‘And that’s something he used to say? When you were growing up?’

‘Always. Every lesson I ever learned. Every decision I ever made. If I asked him, it’s what he would tell me. You always do your duty and you always do what’s right. It was a message. I am one hundred per cent sure of that. A message meant only for me.’

‘And if those two things conflict? How do you know he didn’t say it to convince you to carry out his actual order?’

‘You don’t understand. That was the lesson. Your duty is to do what’s right. Whatever the order might be. It’s what’s right that matters. He was telling me to ignore the orders. He was telling me to save you.’

Dempsey didn’t answer. Instead he took a long step back and, using his one good arm, he lowered himself into his seat. He seemed shell-shocked by what he’d just been told. Grace could understand why; after being so certain of the president’s guilt, he could not understand why the man would apparently save his life.

It only made sense if Grace was right. If somehow John Knowles was not behind the deaths and the attacks that had occurred. But if he was not, then who was? And why? And what sort of hold did they have over the president?

Questions Grace had asked herself. So far she had no answer.

‘I don’t understand this, Eden.’ Dempsey spoke after less than a minute of silence. ‘Knowles has been in your life ever since your father died?’

‘Since before, even. When he was Dad’s SO.’

‘Then how did no one know about this? How did the Secret Service not know? They would never have let you become part of the White House detail if they’d known about your prior relationship.’

‘I know that. That’s why I kept it quiet. That’s why I kept everything quiet. Shit, Dempsey, my kind-of-adopted dad was one of the most famous politicians in the country. And then he became president. I could have walked into any boardroom or university or whatever the hell I wanted to, but I wasn’t raised that way. Not by my parents and not by John Knowles. I didn’t want to get anywhere on nepotism or tokenism. I wanted my achievements to be my achievements.

‘But when I set my sights on presidential protection, it was more important to hide that connection. I wanted to succeed on my own terms. Same reason I didn’t want them knowing my father was a war hero, and since I’d always had my mom’s surname I didn’t have to. I got here all on my own, Dempsey. And thank God I did, or neither of us would be sitting here now, would we?’

‘What about your birth certificate?’ he asked. ‘The Service would have seen your father’s name on there.’

‘They would have, if it was there. But my dad was a paranoid man. Thought his time in the SEALs was going to come back and bite him at some point. That someone might come looking. That’s why him and Mom never married. And it’s why he kept himself off of my birth certificate. To keep us both safe.’