The lights went out.

  “Damn it!” There was a thud, then a click, and the lights buzzed back on.

  “What are you trying to do?” Nadine asked.

  “I’m installing security cameras.” He didn’t look up from the panel.

  “Didn’t you already do that?”

  “Yeah, I installed those piece-of-shit cameras from corporate with fuzzy pictures and no audio.” He toggled another switch. “These are my cameras. Shoplifters won’t be able to hide from these babies.”

  Oh, for God’s sake. His obsession was out of control. “It’s illegal to record audio on surveillance cameras.”

  “Oh yeah? Where did you hear that?”

  “I’m a lawyer. It’s illegal to record private conversations without consent.”

  “Correction. You were a lawyer.” Jason smirked. “Maybe you just don’t want me to record you. I bet a lot of people would pay for footage of you mopping the floors.”

  She sighed. “Fine. Commit a felony.”

  Jason rolled his eyes and walked out, leaving her alone with the plates—and her thoughts.

  As usual, her thoughts returned to Bella. She could still hear the tremor in her voice, see the hurt in her eyes.

  Nadine needed a distraction. She switched on the boom box she had discovered in the back corner a few days ago. It was already tuned to NPR. She returned to her work as monotone voices droned in the background.

  At the top of the hour, an announcer read the headlines. Nadine froze when she heard Alyssa’s name.

  …Jackson is facing pressure from opponents to release the names of individuals who attended her private fundraisers. Today, Jackson refused, citing privacy concerns…

  Ah. The private fundraisers. She remembered them well. The names are a secret because her top bundlers represent industries she’s supposedly planning to regulate.

  It was bold of Alyssa to repeat the same practice she had used before the scandal. But, then, Alyssa always did have boundless confidence, an instinctive belief that nothing could ever truly touch her. She had almost been right.

  Nadine thought back to Ryan Mitchell’s words. She’s doing it again. Doing what?

  She unlocked her phone and scrolled to the image of the blood-stained business card Ryan Mitchell had given her. Something had compelled her to snap a photo before she threw it away. Before she could stop herself, she typed in the number and sent a text: What were you trying to tell me about Alyssa Jackson?

  The reply was immediate: Is this Nadine?

  She wrote back, “Yes.” Within seconds, the phone rang.

  No way. Not on an unsecured line. She declined the call and typed: I’m not talking to you on the phone.

  Again, the response was immediate: I can meet you tomorrow.

  Nadine’s stomach clenched. This was a bad idea. Ryan wasn’t interested in proving her innocence. He just wanted to use her to beat Alyssa, to raise the same doubts that had cost her voters last time. Never mind the fallout for Nadine, who would once again be front-page news with half the country calling her a liar in addition to a crook—and Alyssa wouldn’t hesitate to go nuclear if she even sniffed a threat to her presidential ambitions.

  Truth wasn’t magic. She couldn’t call a press conference and fix everything like her sister thought she could. Patricia had never been the subject of a national witch hunt. She didn’t know what it was like to be the target of death threats for months and then spend two years in a cage thinking about it. To be so fucked-up from the trauma that she couldn’t trust the one person who might believe her.

  She sliced an angry gash in the next box and opened it to find even more garish Christmas-themed housewares. As she dumped the merchandise into a cart, her phone buzzed. She pulled it out of her pocket to see a string of messages from Ryan. She skimmed through, barely reading them, and then typed back: Don’t contact me again.

  Pointless. Utterly pointless.

  * * *

  Bella frowned at the sketch of a woman in a superhero costume on her iPad. She had captured her client’s curly brown hair, porcelain skin, and oval face so that it closely resembled the photo. But something was off—the gaze was too soft.

  In the photo, the woman regarded the camera with penetrating eyes, reminding her of Nadine. Bella raised the height of the eyebrows and gave them sharper peaks. She zoomed out to study the results. Perfect.

  Her work complete, she dropped her stylus, stretched, and flopped over in bed. It was her first day off in a week, and she had spent the entire morning surrounded by pillows, catching up on commissions.

