^^Above, chapter title credit: Song by Echo & the Bunnymen.^^

{Raina}

Telling Geoff I was pregnant again was one of the bigger leaps I'd taken. I wasn't expecting it, of course, even though I knew another baby would come eventually. And while I knew Ettie was happy, sometimes I could see she was lonely. The worst thing about that was knowing about it and not doing anything. Besides, it doesn't matter what I want anymore. It's Ettie's happiness that I care about.

"Hey, Raina?" Geoff says from the other room, as we're packing up to check out. "You should come see this."

I set the hair dryer aside and go to join him. I find him staring fixedly at the television, a look of disbelief on his face. When I follow his gaze, I feel a simultaneous drop in my stomach. It's a campaign ad, Ridley's. I shake my head and glance over at Geoff.

"That doesn't make sense. I thought he was running for governor of Nashville. Why are they showing it here?"

"Looks like he gave you a false lead." Geoff nods at the television.

I give it a second look, finding Geoff's right. "Mayor of New York City?"

"Go big or go home." Geoff picks up the remote and turns the television off.

"But Ridley..." I can't seem to get my head to wrap around it. "He's never even been in government."

"You think that's stopping him?" I detect a note of bitterness in Geoff's voice. "Ridley would run in the fu—"

"Geoff!" I hiss, remembering Ettie nestled in the pillows at the top of the bed. "Language!"

"Sorry. The stinking Presidential election." He rolls his eyes. "Ridley as President. Can't even imagine."

"I wouldn't put it past him though," I say, knowing it's true.

"Then I guess we'll all have to see what happens, then."

≈

We're stopped on the way to the car by none other than Dominic Pascal. He's still in his cheap black suit, and wearing an earpiece like he thinks he's the Secret Service.

"Mr. Cromwell?" he says, looking Geoff up and down. I never would have thought there was anyone taller than Geoff, but this guy's got at least three or four inches on him.

"Yes?" Geoff sounds annoyed, and I have a pretty good idea why.

"Mr. Green would like to speak with you."

"Now?" Geoff looks at his watch. "I'm supposed to get home."

"Yes." Pascal seems completely unaffected. "If you'll come with me..."

"Yeah, sure, I'll come," snaps Geoff. "But my wife and daughter are coming too."

I shoot a glance at him. "Geoff..."

"I don't trust him when he's alone with me, Raina." Geoff pulls me close, our foreheads pressing hard against each other. "At least you'll be a witness."

I take a deep breath. Calm down. "All right. Then where are we going?"

"This way." Pascal motions for us to follow him. I pick Ettie up and settle her on my hip as we go, because the brisk pace that he sets is too fast for a little girl.

We come to a black car parked around the corner, and he opens the back door for us to climb in. Geoff goes first, and then I do, after handing Ettie off to him. I clench my hand on the seat, and Geoff slides his fingers between mine. I hate not knowing what's coming, especially when it's Ridley.

Our drive lasts only fifteen minutes. We stop at a tall white apartment building, with brass doors and a green awning. Pascal climbs out, and then opens the back door again for us. This time I get out first, and Geoff follows. Without a word we pass the doorman, enter the lobby, and then pile into an elevator. Pascal pushes a button, and the doors close. When I see which button, my stomach knots up. P—Penthouse.

The ride up is silent, except for Pascal's breathing right next to me. I can smell him, his deodorant sharp. Every so often, I notice his eyes dart down towards me, and I know what he's doing. He's trying to get a look down my shirt. I ignore it, but I wish there were more guys like Geoff, Jake, and Matt. There's so many more like Pascal and that Howard Eckles, who I'd noticed eyeing me all night after our encounter in the hallway.

"Here," grunts Pascal as the elevator dings. We follow him out, directly into a marble-tiled entryway. There's a pair of reddish wooden doors directly ahead of us, and Pascal marches right up to them and knocks.

"Come in!" says a voice from inside, and I recognize it. Ridley's.

Pascal opens both doors and steps aside to let us in. I have to try and not gape. Three of the four walls of the penthouse are glass, boasting a near-360-degree view of the city skyline. The furniture is all black-and-white leather, the fixtures brushed chrome, and the countertops a black webbed stone polished to mirror-like perfection. Two figures stand in the corner, their backs to us. One is skinny and shorter, while the other is bulky and tall. It's Ridley and Eckles.

