The Candidate ✓ (Book Two)

Chapter Fourteen

  "Insomnia."

  She raises an eyebrow as if to say "same." My eyes fall over a portrait of Joseph he had painted. He apparently asked the artist to leave his scars in, from the looks of it. Looking at it, it serves as a factual reminder of just how disgusting his father was. His own son. He has his own son tortured. That- I'll never forget. The amount of guts Joseph had to stand in front of reporters and allow them to take pictures at his first press conference is.. wow. Just wow. He did it so the world could see just how fucked up his dad truly was. The world had an idea before- but didn't know the true extent. That- and he also just wanted to shut Meg Haines up. I'm honestly surprised that bitch hasn't followed us here.

  I have to admire her work in a field that was predominantly male until about forty years ago. She worked her ass of to get where she is today, which I can respect- but she's also overstepped boundaries plenty of times for a story. The whole breaking into Kyle's old house thing sticks out in my mind, even though that story is as good as dead now, with the amount of money we paid her. It better be. She's a strong ass woman- that's for sure. As the top rating reporter in the world, she's done extremely well financially- and I can also admire that she donates fifty to sixty percent of her income every year. She's equally bitchy to everybody, but there's one thing I'll never be able to get over.

  She developed a relationship with the French president last year, had him wrapped around her finger and everything. He was really in love with her.

  But of course, she was just using him for insider information. As soon as she got what she wanted out of him, she left and spilled all of his secrets on national television. He wasn't okay for weeks after that. He tried to kill himself, for fucks sake- and the French version of the 25th amendment was invoked. He did end up finding somebody he could trust a few months later- and slowly, he let his guard down again.

  Similar to Kyle and I- or to Joseph and Ali.

  —-Joseph's P.O.V, 6 years ago—

I stand in front of the glass shower wall now, looking at my expression. "Am I really going to do this?" I think to myself. We haven't officially been together for very long- only eleven months, as of yesterday. We fooled around a bit in that month between the first time he kissed me and me asking him out, but I was just so busy with the whole jumpstart going a democracy thing- and still am most days. I've learned now, though - how to better balance my relationship with him and the being the youngest world leader in recent history thing.

Part of it is just accepting that I'll only see him an hour or maybe two on a good day- excluding when we're both sleeping. He also still has seven children, the youngest being just four months old- whose mother died, so it's safe to say he doesn't get much sleep at all nowadays. Today is special though. The other six'll be with their mothers all day, and one of the attendees is watching the baby. I want this to be memorable- so that every time he looks back on today, he remembers just how much I love him.

He hasn't been shown nearly enough in his life how much he matters. He's been depressed most of his life- even suicidal at some points when he couldn't see a way out. It almost makes me suicidal that there was absolutely nothing I could've done to help his situation until just eleven months months ago. Of course- as soon as I got the chance, I did. Now- as far as the world knows, slavery is officially a thing of the past. There's still a chance that some countries are hiding it- but god I hope not. It's 2024- we can't still be stuck in the 1800s.

My hands are shaking. The small, red box in it contains the object that I'll give to him in just a few hours. It's the nicest, most expensive- and only ring I've ever bought. It rests on a chain so he can keep it close to his heart- I still fear for his safety if he were to wear it on his finger. The country as a whole has progressed at an insane rate- yet there are still some extremist lingering behind that followed my fathers words closely. An attempt has not been made on my life- but I can feel it coming. I don't know when- I don't know how, so for now- my security is taking extreme precautions to make sure I don't - ya know, die.