something. How will you explain his body in your White House?”

“Your father?” He glanced at his own father, who seemed equally confused.

“You still haven’t figured it out? Joy was my half sister. Both your father and mine had liberal definitions of the word faithful.” Vanessa smirked. Now that Zack really looked at her, he saw some physical resemblances between Vanessa and Joy. “Sex is such an easy way to manipulate a man.”

He could see they’d tried to handle him that way, too. “It didn’t work with me.”

The smile grew but oddly lost any amusement. “Oh, but I think it will work in the end. Get inside or I’ll kill your father right here.”

“Zachary?” His father looked around as if he wasn’t quite sure where or when he was. “What’s happening?”

And Zack simply wasn’t buying the con anymore.

In the past, he’d thought it was an ironic twist of fate that his father had developed dementia just as they’d reached the White House. In some ways, it had felt like justice. But now…it seemed a bit too coincidental.

“I think you know exactly what’s happening,” he accused. “I find it interesting that you can’t remember your name most of the time, but you fought like hell until we hired the nurse you wanted. We went through so many, then magically found the one who could handle you. Tell me something.” He turned to the nurse. “U tebya khoroshiy russkiy yazyk, moy drug?”

How is your Russian, my friend?

The nurse, who was still in his scrubs, sighed like he couldn’t care less. “U menya prekrasnyy russkiy yazuk. Takaya zhe, kak nasha zapadnya.”

My Russian is perfect. So is our trap.

His father’s demeanor changed, his shoulders straightening and the vacant look he adopted for three years suddenly leaving his eyes. “Don’t look at me like that, boy. Do you think I wanted things to happen this way? That I’m enjoyi

ng this?”