"Geoff, so good you could come." Ridley turns around first, smiling at us. It's not a genuine smile, nor a friendly one. "And you brought the girls with you. How nice."

Geoff bristles. "You asked for me, so talk to me. But stay away from them."

Ridley shakes his head. "If you insist."

"I do insist."

They move off towards the kitchen area, while I set Ettie down and we walk over to the window. There I lower myself to her level, keeping one hand on her back as she leans forward and presses her nose against the glass.

"Up high, Mama!" She bounces up on the balls of her feet. "Up high!"

"I know, sweetie. Very high." I feel a presence behind me, and when I twist around to see who it is, I find myself looking at Eckles again. "Hello again."

He raises one eyebrow. "Your kid is cute."

"Thanks." I can feel his eyes on me, a hot beam focused right on my face. "Is this...your place?"

He shrugs. "It was. But I'm lending it to my friend Ridley while he's here campaigning."

Great. Ridley set loose in New York City. I stand up, and his eyes follow me. He reaches forward, touching a strand of my hair and tucking it behind my ear.

"Cromwell's lucky to have you," he says, a clear want in his voice. "You're effin' gorgeous, did I tell you that?"

"No, you didn't." I wish he wouldn't do this in front of Ettie. She's too young to understand what's going on, but I don't want him touching me the same way he did the first time.

"Cromwell might be rich, sweetheart." He runs his finger down my neck and across my collarbone. My breath catches in my throat. "But I know how to show you a good time."

I open my mouth to reply, but nothing comes out. I can feel him doing it again, trying to get into my head. At that I clamp down on my thoughts and block him out, and visibly, that surprises him.

"Say, you're better than I thought." He slides his hand along my waist and to the small of my back. "How are you not a super?"

"Wasn't born with the gene I guess." I want him to stop touching me, but this time it doesn't work. He runs his hand up my back, and then down, curving it over my backside.

"A woman with curves," he says, his smile slow and oily. "I like that."

"Get your hands off me." I push his arm away, reaching towards Ettie still at the window. But he catches my arm, his hand moving from my shoulder to my sternum and then down my front, stopping at my abdomen. I think of the baby that grows there, and Eckles smiles like a big cat.

"Congratulations on the baby," he says into my ear, his cheek pressing against mine just briefly before he straightens and he's gone.

I flatten my palm over my abdomen, biting down on my lip. I know it's Geoff's, but the way Eckles just touched me made me feel like it isn't. When it comes, I tell myself, I won't let him see it. He won't even know that it's born. Because even if he's about to ruin our lives, I won't let him ruin the lives of my children. Whatever the cost.

≈

"You're quiet," I say to Geoff that night, as we're getting into bed. "What did Ridley say to you?"

"I don't think you want to know," Geoff says, sitting down on the edge of the mattress and yanking his shirt off over his head. Even though we've been married three years, I still blush when I notice the muscles moving under his skin.

"Try me." I cross my arms and lean back, sinking into the pillows.

"He wants me to buy his stocks of serum. He knows what Cromwell Enterprises does, so he thinks it would be appropriate."

"What does Cromwell Enterprises do?" It occurs to me that in all the years since we've known each other, I've never asked that question.

"A little bit of everything," Geoff says, flopping down on his back. "Real estate, some banking, some stock market. And medical supply."

"Medical supply?" I roll over on my side and prop myself up on an elbow. "You've never told me that."

"Well, to be fair, you never asked before."

"I didn't think I would have to," I shoot back. "I'm your wife, Geoff, you can tell me things without me having to ask."

"I know, but you're not—"

"Not super?" I finish, not caring that my voice cracks on the last word. "I already told you I've learned a lot from living with one."

"No, not that." He turns on his side, facing me. "I was going to say you're not responsible for that part of our lives."

"I do have some sense of business, Geoff." I drop my head to my arm, so now we're eye-to-eye. "I took Intro to Econ."

He smiles, running his hand through my hair. "That's right. That's how we met."

When he rolls on his back again, I tuck myself into his side, my cheek against the warm skin of his shoulder. He runs his fingers up and down my arm, almost absentmindedly.

"What did you tell Ridley then?" I ask, doing the same thing to his sternum. He has a scar at the base of it, cutting diagonally across his side and around the back.

"I told him if he wants money, he should look to his multi-millionaire friend."

"How'd he take that?"

