Page 89 of The Last Love Story

It does, and I give a curt nod. I was no older than five, so the memory is fuzzy.

“You came home crying. Your parents were at work. You walked over to our house. Nina got you a Popsicle. Do you remember what I told you?”

I blink through tears as the memory plays in the back of my mind. It hurts to remember now. “You told me I was strong and capable. That I had the whole world ahead of me, and people like Evan wouldn’t get far. You told me,” I swallow hard, taking a beat so I won’t cry. “You told me I could be anything I wanted to be.”

We both look straight ahead, and President Graves nods.

Then he leans closer to me. “Now, you’re going to be what I tell you to be. You made yourself a hero by saving my son? Now you’remyhero. You’re going to forget that boy down there and how you feel about him. Because I know you feel something for him. You’re going to marry Callum, you’re going to smile when I say. Or I will do what I should have done years ago. Understand?”

I don’t move. I don’t know what to say. Everything has fallen apart.

Callum appears behind me then, a hand light on my spine. When I turn to stare, he captures my hand and kisses me as he always does: over the ring he gave me. Reassuring himself that I belong to him. Suddenly, it makes my skin crawl. “Father,” he says, without taking his eyes off me, “we’re almost ready.”

I can’t breathe. I don’t know what Hux and Callum talked about, but Callum seems different. I want to meet his eyes, but he won’t meet mine.

President Graves nods, stepping up and to the middle. Callum stands opposite me. “Alba is tallying the ballots. But it’s just a formality. When the curtains open, you’ll be...”

Dictator for life, I almost whisper.

“Yes,” President Graves jokes, as if intentionally misreading my expression. “It’s very theatrical, isn’t it.”

Outside the curtain, the voices seem to ebb. The lights hum.

“But real quick, Dad,” Callum starts.Dad. He never calls him dad. Callum hasn’t said that since Graves became president. “Why did you try to have Ripley and me killed in the motorcade explosion? Didn’t have the balls to do it yourself?”

I whip my head to Callum.What?I clutch at his chest to stay upright.

President Graves rounds on Callum, his eyes wide, and rips me from him, so there’s nothing between him and hisson. “Is that what that traitor told you?” He laughs hollowly. “You’re believing a terrorist?”

Callum slips his pocket tablet out and thrusts the display under his father’s nose. “No. I’m not believing anyone but myself. Turns out, that security breach that exposed Hux as a Mach also exposed... you.” Callum’s tone is icy, his shoulders back. I’ve never seen this version of him.

This is what Hux was working on. He may have exposed all of the Machs, he may have lost all their servers. But he erased all the footage of me, and he found the one piece of evidence we needed. Hux may have set the bomb, but the president detonated it.

Callum’s dad.

His own dad tried to kill him. And me.

President Graves is still for half a second before stepping forward, reaching out, and snatching the golden button from Callum’s shirt—the camera that he always wears. He grinds it under his heel as he steps forward. His shocked façade falls away as his composure melts.

He’s pure rage, and little else.

“You want to know why I tried to kill you and this little bitch?” He points to me, and I don’t even flinch. Instead, I stay very still.

“I’ll tell you why. You want to save the world? There’s no world to save. Not anymore. There’s no turning this ship around, you pathetic child. It has sailed. And we only have room for the people at the top. We will tell these people whatto think. How to live. And they’ll thank us for it because they aresheep.” He steps closer to Callum, who, despite his best efforts, does look a little rattled at the sight of his father unhinging right before his eyes.

“And that includes you, you ungrateful little shit. I saved you.You too,” Graves hisses, pointing at me. “But you think you’re too good for it. Just like your parents. Just like every other idiotic citizen in this country of fat, stupid, lazy, worthless creatures.”

President Graves stands back, breathing hard through clenched teeth. “I could have made you a princess, Ripley. And instead you decided to actuallycareabout them. And that’s when I knew you both had to be eliminated.”

Callum tries to stop his chin from trembling, but it does. For a second, just half a second, I feel sorry for him. He was the boy who loved his father. I just watched his heart break in real time.

“I can’t believe I thought you’d be a good leader,” Callum whispers.

President Graves makes a fake sad face. “And what are you going to do about it? I know you’re a little freak who loves to record everything.” He shows the crushed golden fragments on the ground. “You got nothing.”

“Hm. I wouldn’t say nothing.” A sly voice cuts through the theater.

And there, stage left, is Hux.