In the background, Sam heard Andy say, “Put the call through, Janice.”
“Sorry,” Janice said.
Sam held back laughter. “Thank you for your support, Janice.”
“Please hold for Mr. Simone.”
“Sorry about that, Sam,” Andy said when he came on the line. “She’s got a bad case of starstruck-itis.”
“It’s going around lately. Believe it or not, that very thing happens several times a day.”
“I believe it,” Andy said. “How’re things at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue?”
“Not bad, all things considering. The butlers make for easy living, and the kids love the extras, like the pool and the movie theater.”
“I’m glad you’re settling in. If you’re calling about the custody situation, I’m still waiting to hear back from the grandparents’ attorney. I sent him the documentation proving Elijah is the guardian his parents appointed. I suspect they’re trying to find a way around that, but there isn’t one.”
“Well, that’s a relief.”
“It’s not over yet, but I feel good about where we are.”
“I’m very glad to hear that, but that wasn’t the reason for my call. I wanted to tell you I’ve figured out who leaked the photos of Nick at the twins’ birthday party, and we’re interested in suing him for the breach of the NDA. We feel like we need to send a message to people on the periphery of our lives that we’ll stridently protect our privacy in this crazy new situation we’re in.”
“I’ve already got something drafted because I figured you’d find out who it was. I’ll take care of that for you today. What kind of damages are you thinking?”
“The guy is loaded, so we want to make it hurt.”
“So, a million?”
“That’d work.”
“It’ll cost him a bundle to defend against the suit, too.”
“Good. I want it to really hurt.”
“Oh, it will. Not to mention the publicity it’ll generate. What do you have in the way of proof?”
“Apparently, it’s somewhat common knowledge among the parents that he was the one who did it, and I’ve got a friend in IT working on connecting the leak to his IP address.”
“If we have that, we won’t need the parents.”
“Good, because I don’t think they’d want to be involved.”
Sam gave him the man’s name and address. “His son Sebastian is in school with the twins.”
“How do you feel about a potential suit causing trouble for the kids at school?”
“You think that’d happen in kindergarten?”
“I think it’s possible at all ages.”
“Huh, well, Nick and I feel strongly that we need to send this message so we won’t be dealing with this crap the whole time he’s in office. We can explain to the kids what’s happening so they’re prepared if Sebastian says anything.”
“All right, sounds good. Send me a copy of the NDA he signed and the IT evidence when you have it.”
“Will do. Thanks for taking care of all this crap for us, Andy.”
“Are you kidding? Having you guys as clients is great for business, not to mention my ego.”
Sam laughed. “Glad to help boost both those things.”
“Elsa is so excited about the Christmas Eve party, I think she may spontaneously combust.”
“We’re looking forward to it.”
“I call the Lincoln Bedroom.”
“Nick suggested we do some sort of game to determine who gets that room.”
“That’d be fun—and funny.”
“We figure we need to enjoy the hell out of the place if we’re required to live there.”
“I couldn’t agree more. Will be in touch on all things.”
“Thanks, Andy.”
Sam felt better knowing they were doing something to deal with the egregious violation of their privacy from the twins’ birthday party. The opposition media was still going on about Nick having the time to attend a party while the secretary of State was being detained in Iran. He’d taken an hour to run home to see the kids between meetings, but no one wanted to hear that. Apparently, he was expected to work twenty-four hours a day while president or else.
Before he’d become president, they’d had a couple of “close calls,” with the Nelson administration twice engulfed in scandals serious enough that Nick was put on notice that he needed to be ready should the president be forced to resign. The endless scrutiny was the part Sam had feared the most, and it had started almost right away with the media and Nick’s detractors picking apart everything he said and did.
Firing the secretary of State had caused another uproar, especially when the sacked secretary went on TV to vent his outrage at the “young, inexperienced” president who’d shown him the door after getting more information about what’d really happened in Iran. Nick needed to be surrounded by people he could trust, and he no longer trusted Martin Ruskin after the incident in Iran.
Over the last few weeks, Sam had done her best to stay sort of “sealed off” from the drama that surrounded the presidency and the White House, but she wanted to be there to support Nick, so she had to stay somewhat plugged in. She walked a fine line between needing to know and not wanting to know who was coming for him now.
Her anxiety had been a challenge lately, but she did her best to keep that hidden from him because he had enough of his own anxiety to deal with. He didn’t need hers, too, especially when he struggled so horribly with insomnia.
While stopped at a red light, she gave Nick a call to update him on what Andy had had to say about the lawsuit—and the custody battle—and was preparing her message when he surprised her by picking up again.
“What’s up?”
Sam filled him in on the latest from Andy on the custody situation and told him what they’d decided about the lawsuit. “The first couple suing someone for a million dollars is going to make the news.”
“Yes, I suppose it will, but isn’t that the point?”
“Before we do anything more, run it by your people to make sure we aren’t causing more trouble than we’re solving with this.”
“I will, but I’m determined to send a message to this guy and anyone else who’d stab us in the back in our own home.”
“You know I agree, but I’m not the one who’s going to have to fend off the media attention when the word gets out. You need to be prepared for that.”
“I’m meeting with Terry, Christina and Trevor in a few minutes,” he said of his top aides. “I’ll run it by them.”
“Sounds good. And I’m hoping the grandparents can’t find a way around Cleo and Jameson’s airtight guardianship provision for Elijah.”
“There is no way around it. The parents have spoken and so has the guardian.”
Sam wished she could be so certain. “I guess we’ll see.”
“Try not to worry. We’ve got the advantage in this situation, and they know it.”
“What? Me worry?” She pulled into the lot at HQ, which was surrounded by media trucks these days. “HQ is overrun with news trucks. Do they think I’m suddenly going to get chatty about you and your administration?”