Page 86 of The Politician

“I don’t know if my bosses will much like it, but I’ll send them along to you. You realize you can’t use what we have on them, right?”

“I understand that. That is yours, but fucking men at the dungeon is the least of the sins these men need to repent. The women on the hill, too. They all have the stink of mortal sin on them.”

“I smell it every time they show up to Sin Esperanza.”

He met with Agent Hill before the meeting with the scumbags, and Hill listened to his plans. “Blackmail is a crime too, Senator.”

“It’s how things work up there, Agent. Bribery, blackmail, sketchy deals. If you want this to happen, you have to give me immunity from all of it. I mean everything. I’m changing and I will leave my seat when I’m done. I’m not using this for more than to help my country, at long last.”

“Then have at it. I’ll have the immunity agreement set up and ready for you to sign before you leave.”

He stood and reached across the table, shaking the man’s hand. “This is a long road, but it will be worth it, I hope.”

“Senator, if we could fix even a little of the corruption, it will help a lot.”

Everything was set to go, and he’d been planning and busy, so his broken heart didn’t have the chance to make its presence known. That was, until all the dealing was done, the room where he slept was quiet and he felt it all crashing in on him.

Eli’s face floated in his mind. He was constantly there, in the periphery, but that night especially, he was there.

It wasn’t mocking or snide, like Lee thought he deserved. Like the real Eli, the face simply smiled and let him know a calming spirit was there, to gather Lee into loving arms.

But it wasn’t true. Eli was gone. Eli was gone and he was there, alone, like he needed to be. Eli. Lee knew he was so totally in love with the man that he’d give everything up to be with him. He couldn’t, however, and ever look Eli in the eye. When he had a chance to fix some things and didn’t, that would always be between them.

“I do love you. I wish I’d had the balls to tell you that, Eli,” he whispered in the dark room, feeling the tears coming and he let them. Eli deserved his tears.