Thank you all for reading. This is the last part of the story unless I expand it. I am unsure what I will do, but I hope that if you like the story, you will support whatever decision I make. Thanks again.
Disclaimer: These characters belong to Stephanie Meyers.
Part 4
Flashback
Trust is like a sheet of paper. Once that paper is crumbled up, you can't just flatten it out and expect it to look as it once did. It can never be that perfect sheet of paper ever again.
That's how my trust is with Senator Cullen. It's had its moments of momentary crushing and crumbling, only to be ironed out once the air has cleared. He expects at every turn that my trust in him will never change. He expects me to be unwavering. He expects my trust in him to remain perfect even when he gives me a reason to doubt.
Today is one of those days. He's shown me that he still has feelings for his wife however small, they are still there. He tells me to trust that nothing is going on between him and his wife and I am supposed to believe him.
"He is not running alongside me as Vice President." Edward says in a voice tinged with anger.
"Why not?" I ask eventhough I know the answer. I watch as he loosens his tie, and places both hands on his desk, his shoulders lifting with much effort.
"Because-"
"Because Governor McCarty is interested in his wife." James interjects, walking into the room. He gives me a pointed look.
Bella
I called a few of my usual clients, trying to see if I could cash in a few of my favors, but it was no use. They all see me for what I truly am. I'm no fixer-problem solver- I am the problem. None of them want anything to do with me after the shitstorm I have been linked too. The media is destroying me, and I have lost all support. All that I have left is my small team that my dad has put together. There's a possibility that they will not help seeing as they are loyal to my father and not to me.
My father was right. I am here all alone and Edward left me here.
Just as the thought enters my mind my phone rings. I know who is calling and I start to ignore it but the need to hear his voice one last time is too great.
"Speak." I tell him in my usual business voice. He needs to know that I am all business now.
"Summer." He begins, and the voice he uses against me almost shatters my resolve.
"What do you want?" My voice is a plea for him to rip the bandaid off. I can't take his pleasantries and I will give none in return.
"How bad is it?" His question completely throws me and I'm left stunned.
"That's none of your concern at this point Edward. I have it under control."
He doesn't speak for a long time but I know he's still there. "Are you still meeting me here?" His voice is a little hesitant as he braces himself for my answer.
"Why would I?" I snap. He still wants me in New York? Why?
"Baby there's a plan in motion. One you cannot see, but I need you to trust me."
"Why would I do that? Why would I put my trust in you?"
"Because you have no other choice."
Flashback
"That's not it" Edward grits out. "The man has become a pompous asshole, a goof ball, and he is disrespectful."
"Senator, he was your successor. You were okay with him being your Vice President until you caught him with Rosalie yesterday." James says and my head snaps over to Edward as he glares daggers at James.
Edward shakes his head with a far away look in his eyes. "He's disrespectful." Edward raises his voice.
"Edward we were caught doing something very similar three weeks ago." I tell him, and watch as he pulls his chair out and slumps into it. "Do you still love Rosalie?" The answer could possibly tear me apart but I have to know the truth.
"No." He answers without hesitation. His eyes slowly lift to mine. "But she is my wife."
"And you care about her." I finish his sentence. He doesn't speak for long seconds and I figure that it is my time to leave. There's nothing more to say. I stare at him longingly wishing he'd just offer me one last glance. When he doesn't I turn my back to him and head for the door.
"But I care about you more." He finally says. My eyes shut from the impact of his words and my heart stutters in my chest. I inhale his words and try to breathe.
I could stand here and tell him how he's hurt me and how I wish like hell that we had never met. I could try to hurt him as he's hurt me because the anger is still fresh and the pain is a dull ache building in my chest that I have refused to focus on...but suddenly none of that feels right.
Doing that will only delay my brief glimpse into sanity. Doing that will only cause more bad than good. So I push aside my sweltering anger and ask the million dollar question.
"What should I do?"
"With all due respect Senator; I must inform you that Governor McCarty is your best bet at winning over the South. He is originally from Tennessee and-"
"Find me someone else." Edward says with finality, a look of pure disgust on his face.
"That's not possible." James responds.
I watch as Edward leans forward in his seat, glaring at James. "Then you get that ungrateful bastard to stop screwing my wife."
No one speaks for long seconds and I start to question the need for my presence. Then I realize why he wanted me here. He wanted my help...because he trusts me.
The job is simple. I do things like this all the time; I'm a talker, a fixer-a damn good one. This is a problem that he has, he wants a solution, and he wants it now.
I turn to leave, and with my hand on the knob I assure them, "Consider it handled."
