The Oval Office ✓ (Book One)

Chapter Forty

What the fuck is wrong with me?

  I just lied to the First Lady. Shit. I sit now, on the floor of an old plane that was hollowed out, bought by whatever "group" is doing this, and fixed to run again. There are no windows, but we've been on it for a couple of hours. Wherever we're going is far away.

  I pick at my nails like I do when I'm not in control of my own safety, glancing at the 'guard' assigned to make sure I don't do anything stupid. "Can you at least tell me if she's alive?" I ask, desperate in my current situation. Adrian just shakes his head. I lean back against the side of the plane, gripping onto one of the cheap handles they've installed for when there's turbulence.

She doesn't deserve this. Emily's just about the kindest person I know. I mean fuck- she'll cook a thousand meals for homeless people when she herself doesn't make a lot. I can't  even say off the top of my head how many stray animals and foster animals have come in and out of our apartment in the past year.  How many times she's been to protests. How many people she's straight up just let stay the night so they wouldn't have to be on the street. Frankly I wasn't too fond of a complete stranger being on the couch, but that's where her and I differ. She doesn't see anybody as a stranger, doesn't think anybody is a genuinely terrible person. She just believes that people become hardened by things they experience in life. I guess I believe that part too.

  "Get up, pretty boy." The guard says. "We're here." As I step out of the aircraft, I'm greeted with an underground bunker. The fuck? Though it's not really appropriate, considering how I got here, I can't help but be amazed at the structure. Keycard access scanners on every exit door. A false grass landing pad that only collapses into the ground when a plane is set to land on it, which is currently going back up. The walls themselves are made of thick metal.

  "Jesus fucking christ." I say, the words escaping my mouth.

  "Glad you like what you see." Adrian menacingly chuckles. "Cause you'll be spending every 'vacation' you have here for the next few years."

  "I think the fuck not-"

   "I think the fuck so." He interrupts. "You love your girlfriend. I can tell. It would be a shame if she were to die because of your actions."

  "Take me to her-"

  "I give the orders here. Not you- follow me." He pauses. "And keep in mind that if you do anything stupid, she's dead."

  One of his armed minions presses a gun to my back as I'm forced to walk, powerless at the moment. Normally I'd just turn around and kick the ever living shit out of him, but Emily's life is on the line here, at least I'm told it is. Adrian swipes a keycard to one of the rooms, and again, even though I shouldn't be- I'm amazed at it. This one look to be a control room, with security cameras and monitors for every hallway and room. There's an impressive control panel that looks like it controls everything
Just about everything, with two people stationed to it and an advanced computer setup off to the side, nobody there at the moment. "Holy shit." I say. "What.. what are you people planning?"

"You don't need to know that yet." A voice behind me startled me. It takes a second, but I recognize the man standing in front of me as the Crowned prince of Ordaia. "For now, you're just going to answer questions. Then we will allow you to have five minutes with your precious girlfriend."

I tell myself not to be a fucking traitor but the words fall out of my mouth faster than I can stop them. Emily is my one weakness. She always has been. She just had a lapse in judgement and decided to get into a relationship with the First Lady's head of security. This is my fault, it never would've happened if I'd stopped myself from falling in love with her.

"Very good-" Prince Ahmad says. "Keep it up and she'll be out of here in a couple of years."

"YEARS-"

Yes, years. Now, do you want to see her or not?"he laughs, and I nod. Sick fuck. My heart beats faster as he leads me down a hallway, and I take in every detail of the place without even realizing I'm doing it. My breathing then completely stops for a second when I see her. In a literal jail cell, she sits, staring at the wall.

  "Remember- don't do anything stupid." He says.

  "Fuck you." I reply, not looking at him as a guard unlocks the cell. "Emily-"

  "Fuck you!" She repeats my words. "I should've just stayed homeless."

  "I love you- goddamnit Emily, I love you. I'm going to get you out of here." I say, holding her.

   "Why the hell am I here in the first place I've never done anything to anybody-"

  "I know, I know." I sigh. "They're holding you for ransom." I lower my voice.

  "Then fucking pay it!" She whisper yells. "It's not like you don't have the money!"

  "Not that kind of ransom." I shake my head. "They want me to... give them information and be an inside man in the White House."

  The look of horror on her face says it all. "James-" She says. "Don't you dare. You'll be executed for treason when the White House finds out about this - I'd rather die."

  "I'm sorry." I look away in shame. "But I'm not going to let you die even if it kills me." I get up,  starting to walk  away before my emotions show in front of those evil fuck faces.

  "Awww, I almost felt bad for you there." Prince Ahmad states.

  "Fuck you."

  "Oh leave him alone, Ahmad." A familiar looking woman says as she enters the room. My eyes widen as the realization hits me.

  "Princess ariyah?" How big is this thing? 

  "The one and only." She crosses her arms.

  "Why are you doing this? If this has something to do with your boyfriend saving the president's life-"

  "That's only a very small part of it." She interrupts.

  "Then what the fuck?!" I say. She purses her lips, looking at Prince Ahmad for approval to say something. He nods, and she turns back to face me.

  For a moment she pauses again, still unsure if she's going to say whatever it is she has to say. A silence falls upon the room for well over ten seconds, and just as I'm about to open my stupid fucking mouth again, she opens hers.

  "After my boyfriend jumped in front of him I grieved for years. Then I started looking into the president- I mean from now all the way back to his birth. I personally analyzed every word he ever said." She states.

  "That's kinda stalkerish-"

  "Maybe." She interrupts. "But it led me to an important conclusion. One that led me to join this group."

  "James, the president is not the amazing person that everybody thinks he is."