Page 130 of State of the Union (First Family 3)

Sam stepped out of the office. “Shut up.”

The blonde woman recoiled as if no one had ever spoken to her like that before.

“I thought we’d reached an understanding the last time you were our guest in the city jail.”

“I didn’t do anything! These officers should be arrested for how they treated me—and my grandmother.”

“Jaycee, you threw a brick through Detective Green’s window last night, and we can prove that. Your fingerprints are all over it. So quit with the woe-is-me nonsense.”

“You can’t prove it was me.”

Sam glanced at Freddie, who seemed as annoyed as Sam felt. “We can prove it was you, and you’re being charged with malicious mischief and violating a protective order. If you keep it up, we’ll add threatening the lives of two police officers to the charges, which is a much bigger deal. Do you know what a felony is, Jaycee?” Sam purposely spoke slowly, the way you would to a child or a dimwit. She wasn’t sure which word best described Jaycee.

“Yes, I know what that is,” she said through clenched teeth.

“You’re this close to being charged with two of them.” Sam held her fingers together. “Do you know what kind of time you’ll do if you’re convicted on felony assault charges? It could be as much as a decade, possibly longer because you certainly won’t get time off for good behavior. So I’d suggest that you shut the fuck up before we add to the charges. You got me?”

“I didn’t do anything.”

“So you say. Cruz, put her in interview one.”

He gave her a questioning look.

Sam used her chin to tell him to do it.

“Cameron, do what you can. Freddie will go in with you.”

“Thank you, Lieutenant.”

Sam ducked into the observation room, eager to see how Cameron would handle this ridiculous situation. She felt for him. He was one of the most professional officers she’d ever worked with and knew how upset he had to be that his ex-girlfriend was causing trouble for everyone.

Malone came in and closed the door. “What’s the plan?”

“Cam is going to try to convince her to knock this shit off. If I don’t like what she says, I’ll ask the USA to up the charges to felony assault of police officers.”

When Cameron stepped into the interrogation room, Jaycee visibly brightened, shifting out of the slump she’d fallen into, her gaze taking him in hungrily, so hungrily that Sam immediately feared that nothing he could say would persuade her to leave him alone.

“What’s it going to take?” Cameron asked Jaycee, hands on his hips and annoyance in his tone. “What do I have to do to get you to leave me alone?”

“You don’t mean that! You said you loved me, and I believed you!”

“I did love you. I don’t anymore, and if you think slashing my tires, insulting my new girlfriend or throwing a brick through my window is going to ‘bring me around,’ you’re insane.”

Her eyes flashed with outrage. “I am not insane. You made promises to me.”

“No, I didn’t. I never promised you anything but a good time, and you know that. We never talked about marriage or anything beyond basic dating.”

“Were you banging her at the same time you were doing me?”

“What? No, I wasn’t banging anyone else, and you know that, too.”

“One minute, you were with me, and the next, you were gone. It’s because of her, right? That…”

“Don’t say another word about her,” Cameron said. “This has nothing to do with her and everything to do with us and what wasn’t working for me.”

“What wasn’t working for you? What changed?”

“I don’t know, Jaycee, but it was a realization, over time, that we’d run out of steam.”