The Oval Office ✓ (Book One)

Chapter Fifty Four

My mothers funeral will be a small, private one. It'll just be Kyle and I, Taylor and her best friend, security and the funeral director. She was never religious, especially after she got out of that abusive relationship with my father, so her request for a non religious funeral will be respected.

  About five years ago, when she was going through a period of depression, she started planning out her will and funeral. There's always been an unspoken agreement, no matter how much I despised her- that we would take care of Taylor in the event that something happened. On paper, I haven't gotten any of her money(which was once my dad's) because she knows I have enough of my own already.

  Taylor will receive one hundred and fifty thousand dollars on her eighteenth birthday. Until then, the money will sit in an account, waiting on her to use it. Kyle didn't have much of a choice but to resume the responsibilities of his office this week unless he decided to resign, so he has taken the day off to attend the funeral.

I adjust my top, grimacing as it pulls on one of the scars that hasn't fully healed yet. I haven't felt much of anything since I got out, four weeks ago. Some of the events that followed didn't feel real- it was like I was watching a movie. The queen of England was convicted of numerous international crimes and dethroned by force. As the only remaining member of the royal family, Princess Ariyah's brother, who'd abdicated his claim to the throne a long time ago, wasn't given much of a choice but to ascend the throne. Hopefully he'll be less of a dick than the rest of them, but we'll see. Almost a hundred of the names on James's list were palace employees, forty something were secret service, and the rest were from Ordaia, Russia, Canada, or the U.S.

This was, and probably always will be- one of the most well coordinated attacks of all time. Still, something doesn't sit right with me. Something feels off- almost like there's more to come or more people that we don't know of. Maybe I'm just being paranoid- after all, it wouldn't be too far fetched for me to lose my fucking mind after the events of the month, but I've never been wrong before, and that's why it scares me so much.

A new head of investigations has been hired, who takes everything very seriously, and is really damn good at his job- but he's no Aileen. At least we still have Ethan, whose been able to go back to the job that he's Damn good at. He was alright as the investigations head while he had to be, but you could tell it wasn't his preferred job. The new chief of staff has worked in different senators offices for years, so she definitely knows what she's doing, and has passed all the background checks and lie detector tests. Then again, so did Kylie.

I sigh- it's going to take a long time for me to trust anybody again. Even though the checks are a lot stricter now, I don't see myself ever expanding my circle. The people in my life now will be the only people I trust until the day I die.

Taylor's standing in the door frame, and I have no idea how long she's been watching me for as I've stared at my scars, most of them completely healed with the exception of a few. We've managed to keep her away from the news, but she is thirteen years old so who knows how long we'll be able to keep that up. She will find out exactly what happened eventually, and I dread that day.

  "Hey-" I say. "You ready?"

  She nods. She's not crying now, but I can almost see her thoughts. The pain in her eyes is more present than ever as we walk out to the motorcade,
which will transport us to the funeral home. The public'll worry, but won't be that surprised with the events of the month.

  There were a little over forty directly related deaths total. Amber Garland-  that one still fucks me up, him being the same age as my sister. Princess Ariyah-that psycho deserved it, being as instrumental as she was in the planning of the attack. Aileen- motherfucker that one hurt. Every single person that knew her even a little bit can agree on that.

The funeral is tiny, with the road in front of it being blocked off. Thank god I hate the bitch, because I refuse to cry in front of Taylor. She'll never fully know what a shitty person the woman she grew up with is, and it's best that way. You don't go around telling the family members of a dead person the bad things they did while they were alive- you sugarcoat it.

  I'll be the first to admit though, we look a bit ridiculous right now. There are five of us; six if you count the dead body in a closed casket, then the ninety something secret service from what I overheard. We'll never be able to go anywhere again without at least fifty unless he chooses to refuse secret service protection, which legally cannot happen until after he's out of office- whenever that is.

  "We gather here today to mourn the loss of..." I tune the funeral director out, putting on a fake mourning face. As much as I want to, there isn't a single bone in my body that feels bad for her. If I'd listened to her constantly implying that nothing anybody ever did was good enough, including me- I wouldn't have had those different variations of my dream job for seventeen years.

  Intern. Interning- agent. Full-time FBI agent. I started working closely with the director in the last six years of my career, and could have gotten recommended to be his replacement.

I guess it's just one of those what if's. If I'd accepted the recommendation and let Kyle drop out of the race, we probably wouldn't be here today, but I also never would have met some of my closest friends.

But that opportunity has now passed. The likelihood that it'll come again is slim to none, and for whatever reason, I'm okay with it.

Christ- I'm starting to lose it again.