The Oval Office ✓ (Book One)

Chapter Fifty Two

  "Should I go?" Dr.Traynor asks. "I can come back anytime."

  Any sane person would tell her to go away. That it's too soon, but we've known each other for years, and she's been my therapist for two. I don't exactly want to talk to anybody right now- I'd rather be left alone for at least twelve hours, but with the amount of doctors coming in and out, that won't be possible anyways.

I remember our first session. It was about a month after the incident. I'd completely shut down and refused to talk to anybody about it. Looking back now, I can see how terrifying that must have been to the people around me- who saw me go from screaming about women's rights to sitting in a chair and staring at the wall all day. I refuse to do that again. I'd just found out I was pregnant, and Dr.Traynor really helped me snap the fuck out of it.

"Obviously what you do with the fetus is your choice but what you can not do is pretend it doesn't exist. If you think you're mentally prepared to handle a child then that's on you, if you don't want it there's nothing wrong with that either." I remember her saying. Of course- I am, and always have been adamantly pro choice, but keeping that baby was my choice.

We were going to name her Isabelle. Liam or jeremy if she'd turned out to be male- and now I understand why. Everybody has those darkest moments of your life that you don't want to share with anybody- but he's heard all of mine.

Every last one, which makes this even worse. Now that I'm thinking a bit clearer; he technically didn't lie to me. He just, you know, failed to mention that he committed involuntary manslaughter. No biggie.

"Is there anything specific you want to address?" Dr. Traynor asks.

"Just that my husband of twenty  years is a fucking liar."

"Okay- are you referring to the infidelity part or something else?"

"No-" I sit up again. "Kyle's never cheated on me. We both... saw other people briefly about ten years ago. That video that came out is old. It's just... he never told me about.. something major that happened before we met."

"I wouldn't consider that to be lying." She says. "We've all hidden something from somebody at some point when we though the thing in question would make an individual look at us a different way. Now I know you two have been together for a long time, but if it's something that happened before you met it'd be better to just let it go."

It happened twenty five years ago. Maybe she's right- but this is involuntary manslaughter we're talking about. I can see him now, a scared thirteen year old watching ten to twenty years of his life disappear in his head, and running away from the scene out of fear. What I want to know, if they were the only two people there, is this:

How did Meg Haines find out about it?

  —-Kyle's P.O.V—-

  Everything comes out eventually, as they say- and this time I really fucked up. Lauren'll forgive me- the question is how long that's going to take. We've had plenty of small fights, but nothing serious besides that one fight almost ten years ago, and nothing since then that wasn't able to be resolved that day. This could take months and it's all on me.  

  "Is Meg Haines outside?" I ask Ella. She mumbles something into her walkie talkie and nods yes. "Let her in. We need to talk."

  If I can't hush-money her, I'd at least like an explanation as to how the fuck she figured that one out. In her field, she's just about the best she is- anybody could agree with that. She made a name for herself a few years ago when she got a prime-time show during the last president's transition, which brought her from the bottom to the very top in just a few weeks. She's moderated political debates, picked at people's brains for years, and has done some of the investigative work for her own stories, so she's far from stupid. She'll know how much money is reasonable to keep this under wraps, and I won't have a choice but to give it to her.

  "Mr.President-" I hear the clicking of her heels behind me. "I thought you'd want to talk."

  "Fuck the formalities." I say. "What exactly is it that you know?"

  "I know exactly what you think I know." She smirks,the same look on her face as when she's backed somebody into a corner. "I assume you want to know how."

  "That would be ideal, yes."

  She pulls a wristband out of her pocket, and it takes me a second, but then I realize- oh shit that's mine. "I was looking into different cases in the area you grew up in- and then I stumbled upon your neighbor's death. So I decided to check it out for myself and got into the evidence, which is illegal and all but as you know you can get away with almost anything when you're rich. Then I broke into your old house and found these stuck in that crevasse between the oven and counter- must've fallen in at some point." She shows me an old, dirty photo of my mother and I- in which I am wearing the bracelet. "We all know I'm not above extortion but-"

  "How much?" Lauren says from behind me. She's convinced a nurse to help her out of bed even though she should still be in it for another week.

  "Madam First Lady-" Meg starts.

  "How much fucking money do you want you greedy bitch?" She interrupts her. 

  "I was thinking five hundred thousand for ten years of silence." Meg sits back, satisfied with herself.

  "You're going to take a million and then this story is going to disappear like it never happened.  Instead, You will tell the public that his dad was in a gang and you thought you had a lead there but didn't, and you will publicly apologize for 'false accusations". Lauren continues.

  "Madam-"

  "Here's the check. We'll be taking those, now get out." She grabs the photo and wristband right out of her hands. I stand there, stunned for a moment as secret service make Meg leave.

  "Lauren-" I start.

  She rolls her eyes, giving me the look. "Shut up. I'm still fucking pissed at you."