Geoff kisses my forehead. "Not well. But at least I know he won't be putting his grubby paws on my father's money."

I prop myself up and give him a proper kiss, on the lips. "My husband, the uncrackable nut."

He smiles at me, pushing my hair out of my face. "What kind of nut is that?"

I kiss him again. "My nut."

≈

I'm not sure what wakes me up that night, whether it's a feeling or a sound. I slide away from Geoff, inch by inch, and roll out of bed. Then I pull on my robe and pad through the silent halls, curling my toes into the thick carpet. As I wander downstairs, with the intent to make something hot to drink, I see a sliver of light coming from his home office. Curiosity gets the better of me and I stop there and peek in. It's coming from the lamp on the desk, shining down onto papers scattered all over. If I wasn't mistaken, it looks like he was searching for something. I wonder if that was what had him in a mood before bed.

I circle the desk and squint down at the one on top. It's a statement from our bank, and I can clearly see money's been taken out and re-deposited into two different accounts. One is almost sixty thousand, and the other is a little less, fifty-eight. They're both within a week of each other.

It makes me remember the conversation I had with El earlier, about following the money.

Knowing Ridley, he'll find a way to put Geoff's company in a chokehold.

This makes my fists curl. Geoff must have gotten the same call from Ridley earlier, about those secrets that he's got. And now, because he doesn't want the company to find out, he's using his own money to pay Ridley off to keep quiet. But I still can't believe he'd do this. He'd been lying to me all along. All those things about how he wasn't going to let Ridley get to him, how he was going to do anything to protect Ettie and me, and now the new baby too.

He's bought Ridley's silence, almost a hundred-twenty-thousand dollars' worth of it. But that's not enough, not even close. I don't even think Geoff knows how much Ridley wants, not until it's too late.

≈

Geoff finds me sitting in the dining room the next morning, the condemning bank statement in front of me. I didn't go back to bed last night, not after finding it. Weariness grinds on me, and I have a headache from lack of sleep. But this was much more important.

"You're up early," he says, surprised.

"Yes, I am." I pick up the statement, holding it out to him. "Do you want to tell me about this?"

His eyes narrow as he takes it. "Where did you get this?"

I fold my arms, staring him down. "Where do you think?"

He scowls, his eyes darting over it. "What's wrong with it?"

"A hundred and twenty thousand dollars, Geoff?" I stand up, my chair making a loud scraping noise across the floor. "To two separate accounts? Did you really think I wouldn't be curious about that?"

His mouth works for a second before he speaks. "Raina, listen, it's not what you think..."

"Oh, it's not?" I clench my fists, leaning on them. "Then what is it?"

"Well...Ridley..."

"I knew it!" My voice cracks, and I pound the table with my knuckles. Pain shoots up both my arms, but I hardly feel it. "You're paying Ridley off! How much are you going to give him, Geoff, before he's satisfied? Where are you going to draw the line?"

"He just asked me–"

"Yes, I'm sure that was a great conversation! Tell me, what did you think he was going to do with that money?" I feel rage, hot and sudden, rising inside of me.

"Raina, don't. It's not like that."

"It's not like what?" I march up to him, tear it out of his hand. "What the hell is this? Why are you paying him?"

"His campaign. He said he needed an endorsement."

"And you gave it to him?" I throw the statement over my shoulder. "He played you, Geoff! That was exactly what he wanted you to do! And he's going to ask for more before you know it!"

"Raina—" He tries to touch my face, one of his hands coming up.

"Don't," I hiss, slapping it away. "Don't touch me, Geoff."

"He was going to expose me, he said." His face falls.

"He said that to me too. And I told him to go screw himself. I can't be bought with blackmail."

Geoff looks shocked. "You think he's blackmailing me?"

"Of course I do!" I'm on the verge of tears now, but I hardly care. "He's Ridley! He'll do whatever it takes to get to the top, you know that! You fought him!"

"But it was only a campaign—"

"Only a campaign?" I try to scoff, but it comes out as a strangled sob. "Goddammit, Geoff, wake up! It's never what it seems with him!"

Then I brush past him, and he catches my arm. I yank it away. The thought of him touching me makes my stomach churn, and I'm not even far along enough to have the morning sickness yet. I can't believe him, I really can't. How could he do this to me, and to us? If Ridley wanted to break us, then he's doing a damn good job.