Before the President could finalize his victory, the heavy doors opened one more time.

Two Secret Service agents dragged Tricia into the room. She was crying hysterically, her makeup running down her face in ugly black streaks.

Tricia took one look at Domenic bleeding on the floor and the President standing over him with a face like thunder. Her knees gave out. She collapsed onto the expensive Persian rug.

"I didn't do anything!" Tricia wailed, burying her face in her hands. "I don't know what happened!"

Domenic saw his true love crying on the floor. Like a complete fool, he tried to crawl toward her to protect her. The agent behind him slammed a hand onto his shoulder, pinning him to the ground.

Hester stepped out from behind Elba. She looked down at Tricia. The corners of Hester's mouth twitched. It was time to finish the job.

Hester's voice was frail, but it carried across the silent room.

"Tricia... in the sitting room, Domenic said you were his true love. He said he was doing this for you. Is that true?"

It was a lethal question. If Tricia said yes, she was admitting to seducing the President's son and destroying a vital political alliance. If she said no, she was throwing Domenic under the bus.

Tricia looked up. She met the President's cold, dead eyes. She knew instantly that if she claimed Domenic, Christian would have her erased from Washington by morning.

Survival instinct took over.

Tricia shook her head violently. "No! No, it's not true!" she screamed, pointing a shaking finger at Domenic. "I only see him as a friend! He's the one who keeps harassing me! I was too scared to say no to the President's son!"

Domenic froze. The blood drained from his face. He stared at the woman he had just ruined his life for, his mouth hanging open in pure agony.

"Tricia?" Domenic whispered, his voice breaking. "What are you saying? You said you loved me."

"You forced me!" Tricia shrieked, playing the victim with sickening ease.

A wave of disgust washed over the room. Even Christian looked repulsed by the blatant betrayal.

Hester smiled inwardly. Pathetic.

She didn't let up. She took a step closer to Tricia. "If he forced you, then why were you helping him try to make me sign the annulment?"

Tricia choked on her tears. She had no answer. Her eyes darted wildly around the room, looking for an escape. When she found none, she resorted to her ultimate weapon.

"If none of you believe me," Tricia screamed, her voice reaching a hysterical pitch, "then I'll just die to prove my innocence!"

She scrambled to her feet and sprinted headfirst toward the massive, solid marble Roman pillar in the corner of the room.

It was a classic manipulation tactic. Everyone in the room froze, shocked by the sudden escalation. Elba gasped and covered her mouth.

But Hester knew Tricia better than anyone. She knew Tricia was a coward. She knew Tricia would slow down at the last second and fake the impact.

Hester lunged forward.

"No! Don't do it!" Hester screamed, reaching her hands out as if to catch the running girl.

Tricia reached the pillar. Just as Hester predicted, Tricia's feet stuttered, her body bracing to fake the fall.

In that exact fraction of a second, Hester's hands hit the center of Tricia's back.

Hester didn't pull her back. She shoved her forward with a vicious, concentrated burst of force.

The push destroyed Tricia's attempt to slow down.

THUD.

The sound of Tricia's skull impacting the solid marble was sickeningly loud. There was no fake fall. There was no slowing down.

Tricia didn't even scream. Her eyes rolled back into her head, and her body dropped to the floor like a sack of wet cement. She lay completely motionless. A thick stream of dark blood began to pool on the carpet near her hairline.

Staring down at the gruesome, spreading crimson, a sudden, violent wave of nausea hit the back of Hester's throat. Her fingers trembled involuntarily at the sheer brutality of what she had just done. But as she looked at Tricia's face-the face of the woman who had laughed over her broken body in her past life-the nausea evaporated, instantly incinerated by a cold, absolute hatred. This was the cost of war. They owed her a debt of blood, and she was going to collect every single drop.

The room was paralyzed for two seconds.

Hester immediately dropped to her knees beside the unconscious girl. "Doctor! Get the doctor!" Hester cried out, her hands hovering over Tricia in perfect, panicked horror. "She actually hit it!"

Domenic screamed, thrashing wildly against the agent holding him down, but a swift punch to his gut left him gasping for air on the floor.

