That evening, Hobbs Sawyer and Heather returned to Los Angeles. They needed to first legally sever ties with Heather's adoptive parents, then process new identity documents.
Her adoptive parents had participated in the Sawyer family massacre all those years ago. They'd treated her poorly over the years—always quick with fists and insults. Much of the money Heather earned from her jobs had been squandered by them. Still, there was some emotional connection, however small. She didn't plan to press charges against them.
Sever the relationship, and from now on they'd be strangers.
Meanwhile, Bella was busy arranging the lawsuit. Without question, she turned to her go-to attorney, Jeri Hogarth.
When the lawyer heard the case involved the President of the United States, she immediately recognized the seriousness and high profile of the matter. She didn't even ask about fees—she just assembled the top talent from her firm and led the whole group in a grand procession to Dallas.
"Don't worry about me. Just treat me like an ordinary citizen," the President stated at the beginning of their meeting, establishing his position.
Ordinary citizen? Yeah, right!
How many presidents actually went back to being "ordinary citizens" after leaving office?
True, the presidential office was constrained by countless laws and regulations, but the power in his hands remained substantial. Dealing with major capitalists might be difficult, but dealing with a bunch of regular people? That was a complete steamroll.
Forget everything else—just gathering evidence alone, with his authority he could deploy hundreds of agents for the investigation! Access to all kinds of records, no questions asked. Classified? What's that? National security!
The lawyer hadn't even started working yet, and detailed information about the massacre perpetrators was already laid out in front of her.
Don't ask where this stuff came from—just assume some concerned citizens provided the leads.
This case was too easy to win!
After reviewing just a third of the evidence, the lawyer was confident she could make this an ironclad case.
However, Bella couldn't serve as the representative this time. Texas had a genuinely rough frontier spirit, and if they stirred up public outrage, things could get ugly.
Texans might have some reservations about confronting the President directly—even if they were angry, they wouldn't just walk up and shoot him. But Bella, a weak and helpless, seemingly easy-to-bully female author? They wouldn't hold back.
Seven or eight guns aimed at her at once—without exposing her superhuman reflexes, there was no way to dodge.
She made a clean decision: since Heather was still in California handling paperwork with her second uncle, Max could step up instead.
After all, he was lusting after Heather's body. Without taking on some risk, how could he expect to win the beauty?
Max was actually pretty excited about it. Being able to do something for Heather made him happy, and this case might even make him famous nationwide. For a shot at fame, he was all in.
He followed the lawyer around like a tool, running errands every day.
The President controlled things from behind the scenes, quietly maneuvering pieces into place, preparing to sweep up all the perpetrators from the original Sawyer family massacre.
Every few days, the President would spend half a day in Dallas or attend events around Texas.
Government officials traveled on military aircraft, shuttling back and forth between Washington, D.C. and Dallas.
Bella's public identity had nothing whatsoever to do with the White House incident. In most people's eyes, she'd only connected with the President through her friendship with Heather.
At least that's how many people saw it.
Using the President's name as a calling card, she met plenty of people. Didn't matter if it was all superficial—making connections never hurt. You never knew when they'd come in handy.
Along the way, she helped introduce Nathan Ingram—the billionaire she'd met on Oak Street—to the President.
The White House had been devastated. What was the underlying cause? After consultations between the President, his advisors, and various experts, they unanimously agreed: their side had been too passive.
Those rebel forces had shown warning signs early on, but no one paid attention, and no one compiled the information together.
The President and the Pentagon decided to secretly establish a surveillance system that would monitor everyone. Next time, they wouldn't just know if the Vice President and Speaker were planning a coup—they'd even know if the White House cleaning lady was secretly badmouthing the President, including full details and everyone involved.
Using salvaged remains from Rebound, the military had reverse-engineered some technology. The Pentagon had made significant advances in detection and scanning capabilities.
Hardware-wise, they'd already reached their goals. Now they planned to build a preventative mechanism—a super-program to monitor all suspicious targets.
Nathan Ingram hoped to secure White House support so his company could handle the software side of this massive project.
Bella didn't like this project. Not one bit.
She didn't want her Angel Squad constantly monitored by satellites, cameras, and all kinds of random surveillance equipment. Not at all.
But this was the direction things were heading. If she talked Nathan Ingram out of it, someone else would take the project. If she managed to confuse the President, some other official would push it through. She just hoped these people understood what they were doing and knew where the line was.
"Mr. Ingram, are you sure you want to do this? Have you considered the human rights issues America has been talking about for two hundred years?" At the end of their conversation, she asked with complete seriousness.
"I'm not trying to violate human rights—I'm trying to protect people from harm." Nathan Ingram's answer was firm and resolute.
Bella had never met Captain America, but she could feel that same uncompromising conviction in Nathan Ingram. In terms of strength, endurance, and speed, he couldn't compare. But when it came to principles and beliefs, this middle-aged man was no less principled than Captain America—another moral paragon.
"Once people think your product is out of their control, they might..." Bella hinted carefully.
Nathan Ingram showed no fear: "I'll fight them every step of the way. If it comes down to it, I'll destroy the machine before I let it fall into the hands of conspirators."
For someone this idealistic, Bella could only wish him luck.
The lawyer was busy. Heather was busy. Max was busy. The President and Bella were busy. Everyone was busy.
Bumblebee, who'd been brought to Texas, ended up in a semi-forgotten state. Bella dumped him at Heather's estate and basically never thought about him again.
Bella didn't have time to babysit Bumblebee. Besides, Texas was huge and sparsely populated—not many people around. If you've got nothing to do, go explore on your own!
Texans didn't like meddling in other people's business. They only cared about their own freedom.
Plenty of people walked around drunk all the time. Even if they saw a driverless car speeding down the highway, they'd just assume their eyes were playing tricks. Bumblebee, you're a mature Autobot now—go have fun on your own!
During the day, he'd wander around. At night, he'd return to Heather's estate. Bumblebee was happy as could be, like an excited puppy running wild every day.
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Hey everyone, I'm back!
Gotta admit, I really needed a break. Even though I didn't rest all that much, I did get to go out a bit, travel around, and do some shopping. And yeah… I may or may not have spent money every single day—my wallet is definitely crying right now. ;_;
Anyway, jokes aside, taking this break made me realize I need to set aside a little more time for myself outside of work and school. Because of that, I'll be adjusting my upload schedule. New updates will go live at 7:00 AM (New York time), which is 12:00 PM UK and 10:00 PM Australia.
I've also decided to take one day off every week on Sundays to rest and recharge.
As for extra chapters: if you enjoy the story, you can send power stones—every 50 stones unlocks one bonus chapter. If that's not your thing, you can also support me on Patreon (irisbenton). I currently offer 10-day, 20-day, and 30-day early access tiers.
Thanks so much for reading and for all the support—I really appreciate it