Madam President (EDITING)

Chapter 36: Distance

"So where's your partner in crime today?"

She looks down apprehensive to speak.

"It's ok she's not in trouble or anything", I assure her.

"She has some family stuff going on. I think she'll be back tomorrow."

Family stuff? I thought maybe she was just too hungover to come in. "Well I hope everything is ok", I say with a smile.

"Me too", she says pursing her lips.

I go back to my office and pull out my phone. I see a text from Greg which I immediately close. Instead I search Rachel's name on Instagram. I click on her profile and I see that her latest series of post are quotes about family betrayal. One quote reads "Family is supposed to be our safe haven. Very often, it's the place where we find the deepest heartache."

A knock on the door startles me, making me put my phone down from my senseless snooping. 

"Senator, you wanted to see me?"

"Hi Nina, take a seat."

She sits down with her pen and her notebook open as if I'm going to assign her a task. She has been overzealous in her efforts to gain approval from me, but this time she took a little too far.

"I'll admit, it was pretty clever of you. Tell me what was your goal?", I say staring directly into her eyes.

"Pardon me", she says like she's oblivious.

I slide screenshots of tweets in front of her. "You were behind this account."

I see the panic set in her eyes."I'm not sure what you're talking about Senator."

I chuckle, this is the route she wants to go. "It's already been linked to your IP address. No point in playing naive now is there?"

She swallows and still tries to keep her head held high, "I'm sorry I didn't mean to say those things. I was actually doing you a favor."

I furrow my eyebrow. I knew Nina was annoying, but I didn't know she was also insane."And how exactly did you do me a favor by bashing me and my office online?"

"Any press is good press", she says in a patronizing tone. "It was also an opportunity to finally get rid of Rachel. You said she had one more chance, I was just speeding up the inevitable. Let's be honest senator she's a headache for both of us."

I bite my tongue before I say something I shouldn't, "You're fired."

"Why should I be fired for being competitive? I want that permanent position and Rachel is the one in my way."

"Nina do you hear yourself right now?You should be grateful that I'm only firing you."

"Rachel has done far worse and nothing ever happens. All three of us work so hard, yet she gets rewarded for everything", Nina whines out like a pubescent child.

"You're not Rachel."

She folds her arm."Everyone else may not see it, but it's obvious she gets special treatment."

I'm usually all for proving my point, but I have let Rachel get away with a lot. What would that say about me if I treated my employees differently?

I sigh, "I''ll give you the same deal I gave Rachel. You'll receive a write up, and if I get word you've done anything else, or if you so as breathe in Rachel's direction you're gone."