Rachel Steele Gavin ^new^ Link

Sometimes, the only way to beat a monster was to become the thing they’d never see coming: a man with nothing left to lose.

“No,” Rachel said, turning to walk away into the gray morning. “I’m a survivor. There’s a difference.” rachel steele gavin

Gavin was the problem. Gavin Cross—her former protégé, now a junior senator with the charisma of a revival preacher and the ethics of a hungry shark. Six months ago, she had helped him bury a story about a shadowy real estate deal tied to foreign donors. It wasn’t illegal, exactly, but it was the kind of gray-area mess that ended careers. She’d cleaned it up, burned the emails (or so she thought), and moved on. Sometimes, the only way to beat a monster

“Loyalty?” Gavin’s voice cracked. “You threatened to release them if I didn’t kill the offshore energy bill. I saw the memo, Rachel. Your fingerprints are all over it.” There’s a difference

She met him at dawn in a deserted corner of the National Mall, the Lincoln Memorial looming like a stone ghost. Gavin arrived in a dark overcoat, his boyish face hardened by sleepless ambition.

“I had to,” he replied, hands in his pockets. “You think I wanted to find out you kept a backup of those emails? That you’ve been using them as insurance all along?”

“Then I release the emails myself—but edited to show you as the mastermind. You’ll be facing ethics charges, a criminal probe, and a primary challenger by Friday. Your career won’t just end. It’ll be erased.”