Bella
Edward laid the plan out for me and most of it was in my opinion brilliant, but I was afraid it wouldn't work. Partly because Mrs. Cullen is cunning and very conniving. And also because James is a determined little shit that will do anything to get what he thinks is best. He didn't think Edward was strong enough to handle this level of scrutiny. That is why he didn't want anything about Edward and me to leak at all.
Edward had other plans. Edward had leaked my name the second I stepped foot in my home last night without James knowing. I was initially very upset when he'd told me that he was the one that had leaked my name to a reporter. I could not fathom why he would do such a thing, but after he explained, I had to admit that it was a genius plan.
James went ape shit when he heard that someone had leaked that Senator Cullen was amid a sex scandal, and immediately went into his kill file. He destroyed my name anonymously, but Edward and I both know it is his doing.
Edward expressed that he had to quickly fly Rose out to New York in the guise of a concerned wife. It was all part of Edwards plan, and no one was knowledgeable to what he had set in motion.
Flashback
"Governor, please..." I trail off pointing to a seat in one of the conference rooms here in the White House.
"When will President Swan be joining us?" He asks with his usual dimpled smile in place.
"He won't be. Not today anyway. It's just you and me."
He shifts in his seat and tilts his head to the side already attempting to calculate my reason for bringing him here.
"What's this about?"
"Mrs. Cullen, or Rosie as you call her."
At this he laughs nervously and stands from his seat.
"What do want Bella?" He coolly asks, and I sit forward in my seat fixing him with a deadly serious look.
"Actually I'm here to find out what it is that you want."I reply, to which he nervously flattens his tie and grins at my audacity.
"You can't be serious? You want to use your fix- it skills on me? It won't work Miss Swan. Rosalie has already told me much about you."
"Do you want to be Vice President?" I ask him, cutting through the bullshit in his sad attempt to take control of the conversation. He has no clue who he is up against.
He lifts a brow. "Do you want to be VP, or do you want to continue to screw Rosalie?"
Indignantly he turns, resigned to the conversation. "I'm not answering that."
"You have to Governor. You have to choose. Either you want to be VP, or you want to screw Rosalie. You can't have both. I will not allow you to have both and neither will he. Now, it is in your best bet to cozy up to Senator Cullen if you want to seal your political future, otherwise you leave me no other choice..." I lean back in my seat confidently, "but to use my considerable talents to tear you down. When I am through with you the only way you will be able to survive is by teaching political science at a Community College. And while you may be okay with such an existence; how long will Rosalie stick around then? You will lose Rosalie's interest because that is not the sort of woman she is. She likes power, which I will surely strip from you if you choose her. Now I will ask you again, Governor. Do you want to be the Vice President of the United States for the next four years, or do you want to screw Rosalie Hale-Cullen for the next month because that's how long it will take for her to lose interest in you after I am done destroying you. Now. Choose!"
Bella
"What the hell Edward?" Rosalie comes through the doors holding up a bunch of paperwork. She looks positively homicidal, but she stops in her tracks when she sees me. "You! You put him up to this?"
"Me? Why would I do that?" I play the role of the innocent little victim in this whole situation.
"First you subject me to a lawsuit where I am prohibited from selling my book to anyone, after I publicly announced and promoted my work. Now I have public scrutiny to face because you want to divorce me for this whore?"
"Don't pretend to care about him. You have Governor McCarty at your disposal."
"Oh fuck you little girl. You have no idea what you've done. There's no way he can win if he divorces me."
"Oh but there is. Sadly you will no longer be my wife at that point. Make this easy on everyone and just sign the papers Rose."
Flashback
He's silent for a considerable length of time before he backs away, but stops short when a thought occurs to him.
"Do you enjoy it?" He asks out of the blue, stepping forward slowly, his eyes locked on me. "The power? The feeling you get when you are clutching at someone's insides making them bend to whatever twisted will that has been planted when you are made to carry out these little tasks? How can you sleep at night knowing that you destroy just as many lives as you fix?"
"Governor-" I attempt to interject, but he slaps the table and the sound stops my thought from falling from my lips as I jump from the sound that resonates through the room. My heart speeds up, and when I glance up into his eyes raw emotion is all that I see.
"I love her." He says breathlessly. "I love her." He repeats again with conviction.
I want to believe the small voice in my head that tells me that what he is saying is true. The voice that shouts how wrong it is to tear apart his relationship with Rose, even as I continue to rip apart her relationship with her husband. The very same husband that cares enough to want to stop her from having an affair, but doesn't care enough to end his own.
I am a hypocrite...but I don't have time to dwell on that fact. It is not my job to dwell on that fact. It is not my job to know or care if he loves Rose...my job is to fix things, fix situations fix problems. That is what I am here to do.
