The Rebel King (All the King's Men Duet #2) - Kennedy Ryan Page 0,87
you won.”
“It’s a lot to give up.” He bends a little until we’re eye to eye. “But what if those crazy kids who dreamed in a tulip field all those years ago about changing the world, about making it a better place, actually get to do it together?”
I draw a deep breath, not even allowing myself to think about the good we could do if this improbable thing actually happened. “Mr. Cade, that would be what we call,” I say, tipping up on my toes to kiss him lightly, too, “a dream come true.”
39
Lennix
Maxim announces his candidacy from Colorado, the state he technically lists as his home and where he’s voted the last few years. I think I’m more nervous than he is. In the living room of his home, someone is putting powder on him to reduce shine, and he’s laughing while the cameras and lighting kit are being set up.
“Did we change that last line?” I ask Glenn, who has rejoined the campaign as a speechwriter.
“Yup,” Glenn says. “But he probably changed a lot more than that line after we left.”
“Why do you say that?” I ask, already in mild panic mode.
“He strikes me as a guy who goes off map a lot. It won’t be the first or the last time, I’m sure. He’s not his brother.”
“Um, cardinal rule, Glenn.”
Our team established a cardinal rule not to draw comparisons between Owen and Maxim, and to discourage the press from doing so, too. There will be those who say this is an opportunistic move by Maxim when it’s really a huge sacrifice in so many ways. Financially and personally.
The producer counts us in, and when the camera’s red light pops on, it zeroes in on Maxim.
“I’m here to formally announce my candidacy for president of the United States of America,” Maxim says. “No one is more shocked to hear me say this than, well, me.”
“Was this in the speech?” I ask Glenn, flipping through my printed copy of Maxim’s talking points. “I don’t remember this beginning.”
“Told you so,” he says dryly. “I don’t know if he’s even looking at the teleprompter.”
“Many of you first met me when my brother Owen was running for president.”
We said we wouldn’t go straight to Owen. Sigh.
Maxim chuckles. “You think your big brother’s a pain in the butt? Try growing up with the guy who knows from the time he’s like five years old that he’ll be the president one day. Whole other level of bossy.”
Kimba walks up beside me. “I know you’re losing your shit over here, but he’s doing great. Let him be.”
“Why is he not using the speech we spent hours on?”
“Great leaders have a great gut. Trust his, okay?”
I release a long breath and nod reluctantly.
“I never aspired to be president,” Maxim says, his smile fading. “I wanted to change the world, and most of the politicians I saw weren’t doing that. They were taking care of themselves. As most of you know, I’m a wealthy man. I was born into it. I didn’t ask for it, but I have it. That’s privilege. I’ve leveraged it in my personal life to help those who don’t have. Now I want to do that on behalf of those in this country struggling. I’m an unapologetic capitalist. I believe in choices and hard work. That’s why I’m running not as a Democrat or as a Republican, but as an independent.”
He angles a wry look into the camera, a lock of dark hair falling forward and probably winning him some votes. “This is the part where you write me off, right? Because no independent has ever won a presidential election. This is also the part where you’d be wrong. I don’t plan to be a footnote or a novelty in this campaign. I plan to be a force in it, always redirecting to the issues when we get distracted by tabloids, shaping dialogue around the needs of everyday Americans even if you have trouble seeing me as one.”
He leans forward, elbows on his knees, as I’ve seen him do a thousand times when he wants to drive home a point. “Maybe you’re concerned because I’ve never governed. I understand the intricacies of government, and I’ve run a billion-dollar company. I know how to make money, which is something a country like ours, in trillions—yes, with a T—trillions of dollars in debt, could use, but I also don’t believe people should be sacrificed for the dollar.”