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Chapter ONE

I flexed ht, trying to ignore the rapid-fire clicking of the ca off all around etting close to five—but I earing a knee-length tweed skirt and a white button-down shirt My hair had been blown out and curled, and I earing pearl earrings and a light application of makeup It was not the way I would normally have looked on a Wednesday afternoon in early June, but this was anything but an ordinary Wednesday

“Thank you all sotoday,” my father said from behind the podium that was currently in the middle of our front porch He shuffled his papers for a second before taking a deep breath and going into his prepared speech, the one I no by heart, since Peter Wright, his chief of staff and ist, had made me listen to it over and over until I could do so with absolutely no change in my expression, like all of this was old news towould catch me by surprise

For a moment, as the now-familiar words started to wash over me, I just blinked at the podium Where exactly had it come from? Did Peter travel around with spare ones in the back of his SUV?

“regret that the people of Connecticut ht have lost any of their trust inain, hoping that hter standing by her father If it had, this story, which was already do the twenty-four-hour news channels and had spilled onto the networks, would just keep getting bigger

It wasn’t like I didn’t understand why A proressht up in a scandal that threatens to upend not only his career but the next national election—the headlines practically wrote themselves If it had been soe and shrugged, figuring it was to be expected But now that it was happening here—my front yard, one

My eyes drifted to the wall of reporters and photographers in front of me, the news cameras pointed toward us, the relentless sound of shutters clicking, all of it lettingcaptured The press knehen there was blood in the water It was evident enough by the fact that our front laas now packed and news trucks lined the block They’d been here ever since the story broke, but until a few hours ago, they’d been kept frouard at the entrance to Stanwich Woods, the planned community we lived in in Stanwich, Connecticut Since norwas not thrilled that they now had to fend off national media teams

er ONE

I flexed ht, trying to ignore the rapid-fire clicking of the ca off all around etting close to five—but I earing a knee-length tweed skirt and a white button-down shirt My hair had been blown out and curled, and I earing pearl earrings and a light application of makeup It was not the way I would normally have looked on a Wednesday afternoon in early June, but this was anything but an ordinary Wednesday

“Thank you all sotoday,” my father said from behind the podium that was currently in the middle of our front porch He shuffled his papers for a second before taking a deep breath and going into his prepared speech, the one I no by heart, since Peter Wright, his chief of staff and ist, had made me listen to it over and over until I could do so with absolutely no change in my expression, like all of this was old news towould catch me by surprise

For a moment, as the now-familiar words started to wash over me, I just blinked at the podium Where exactly had it come from? Did Peter travel around with spare ones in the back of his SUV?

“regret that the people of Connecticut ht have lost any of their trust inain, hoping that hter standing by her father If it had, this story, which was already do the twenty-four-hour news channels and had spilled onto the networks, would just keep getting bigger

It wasn’t like I didn’t understand why A proressht up in a scandal that threatens to upend not only his career but the next national election—the headlines practically wrote themselves If it had been soe and shrugged, figuring it was to be expected But now that it was happening here—my front yard, one

My eyes drifted to the wall of reporters and photographers in front of me, the news cameras pointed toward us, the relentless sound of shutters clicking, all of it lettingcaptured The press knehen there was blood in the water It was evident enough by the fact that our front laas now packed and news trucks lined the block They’d been here ever since the story broke, but until a few hours ago, they’d been kept frouard at the entrance to Stanwich Woods, the planned community we lived in in Stanwich, Connecticut Since norwas not thrilled that they now had to fend off national media teams