  After scrolling through her phone, Bella tumbled out of bed and headed to the kitchen for lunch. The fridge contained a large container of Nadine’s beef and plantain stew from two nights ago, but the smell would remind her of their painful conversation that night. However, the only edible alternatives were Pop-Tarts and frozen waffles, so she took out the container and spooned some into a bowl.

  Just as Bella removed the steaming stew from the microwave, there was a knock on the door. She glanced down at her yoga pants and oversized T-shirt. Presentable enough, especially to greet someone who was probably selling magazine subscriptions.

  She opened the door and found herself facing the man in the black ballcap who had skulked around the store a few weeks ago, looking for Nadine. Despite her racing pulse, she attempted to project the confidence of someone with a threatening husband or brother in the next room. “What do you want?”

  He blinked at her, then pointed his finger. “Wait…I remember you. You work at the store. You told your manager I was shoplifting.”

  “Again, what do you want?”

  “I’m looking for Nadine.”

  How does he know where she lives? “She isn’t here.”

  He craned his head to look past her as if he expected to see Nadine hovering in the background. “What are you doing here? Are you her roommate?”

  Bella brushed her hair behind her shoulder. “That’s none of your business.” She didn’t know who this man was or what he wanted from Nadine, but she wasn’t going to give him a thing.

  “Look.” He stepped back, relaxing his aggressive posture. “My name is Ryan Mitchell. Nadine contacted me herself. Here, I’ll prove it.” Ryan slid his phone out of his pocket, tapped the screen, and showed her.

  Bella studied the message. What were you trying to tell me about Alyssa Jackson?

  It could have been from anyone. Bella pulled her phone from her pocket and compared the number to the one she had stored for Nadine. They matched. “How do you know her?”

  He stuffed the phone back into his pocket. “I work for another candidate for president. A Democrat.”

  “Jeff Zaller?”

  “Yes.” Ryan seemed surprised; he’d probably assumed that a blonde register girl wouldn’t know anything about politics. “Nadine has information that would be useful to his campaign. That’s why I need to talk to her.”

  “Well, I doubt she wants to talk to you.” Nadine felt bad enough about the last election; she would never help one of Alyssa’s opponents.

  Ryan squinted at her. “What has she told you?”

  Bella crossed her arms defiantly. “She told me everything.”

  “Then why won’t she talk to the press? Is she still obsessed with Jackson? Three years later?”

  Obsessed? What the hell was he talking about? “What do you mean?”

  Ryan narrowed his eyes. “She hasn’t told you a damn thing, has she?”

  “She tells me plenty. I just don’t know what specific thing you’re referring to because you’re being so cryptic.”

  “Uh-huh. Sure.” He pulled out his phone and checked the screen. “Just tell me where I can find her. Is she at work?”

  Crap. She had to keep him talking. He knew something, some secret Nadine hadn’t shared. “I’ll tell you, but only if you tell me what you’re talking about.”

  “She’s probably at work. They told me she wasn’t there, but I bet they were lying. I’ll go back.” He turned away.

  “Wait! Did Alyssa know about the Atlas deal? Was she in on it?”

  Ryan turned back, his chapped lips curved into a crooked smile. Then he shook his head and went back to his car.

  Bella shut the door. Her arms were cold from the chilly outside air, and she still hadn’t eaten—as her gurgling stomach reminded her. She returned to the kitchen to retrieve her stew, then sat on the couch to eat—and to try to figure out what the hell had just happened.

  Alyssa was guilty of something. At least that’s what Ryan thought, but he could be wrong. After all, it was his job to gather dirt on opponents. He wanted it to be true.

  Bella had always sensed that there was more to Nadine’s story. The woman she knew was resilient, a fighter willing to do whatever it took, but she also didn’t seem like the type of person who would sell out others for personal gain.

  On the other hand, Nadine was fiercely loyal. The night Todd had shoved his slimy tongue into Bella’s mouth, Nadine had pushed him against the wall with a fury she’d never seen. She had defended Bella without hesitation, even though a police investigation could have cost her everything.

