Chapter 1

Fitzgerald Grant had broken her heart in a cathedral during a funeral and he had done it expertly. She was so shocked at his words that her intake of breath had thrown her back from him. The words he spoke had cut her like a double edged sword. She was bleeding on the outside and on the inside her heart had shattered into a million pieces.

She had gone up to him as soon as she saw him. Her heart was bursting with love for him. She had told Edison she could not marry him and had given him back his ring. Edison was angry and devastated. He knew he had been played, but not to what degree. He had taken his ring back from her for the last time he had said. She did not care what he had said. She was waiting for Fitz no matter how long it took for him to get his divorce. She loved him with all her heart.

"Hi," she said wearing her heart on her sleeves. When he had said hello instead of hi, she had sensed something was wrong. She wanted to soothe him. She assured him his eulogy would be great. He was upset about Verna was all it was. When she told him that she would wait for him he would be happy. So she had told him.

"I changed my mind about that, don't wait for me. Screwing ones' mistress is one thing but to marry her would be political suicide and you wouldn't want that would you, with all you have done to get me here?" Each word was enunciated with pure venom. She took a step back as though she had been struck.

His eyes they burrowed into her accusing and condemning. He knew what she had done. He knew she was part of what had gone down in Defiance, Ohio. He knew that his Presidency was fraudulent and she had participated in it. It was pure anger she saw but she also saw the hurt and pain in his eyes. He had trusted her and she had failed him. She allowed Cyrus to talk her into it and she knew it was wrong. She had been afraid he would lose and she did not want him to. His father had battered his psyche his entire life making him believe he was worthless and that he could never win anything on his own. She had not wanted him disappointed because she loved him so much.

She had already abandoned every principle she lived her life by to be with him. She left her integrity and honor behind again when she entered into that unholy alliance with Cyrus and that evil bunch. And now she was paying the price. He was walking away from her because she was a liar and cheater. God why did she do it? He could have won the Presidency on his own he could have. But she never gave him a chance and now he would never forgive her.

After he said what he had to say he turned and walked away. She turned and followed his movements. She was willing him to come back and talk to her. "Fitz please," she cried in her heart silently! He walked amongst the mourners speaking and smiling at them as if nothing in the world had happened. He had cut her off and he would not even look back at her. Silently she cried out to him once more. He turned around to look at her then, his stare was blank. There had been telepathy between since they first started their affair. It was real; they could speak to each other without uttering a word. His lips never moved, he never acknowledged that she was calling him. But she heard him clearly when he said to her "Never."

She sat through Verna's entire funeral and never heard a word that was spoken. That had included the eulogy Fitz had given. She had tears streaming from her face and everyone around her assumed she was crying for Verna her friend. They had patted her hands and back thinking they were consoling her. Truth was she was inconsolable and nothing or no one could help her now. She had lain down in a bed with mad dogs and now she was infested. Fitz had cast her aside because she was tainted. The tears they would not stop.

The funeral ended and everyone got up and left except for her. She could not leave her seat she was paralyzed with fear. She was alone again. After being so happy and so in love, it was all gone. She continued to sit and cry. The front of her suit was becoming damp with her tears. She refused to staunch the flow of tears. She deserved all of this hurt and pain because she knew better.

When she finally could stand she got up and walked from the church. She looked down at her watch, she had sat there for over two hours lost and dazed. She had lost him and she had to face that. She got in her car and went home.

Out of habit she picked up her Fitz phone to see if he had called. He had not and he would not. He had called her a mistress. He had sworn that she could never be a mistress to him he loved her too much for that. Yet he had said those horrible things to her and walked away. Their affair was really over. She went to her desk and pulled up the current case she was working on. She still had her work. She would lose herself in that.

He had not heard a word from Olivia since Verna's Funeral. He had been so hurt when Verna had uttered the words to him. Yes, his precious Olivia was part of the cabal that had conspired to make sure he won the election. She was in with all of them as thick as thieves. It had broken his heart knowing she did not believe in him. All the rest of them he knew they were vipers, every last one of them even Verna.

He had grown up knowing Verna, she was one of his father's many mistresses and believe it or not his mother's friend. She had always treated him nicely when he was around her. When she came to their home she always had gifts for him. It could have had something to do with the fact he had caught her and his father fucking in the family pool once. And there was that awkward time he saw them against the kitchen wall.

Verna an old dying woman who he had thought had become his friend had found glee in telling him about Olivia's part in this mess. He could tell she wanted to hurt him. She even had the audacity to admit that she had hired the assassin that had put three bullets in him. She had tried to murder him, his friend. This woman that had fucked his father while his mother lay sleeping in her bed and called her friend was still mocking him. He despised her so at that moment. She knew his vulnerability and she thought she had him by the balls and could laugh in his face. She could barely breathe yet she removed the mask from her face and she smiled at him. He lost it then. Something or someone took over his body and he could not control it. He wanted to kill someone, and he had. He withheld the lifesaving oxygen from her and let her die. He could not believe he had done it but he had. He was his father's son after all.

"She's not breathing," he cried out! The nurses rushed in and called "Code Blue," suddenly the place was flooded with people trying to save the life of Supreme Court Justice Verna Thornton. They had ushered him from the room and he sadly sat waiting while they worked on Verna. For over thirty minutes they labored and then finally one of the doctors came out. "I am sorry Mr. President we could not revive her."

"I had not realized she was not breathing at first. If only I had"

The doctor cut him off. "Sir she had maximum of a week or two to live. I am surprised she lasted this long. We tried because we know you cared a great deal for her sir. But honestly she is in a better place. She was suffering a great deal," he stated.

"Yes she is in a better place, thank-you doctor." He sat down and put his head in his hands. He knew where Verna Thornton was as surely as he knew he had not been elected the President of the United States of America on his own. Verna Thornton was in Hell with his father where she belonged!