Chapter 5

April Acevedo POV:

The Morrison Bridge cafe was a neutral territory, all gleaming chrome and the sterile smell of burnt coffee. It was the kind of place people went when they didn't want to be seen. At 6 a.m., it was nearly empty. I chose a booth in the back, a position that gave me a clear view of the entrance.

Kennedy arrived at 6:05. She looked nothing like the confident, adoring intern from the campaign office. She was a ghost, swimming in an oversized hoodie, her face pale and scrubbed clean of makeup. Her eyes, wide and terrified, darted around the cafe before they landed on me.

She approached the table like a fawn approaching a predator, ready to bolt at the slightest movement.

"He told me not to come," she whispered, sliding into the booth opposite me. Her hands were shaking so badly she tucked them under her thighs. "He said you would try to twist things."

"And yet, here you are," I said, my voice flat. I didn't offer her coffee. I didn't offer her comfort. I was not her friend. "That suggests you don't entirely believe him."

Tears welled in her eyes. "He said it was a mistake. A clerical error. He said his lawyers would fix it, that my name would be cleared."

"And Dale? Your brother? Is he a clerical error too?" I asked. Harman' s lawyers had made sure Dale' s minor, unrelated parole violation from six months ago was suddenly back on the docket. It was a clear message: stay in line, or your family gets hurt. A classic Harman move. Brutal, efficient, and cowardly.

Her face crumpled. "He said... he said Dale brought it on himself."

"He said, he said," I repeated, the words dripping with contempt. "You're living your life based on the words of a man who is actively building your prison cell. Did he tell you he loves you while he did it? Did he tell you that you two have a future?"

A flicker of defiance sparked in her tear-filled eyes. "He does love me. He's going to leave you. After the election."

I almost laughed. The sheer, breathtaking naivety of it. She still believed in the fairy tale.

"Is that what he promised you?" I leaned forward slightly. "A condo downtown? A hundred-thousand-dollar 'severance package' to thank you for your service and keep you quiet?"

The color drained from her face. I had quoted the contract verbatim.

I slid my tablet across the table. On the screen was the file I' d found. The lease agreement. The payoff contract. The transactions from the shell company into his private 'contingency' fund.

"This isn't a plan for a future, Kennedy," I said softly, the quiet tone more devastating than a shout. "This is an exit strategy. He was never going to leave me for you. He was going to leave you for the FBI. He laundered a quarter of a million dollars through a company in your name, then siphoned off a portion to create your hush money. When the investigation, which is inevitable, came to light, he would have been the powerful politician, tragically misled by a greedy, ambitious intern. You."

She stared at the screen, her breath coming in short, ragged gasps. The truth was undeniable, written in black and white, in dollar signs and legal clauses.

"He was using you as a shield. Now he's using you as a scapegoat," I continued, pressing the advantage. "His lawyers aren't protecting you; they're isolating you. They're building a narrative. By the time they're done, you'll be lucky to get only five years."

The first sob tore from her throat, a raw, wounded sound. "No... no, he wouldn't..."

"He would," I said, my voice like ice. "Believe me. I know the man I created."

I let her cry for a full minute, watching the fantasy she had built her life around crumble into dust. Her idealism was a liability, but her fear... her fear I could use.

"There is a way out," I said, pulling the tablet back.

She looked up, her face a mess of tears and dawning horror. "How?"

"The rally is in two days. It's his biggest moment. Everything has to be perfect." I paused, letting the implication hang in the air. "Harman is distracted. He's panicking. He will need someone he trusts in the control booth with the presentation files."

I slid a small, encrypted USB drive across the table. It looked identical to the official campaign ones.

"He'll give you a drive with his speech slides," I said. "You're going to swap it with this one. When he gets to the part of his speech about 'integrity and fiscal responsibility,' this drive will play a different set of slides."

Her eyes widened in terror. "What's on it?"

"Everything," I said. "The bank statements. The shell company documents. The payoff contract." Then I delivered the final, devastating blow. "And the full, unredacted police report from the car accident that killed my brother ten years ago. The one that proves Harman was driving recklessly. The one I helped him cover up."

She recoiled as if the drive were venomous. "You want me to... ruin him?"

"He is already ruining you," I corrected her. "I'm offering you a choice. You can either be his victim, or you can be your own savior. Cooperate, and I will give this evidence to the authorities, along with a sworn affidavit framing you as an unwilling, manipulated pawn. My lawyers will represent you. You'll get full immunity. You'll walk away. He will go to prison for a very, very long time."

I stood up, leaving the USB drive on the table.

"The choice is yours, Kennedy. Be the girl he fucks over, or be the woman who burns his entire world to the ground."

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