Poisonous Kiss: Chapter 27

“Sir? Excuse me—sir!!”

I ignore the secretary that launches to her feet as I storm toward the double doors to the office.

“Sir, I’m going to have to call Security if you don’t—” Her eyes suddenly go wide when she recognizes me. “Mr. Black?”

“No need for Security.” I flash her my best winning smile. “I’m just here to drop out of the race, and I wanted to tell him in person.”

Her brows shoot up. “Oh! Well, let me just buzz the Governor⁠—”

“No need.”

I push past her, barge into the room, and kick the doors shut behind me. Preston Hall looks stunned as he glances up from his desk.

“Gabriel?” he blurts as I storm toward him. “What the hell are you⁠—”

He flinches when I slam a file folder down on the desk in front of him.

“You’re done, Preston. Out. You bow out of the race fucking today.” I tap the file folder on his desk with a finger.

He blinks as the room goes silent. “I’m sorry, what? Gabriel, you can’t just barge⁠—”

“Open it.”

He looks at me confusedly. “What the fuck is this?”

“Open. It.”

He bristles. But he reaches for the file and flips it open, shaking his head. “This had better be your official statement dropping out of the⁠—”

His face turns pale as his shoulders tense. He blinks rapidly, his throat working before his eyes slowly drag up to mine.

The file I’ve just given him contains copies of the un-redacted documents I got unsealed by Judge Myers. It also has a statement sworn by Fumi this morning, detailing exactly what happened that awful day. I watch, my lips slowly curling into a vicious, thin smile as Preston’s face turns gray.

It’s not a silver bullet. At best, even with a sworn statement, it’s hearsay. But the point is to force Preston’s hand. I want him terrified that this will get out. Because if it does, hearsay or not, he’s fucking done.

“As I was saying, Preston,” I growl, “you bow out today. You suspend your campaign, don’t spend another dime on ads, quietly finish up your term and fade the fuck away. Or this all goes⁠—”

He starts to laugh. My eyes narrow on him as he shakes his head and stands, sighing.

“You’re a great attorney, Gabriel. I’ll give you that. But you’re new to politics, so I guess I need to explain how this stuff works.”

“If you think I’m bluffing⁠—”

“Oh, I don’t think you’re bluffing, Gabriel. But you’re not going to use that.”

I laugh coldly. “Well, famous last words. Enjoy your office while you can.”

I turn to leave.

“If you use this, Gabriel, she’ll be all over the news.”

I stiffen. Slowly, I turn to him.

“What?”

“She’ll be the star here. Not me.” He shakes his head again. “When you’ve been in the game as long as I have, you’ve heard everything. Every allegation, every rumor. Every⁠—”

“This is proof.”

“No, it’s he-said/she-said.” He grins darkly at me. “We both know that. Who do you think the media will focus on? Me?” He shrugs. “Please, I’m just an old politician. I’ve been at this so long, the public has already seen my name dragged through the mud for a dozen unfounded things over the years. But Fumi?” He grins. “The pretty, plucky new wife of the up-and-comer? The press and the public will devour her. Really. They’ll rip her apart, Gabriel.”

He grins as my jaw grinds tightly.

“You release that,” he shrugs, “and yeah, it may cause some problems at home for me. But Deborah’s heard a hundred allegations of affairs, and I’ve talked her down from every one of ’em.” He smirks. “If you put all that out there, yeah, I may come off looking a little sleazy⁠—”

“You’ll look like a criminal.”

He shakes his head. “I’ll look like a stud.”

Every muscle in my body tenses as I level a cold look at him.

“Careful, Preston.”

He grins. “The public gets wind of that story? You know how it’ll play out in their heads. Like I ‘knew’ your wife. Like I cucked you.”

My eyes draw to slits. Preston grins widely.

“Angry, Gabriel? Frosted that before you even met her, I had your wife on her knees, fucking her teenaged whore mouth⁠—”

He goes down with a wail, tumbling backward into the credenza as I slam my fist into his mouth.

I’m nowhere close to done.

I’m on him in a second, seeing pure red, snarling as my monster bursts free. I sit astride him, holding him by the collar, punching him in the face over and over until I feel arms grabbing mine and yanking me off the bloodied little shit screaming on the floor.

“You should probably get an attorney.”

I raise a sharp brow at my brother through the bars of the holding cell. Alistair grins a little.

“That was supposed to be a joke.”

“Yeah? I don’t hear laughter.”

“My comedy is often sorely misunderstood⁠—”

“Could we please focus on the issue at hand?”

Alistair smiles wryly and clears his throat, nodding.

“You want to get down to brass tacks? Fine. Gabriel, you beat the shit out of a Governor.”

“Yeah, I know. I was there.”

“Yeah?” Alistair growls. “Were you also there the day they covered eighteen US code section one-eleven in law school? Assaulting a government employee is a fucking felony, dipshit.”

My jaw grinds. He’s not wrong.

But there’s a reason I’m not in police custody and am just sitting in a holding cell of the security department in the basement of the Governor’s offices. And Alistair and I both know it.

My threat to Preston hit harder than he wants to admit.

“You know why you’re down here, right?”

I nod. “Because he’s got twenty-four hours to hold me before either releasing me or filing an official assault charge.”

“Bingo. So whatever the fuck you said to him⁠—”

“It’s about Fumi,” I say quietly.

My brother is quiet for a moment. His chin tips up and down slowly. “Look, I know you like to keep your personal life quiet. But…”

“Alistair—”

“She matters to you,” he growls. “I’m not blind, Gabriel. Or stupid. She’s not just a prop anymore, is she.”

I look away. My head shakes slowly. “No, she’s not.”

She’s the equal I never, ever expected to find.

“You obviously don’t have to tell me, Gabriel, but it’ll help me help you if I know what prompted⁠—”

“A decade ago, she worked on that fucker’s first gubernatorial campaign. He reeled her in, drugged her…”

A fury almost matching the rage in my chest sparks in Alistair’s eyes.

“He assaulted her, Alistair.”

“Motherfucker,” he snarls. His lip twitches. “Shoulda kept hitting him.”

“I should have killed him,” I mutter.

Alistair blows out a breath. “Well—how strong is the evidence?”

My silence makes him scowl.

“Fuck.”

“And double fuck,” I nod. “They buried it and masked it enough with so much bullshit that it’s hearsay at best.”

“The court of public opinion would burn him at the stake, though,” Alistair growls. “You release that, and Preston is as good as⁠—”

“I’m not releasing it.”

I look away, rage clouding my vision.

That fuck was right: I can’t use this. Yes, maybe it hurts him and costs him the Governor’s seat. Maybe. And maybe it doesn’t.

The one guaranteed casualty if I release this, though, is Fumi.

The world is a fucked up, unfair place, and the public hates women, especially women who challenge powerful men. This will dog her career and destroy her life. Maybe I have a silver bullet aimed at Preston’s head, but it goes through Fumi’s heart first.

And I will not let that happen.

“Gabriel—”

“I’m not releasing it, Alistair. It was a scare tactic, and it didn’t work.”

“The man put you in a holding cell. I think it’s fair to say it worked.”

“You know what I mean,” I growl. “The point was to get him to back down, and he didn’t. You know what happens if I put that out into the world.”

His mouth twists. “She’ll take the brunt of it.”

I nod.

“Well,” Alistair sighs, “then we need to switch gears, and fast. Because if Hall is one hundred percent sure you won’t release what you have on him, in twenty-four hours, sure as shit, he’ll be charging you with assault.”