  Had Nadine felt a similar impulse to defend Alyssa? Was she so loyal that she would lie about the senator’s involvement in the scandal?

  Many people had speculated that Nadine would incriminate Alyssa in exchange for a lighter sentence. After all, with her own career in shambles, Nadine had nothing to lose by turning on her former boss. But when she didn’t, most people concluded that Alyssa was truly innocent. But what if that wasn’t the reason?

  Ryan’s words rang in her brain: obsessed with Jackson. What did that mean?

  Bella considered everything she knew while she ate the leftover stew. As she slurped the last of the broth, she concluded that the only thing she knew for sure was that she was missing something.

  She retrieved her laptop, determined to figure it out. She started with Wikipedia, reviewing the details of the scandal.

  Nadine’s crime wasn’t some convoluted conspiracy that required a chaotic bulletin board to map out. It was actually straightforward. Nadine had promised Jack Ritter, CEO of Atlas Health Source, that Alyssa’s proposed cap on premiums would be dropped from her healthcare bill. In return, Atlas used the names and addresses of the company’s subscribers to make thousands of fraudulent donations to the Alyssa Jackson campaign. Alyssa won the nomination.

  The testimony was consistent on all sides, so none of those facts were in dispute. But that didn’t mean the picture was complete. There could be other facts that were in play, facts that changed the meaning of events.

  Bella scrolled through news articles, timelines, and opinion pieces, searching for some clue that suggested Alyssa had orchestrated the deal or at least knew about it. Plenty of people had speculated that Alyssa was involved—creating enough suspicion that she lost the general election—but there was zero actual proof.

  Next, Bella tried YouTube, scrolling through videos of Alyssa from the last presidential campaign. She clicked on her speech following the Democratic primary in New Hampshire—her big comeback after a poor performance in Iowa.

  In the video, Alyssa, wearing a plum-colored pantsuit, addressed a crowd of roaring supporters. Each time she started to speak, a new round of cheers drowned her out.

  Bella scrutinized Alyssa’s face for some sign of guilt or anxiety but saw only elation.

  Alyssa basked in the applause. When she finally spoke, she glowed as she thanked the voters, the volunteers, and her staff. “And thanks to Nadine Bayani, my lawyer, my advisor, and so much more.”

  The camera panned to Nadine, who beamed and clapped hard. Her eyes shone with pride, relief, and…something else. Adoration. She looked at Alyssa as if she…they…

  Holy shit.

  No wonder Nadine was so private about her sexual orientation that she wouldn’t even tell Bella. There was no rational reason for her to be so guarded with someone who was guaranteed to be accepting. Unless the reason was that she didn’t want Bella to guess about Alyssa.

  Bella began to piece together a whole new story: Alyssa was having an affair with Nadine. They cooked up the scheme together, and when they got caught, Nadine took the blame. She wouldn’t implicate Alyssa, not because Alyssa was innocent but because Nadine was in love with her.

  It finally made sense. Alyssa was a smart, athletic, powerful senator. Bella could never compete with someone like that. She remembered Nadine telling her they couldn’t have a relationship because it would be unfair to Bella. Yeah, right. She felt like an idiot for believing those words were sincere. Now she knew it was because she would never be good enough, would never be anything like Alyssa, the woman Nadine really wanted. Her heart ached.

  But she still had questions. What was Nadine’s relationship with Alyssa now? They didn’t seem to be in contact. Then again, Nadine knew how to keep a secret.

  Bella knew for sure that Alyssa wasn’t giving Nadine money. She had watched her at the grocery store, comparing food items and choosing the cheapest. Nadine was broke.

  Besides, she wouldn’t be sleeping on Bella’s couch if she had the money to rent her own place. And she certainly wouldn’t work at Overstock Oasis.

  Maybe it was over between Nadine and Alyssa. Or maybe they had agreed to cut all contact for a while and then reunite in secret. The idea was romantic in a nauseating sort of way.

  Her mind was running wild with assumptions and theories. She closed her laptop and sat back. She was onto something—she knew it—but she didn’t have evidence or details.

