Total pages in book: 133
Estimated words: 122440 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 612(@200wpm)___ 490(@250wpm)___ 408(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 122440 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 612(@200wpm)___ 490(@250wpm)___ 408(@300wpm)
“It’s very possible the senator and my mother will show up in person and cause drama like you’ve never seen. A huge fight is brewing.” She shrugged. “It’s been ongoing, but so far only my mother has been involved. Once the senator decides to step in, he won’t ask for what he wants, he’s going to make demands. He has always expected to be obeyed, and when I refuse his request, he won’t take it well.”
Stella had nightmares about serial killers. Shabina had them about her kidnapping. Harlow had no idea what the other women had to endure at night because each had their own demons. The senator was Harlow’s personal nightmare. She feared his retaliation when she refused to do as he wished. He was a very vindictive man who hid that side of himself from the public with his natural, easy charm.
“What would he do to you?” Vienna voiced out loud. “What could he do? You’re a grown-up. You don’t depend on him for money. What does he think he can do to you that would force you to comply with his demands?”
“If we were alone, he would think nothing of hitting me. But that would be immediate retaliation, not his long-term plan. He would try to ruin my name at the galleries displaying my work. He would also start a smear campaign on social media. It isn’t that difficult to hire people to feed negative articles onto the web about someone. You see it all the time. One person is portrayed as a saint; another is portrayed as a villain. That’s very common practice in the world of politics and celebrity. The smear campaign often works, persuading the public against individuals.”
“Raine showed me how it worked one time,” Stella said. “She pointed out all the articles against a woman, making her into the villain in a high-profile divorce, and all the sympathetic articles showing the poor male. For every good one of him, there was a bad one written up about her. Then she uncovered the actual facts proving all the terrible things he’d done to her and his children. That went by the wayside. The public forgot all of that and began to make false accusations against her along with the news articles.”
“It isn’t that difficult anymore to manipulate social media,” Harlow said. “And my father is very, very good at it.”
“He hasn’t been able to get out from under the charges made against him,” Zahra pointed out.
“They aren’t official,” Harlow said. “He’s under investigation as their number one suspect, but he hasn’t been charged formally.”
“If they never charge him?” Shabina questioned.
“He’ll go right back to building his image and carrying on with his dirty deeds because he got away with it,” Harlow declared. “And then he’ll make a run for the White House and probably win.”
Chapter Eight
Harlow sat in her swing chair, rocking back and forth and looking up at the stars. It was a beautiful night. Peaceful. Deceiving. To get any semblance of serenity, she would have to block her mother from calling her. It wasn’t an easy decision. It was important to know what her father was planning. But her mother had called ten times in a row. She didn’t leave messages, she just rang and rang and rang until Harlow wanted to scream.
The more often her mother called, the more the tension in her grew. Her stomach churned and her temples throbbed. She needed a clear head so she could think, so no wine or alcohol, even though she would have liked to dull her senses a bit. It was just that her mother wouldn’t be calling the way she was if her father hadn’t commanded it. That meant the senator was planning something that involved her.
She’d known her father would eventually make his move. It had only been a matter of time. She wasn’t ignorant; she’d kept abreast of the situation, reading everything written on the disappearance of the young girl last seen in the senator’s company. The girl had made complaints against him despite the threats of being deported. Her father, Alan Dunstin, was American; her mother, Este, Mexican. Her mother worked for the Fryes as a housekeeper. Her sixteen-year-old daughter, Oliva, would come with her to work during the summers, weekends and holidays. If Harlow’s parents were entertaining, she helped.
There was an outcry of protest from many of the senator’s constituents, most saying he had watched the missing girl grow up and would have been her protector, just as he had been Harlow’s protector. Many were angry with Harlow for not coming forward to defend her father. She’d received many reprimanding or threatening letters from his loyal voters. Many of the women throughout the state had formed groups to support him. They held their protests and prayer circles in front of cameras, scolding Harlow, looking straight into the lens to inform the world she was a disloyal and terrible daughter. Her name was dragged through the mud.