After breakfast I showered, barely noticing the water because my brain was on overdrive. Last night had been completely unpredictable and unplanned. I thought I’d been wrecked before, but Ava demolished me with her words and her compassion and her damned giving. I hadn’t known it was possible to give and take so much at he same time. The way she’d felt under me, like in that moment she only existed for me, blew my mind.

The ankle was better but not fixed. I could take a few steps without the crutches or without swearing in my head. When I made it downstairs, I found my dad in the antique chair behind his desk in his study. The chair had been a gift from the governor for my parents’ twenty-fifth wedding anniversary. No one had pointed out that it was a gift for my father, not my mother.

My dad looked pale in the light from the window behind him. His long-sleeved shirt covered the marks where they’d taken blood the day before.

“Can we talk?” I asked from the doorway.

He glanced up, pushing the notebook computer in front of him to the corner of his desk. “Yes.” I settled myself in the chair across from him, leaning the crutches against the side. His eyes surveyed me. “I’m glad you’ve finally come back here. Though I wish you weren’t here under these circumstances. I told your mother it wasn’t necessary for you to drop everything and run to my side.”

His voice made it clear he thought it was overdramatic, but Ava’s words replayed in my head. “It is necessary, Dad. They had to carry you off the tarmac at JFK in an ambulance.”

He shook his head. “It was an anomaly. I’m healthy as I’ve ever been,” he scoffed. “It’s the travel schedule lately, all these international meetings on the Klipport merger. Too much time in hotels.”

My father’s expression dared me to disagree with him.

“I’m sure that’s a contributing factor. But you’re starting a campaign. You’ve always told me they’re marathons, not sprints. It’s going to take a toll.”

“Nathan, listen to me. The world is always difficult for people like us. There’s always someone there, just over your shoulder, seeking to take you down. Take the campaign: they’ll look for dirt. My opponents, the media. They won’t find it.”

His voice took on a new urgency. “They won’t find it because we will keep this contained. No one will know about this.”

I looked at him in disbelief. “You think we can hide the fact that you had a heart attack?”

“We have to. They’re vultures. I already spoke with Bill about our containment strategy. I came in on a private plane. The crew and hospital have statements if they’re asked about it. The doctor has a gag order and can’t speak to the media.”

I wondered what was going on in his head, if anything had changed for him when he’d felt the shock of the blood ceasing to flow through his veins. If he’d had a single moment of wondering, worrying. Of feeling out of control.

Or if he’d just willed his heart to start again. And it’d had no choice but to obey, as most did in the face of Alistair Townsend’s demands.

“You need to get that girl to sign an NDA too.”

My attention snapped back. “You want Ava to swear she won’t talk about this. Mom called Abby about it. Are you making her sign a non-disclosure agreement too?”

He folded his hands on the desk in front of him. “Nathan.” His voice was as serious as I’d ever heard it. “We are family. Abigail is family. That girl is an unknown. And this? This is everything I’ve worked for. Politics isn’t fair. In an instant it could all come crashing down like a damned house of cards. I’m not willing to take unnecessary risks. And neither should you.”

My dad’s meaning was loud and clear.

Isn’t he right not to trust Ava? part of me asked. I knew she had no reason to protect my father. Hell, she could leverage it if she wanted to.

No. She wouldn’t.

I’d been a short-sighted idiot to claim her as my girlfriend on the doorstep. If my dad had the slightest clue who she was, that I’d brought a defendant here, had not only talked with her but slept with her…

I hated the feeling in my gut right now. Like I was torn in two. But it wasn’t a question of loyalties. Not really.

“I’ll look after it.” My voice sounded surer than I’d expected. “What else?”

“Go back to work. Price is in charge until Monday. But I want you to keep an eye on things. We need a Townsend in that office, Nathan.”

I replayed the words I’d been rehearsing in the shower. The request I’d been so sure of making an hour ago was gone like water down the drain. The reality was, it was my job to hold the ship steady. As a son and as a Townsend. No matter what that cost me.

“I’ll be there tomorrow. Nothing’s getting dropped.”

“Good. I need you in this.” My dad stood as the cell phone on his desk rang. “And Nathan?”

I’d started gathering my crutches but paused to look at him.

“Don’t forget to wear a tie for dinner.”