  Really, it was none of her business. If she was just Nadine’s roommate, if they would never be anything more, did she really need to know? She should stay out of it.

  Fuck that. Of course she needed to know. Her heart rate hadn’t slowed a tick since she’d watched the video. There was no way she could let it go.

  It might not be her business or make any practical difference, but she knew she’d obsess until she had answers. She had to talk to Nadine. Now. Tonight.

  Chapter 24

  Nadine knew something was wrong as soon as she stepped into the apartment.

  Bella was curled up on the couch, clutching a throw pillow to her stomach and staring at her phone.

  Nadine pulled off her shoes and went to sit next to Bella. “What’s wrong?”

  Bella sat up and set her phone on the coffee table. “Nothing. But I need to talk to you.”

  “Okay. What is it?”

  “No, I mean—get settled first. Take off your jacket, get food, whatever.” Bella fiddled with the fringe on the pillow. “I just want to talk sometime tonight.”

  Nadine removed her jacket and slung it over the arm of the couch. “I’m settled. Tell me.”

  Bella took a breath. “A man named Ryan Mitchell came to the apartment today.”

  “Ryan came here? I’m sorry—he shouldn’t have done that. He works for Jeff Zaller’s campaign, and he’s been trying to get me to talk to him about Alyssa. I told him I have nothing to say, but he’s persistent.” She gave Bella a reassuring smile. “But he’s not dangerous, just annoying.”

  Bella continued to worry the fringe on the pillow. “He said some things about you and Alyssa Jackson.”

  Nadine stiffened. What the fuck was Ryan trying to do? “I haven’t told him anything. Whatever he said, he was making it up.”

  “Okay, fine. Forget about Ryan. I need to ask you something.” Bella turned to face Nadine, still hugging the pillow. “Did you have an affair with Alyssa?”

  “No!” What the hell did Ryan tell Bella? “No, we didn’t have an affair. Not really.” Shit, why did she add the last part?

  “But it was something. Is Alyssa gay too? Or bi?”

  “She’s not gay. She might be bi. I don’t know.” The words spilled out before she could stop them. This was happening too fast. She wasn’t ready for this conversation.

  Five minutes ago, she’d been driving home, half-listening to NPR and trying to remember if she had enough cooked rice left for dinner. Now she was cornered with no time to figure out what she was willing to tell.

  “But you were involved?” Bella searched her eyes. “I know I don’t have any right to know, but could you tell me? Please?”

  Nadine took a shaky breath. “I developed feelings for Alyssa. Feelings I’d never had for men, not even the men I dated.”

  “Oh wow.” Bella leaned forward. “And before that you didn’t know you were gay?”

  Nadine looked down at her lap. “I think on some level I always knew I wasn’t straight. I didn’t care about boys growing up. Everyone assumed it was because I was too focused on school.”

  “Yeah, I know what you mean. Your friends are swooning over boys, and you’re just, like, what am I missing?”

  Still avoiding eye contact, Nadine traced circles on her knees as she spoke. “Yes, it was something like that. I dated men, even had a few boyfriends in college and law school. But I always broke up with them with some flimsy reason. Eventually I stopped trying and resigned myself to the single, workaholic life. Until I met Alyssa.”

  “You fell in love with her.”

  “I don’t know if it was love.” She had thought so once, but didn’t love mean reciprocation? Otherwise it was all longing and heartache, lonely nights and hungover mornings. “I wanted Alyssa more than anything. I craved her, physically, emotionally. I lived and died for her approval, for every second of connection. I didn’t care about anything else.”

  “Is that when you realized you were gay?”

  Nadine shook her head. “Alyssa figured it out before I did. She always saw right through me. One night, we were up late working together, and she told me she knew how I felt about her.”

  Shuddering, she thought back to that strange and awful night when her last delusions shattered around her like glass. “I replayed my whole life that night, realizing what I should have known the whole time: I was gay. I was a lesbian obsessed with my boss—a senator with a husband and a child. It was a relief, and it was a nightmare.”