Plastering on my fake smile, I push aside my own personal feelings on the matter, and stand to face him the way I face everything in life.
"Then choose her. By all means, please restore my faith in humanity." I turn away from him, and walk toward the door. "You have twenty-four hours to end things with Rosalie or life as you know it will be over."
Bella
Rose looks moved to tears as she hunches over the table, pen in hand. "I stood by your side while you admitted to an affair on national television. All the while you were planning to stab me in the back. You made me look like a fool, and I know you're the reason Emmett won't even look me in the eye." Tears brim her eyes at that moment. "I never wanted you...I have always wanted Emmett, but he doesn't have what you have. He would have never become Governor or even Vice President without your help, I know it, you know it, and even he knows it. That is the only reason I stayed with you, prepped you, protected you for all these years." She lifts the divorce papers and flares her nostrils. "This is the thanks I get."
"Rose, I will no longer stand in your way if you decide to pursue Emmett. It was selfish of me to stand in the way-"
"Very selfish! God forbid someone else besides you is happy for a change," She screeches, and wipes at her tears. She signs the papers, straightens her back and tosses them to the ground at Edward's feet, tossing the pen along with them. "There're your papers, and your chances of becoming President have just been thrown out the window. Do us all a favor and make this a quick divorce. I don't want to be married to you even a second longer than I have to. You make me sick."
"The feeling is mutual dear." Edward collects the papers, and stands, placing them on his desk.
Flashback
I pick up my phone and dial Edward's number in order to tell him the good news. "Governor McCarty has agreed to stop seeing Mrs. Cullen. Is there anything else that you require?"
"No. That will be all." He says sounding distracted.
Feeling dismissed, I sigh and slowly move my phone from my ear.
My thumb hovers the end button when he speaks again. "Summer." He calls, and in a rush the phone is back to my ear. I sigh and close my eyes preparing for whatever he has to say.
"Thank you. But I would have preferred if you had stayed out of it. You do not work for me Summer. You-"
"So I'm good enough to be your fuck buddy, mistress-or whatever you consider me to be; but I'm not good enough to be your loyal employee and friend?"."
"God damn it Bella you are not my employee, my fuck buddy or my mistress. You mean so much more to me than that and you know it."
"But no one else does." I don't mean to start crying but the tears freely begin to flow from my eyes. "You have to know that-"
"Don't cry, love." He sighs and I hear him curse, but he has moved the phone from his ear. I silently cry waiting for him to come back to the phone. "I know." He answers. "I know exactly what you are feeling, because I feel it too."
Bella
"Come between my relationship with Emmett again and I will talk. I will do a tell-all interview that will destroy the very fabric of your existence, as well as your whore's. I can play the victim baby. I am a phenomenal actress."
"I am aware. You pretended to be happily married for years."
Rosalie smirks and tilts her head to the side, glancing at me. "You won him, but what will you do when he loses the election?"
"First, he will not lose the election; I will make sure he doesn't, second, even if he did, I will still love him."
She shakes her head. "How does daddy dearest feel about your betrayal?"
As if I have to explain anything to her. "Actually..." I glance up at Edward. "My father is looking forward to retirement. He will publicly announce his support for Edward tonight. Make sure you watch." I wink at her and watch her mouth fall open.
Flashback
Two weeks ago Governor Emmett McCarty was announced as Senator Cullen's running mate. Everything with Governor McCarty was going according to plan all because he took my very professional advice seriously as it was a threat and a promise wrapped into one.
Two weeks ago, Rosalie informed her father that Edward and I were having an affair as a way of backlash for stealing Emmett from her. Her father in turn gave Edward a choice: me or the Presidency. The same ultimatum I had given Governor McCarty.
After hearing this news from James, I thought I had made the decision to cut all ties with Edward. He was our next President after all and I could not stand in his way. Could I?
Just as I am opening my laptop the phone Edward gave me lights up with a text message. I glance down at it, and frown. Speaking of the devil.
*Hilton at 7 today*
*I'll be there. Anything else you want?*
Inhale the future Exhale the past. This is where past and present has collided.
Bella
Fixing Edward's tie, I ignore his intense gaze on my face. He shoves his groin area forward and wiggles allowing me to feel his erection.
I grin and glance into his eyes as he does the same. "Stop that." I tell him. "You have a speech to make in less than ten minutes."
"Then stop touching me. You're making my predicament a lot worse."
I slap his suit-clad shoulder, and then sweep my hands around his suit knocking away invisible lint.
Taking a step back to get a good look at him, I voice my opinion of his appearance, "You look damn good President Cullen."
Thank you all for reading! :)