Christian's face was a mask of absolute fury. "Get this garbage out of my quarters," he barked at the agents. "Take her to the infirmary and keep her out of my sight."

Elba rushed forward, pulling Hester away from the bleeding girl. "Hester, stop. Don't touch her. You tried to save her, that's enough."

Hester buried her face in Elba's shoulder, letting her body shake with "shock."

But if anyone had looked at Hester's face, they would have seen her blue eyes shining with cold, terrifying delight.

The Secret Service dragged Tricia's limp, bleeding body out of the room. The heavy doors clicked shut, leaving only the core members of the Harrison and Stanton families.

President Christian rubbed his temples, exhaustion and irritation radiating from him. He looked down at Domenic, who was curled on the floor, weeping silently from the physical pain and the crushing betrayal of his "true love."

Christian delivered his verdict with the emotionless precision of a butcher.

"You are stripped of all public appearances for the next three months," Christian ordered. "You will be confined to your suite in the East Wing. Half of your campaign budget is gone, and I am replacing your entire senior staff with my own people."

Domenic's head snapped up. "Dad, you can't-"

"Speak again, and I will pull your candidacy entirely," Christian hissed.

Domenic's mouth snapped shut. He slumped back down, completely broken. He was no longer a candidate; he was a prisoner.

Christian turned away from his son and looked at Elba. He smoothed his tie, his face shifting back into the calculating negotiator.

"Elba," Christian said smoothly. "To compensate the Stanton family for this unacceptable distress, I am prepared to offer your brother the two vacant undersecretary positions at the Department of Defense."

Elba's eyes flickered. Two high-level Pentagon appointments. It was a massive concession, one that would cement the Stanton family's grip on the military for a decade.

But she looked at Hester's bruised shoulder and felt sick. "Is my niece's life only worth two desk jobs, Christian?"

Christian sighed. He walked over to Hester, who was still leaning against Elba. He lowered his voice, making it sound incredibly sincere.

"Hester, if you are strong enough to stand by this family and maintain the engagement through the election, I promise you this: you will be the youngest cabinet member in the history of Washington."

Hester kept her head bowed. She let out a soft, shaky breath, playing the role of a girl overwhelmed by the sheer weight of the power being offered to her.

"I... I don't need a cabinet seat, Mr. President," Hester whispered, her voice trembling perfectly. "I just don't want Domenic to hurt me anymore."

Christian smiled. It was a patronizing, victorious smile. He thought he had her completely figured out-a naive, easily bought child.

"He will never touch you again. You have my word," Christian said. He looked at Elba. "The engagement stands. It is what's best for all of us."

Elba looked at her husband's smug face. She hated him in that moment more than she ever had. But she was a Stanton. She knew how to play the long game.

"I expect those appointments finalized by tomorrow," Elba said coldly.

Christian nodded. He signaled the agents to drag Domenic away, and then he swept out of the room with his detail, leaving Elba and Hester alone.

The silence in the room was heavy.

Elba turned to Hester and pulled her into a fierce hug. "I am so sorry, Hester," Elba whispered, her voice breaking. "I should have protected you. I should have ended it."

Hester rested her chin on Elba's shoulder. A single tear rolled down her cheek, but her voice was steady.

"It's okay, Aunt Elba. I know the family needs the Pentagon seats. I can endure this."

Elba squeezed her tighter, swearing to herself that she would burn the world down before she let Domenic near her niece again.

Hester smiled into the fabric of Elba's blouse. She didn't want to break the engagement. If she left the White House now, she would lose her access. She needed to stay right here, in the belly of the beast.

Elba called for the maids, ordering them to draw a hot bath in Hester's guest suite and posting two Secret Service agents at her door.

Hester allowed the maids to guide her toward the exit. She walked slowly, her shoulders slumped in exhaustion.

As she reached the doorway, Hester paused. She looked back at the marble pillar. Tricia's blood was still smeared across the white stone.

Hester's eyes were completely devoid of pity. She turned and walked down the hall, ready for the real war to begin.