The Deleted President

The rain came in waves, soft and steady, drumming against the windows of the beach house in Belize. It was the kind of rain that blurred the edges of the world, turning the ocean into a silver expanse that stretched endlessly into the horizon.

Jessica sat at the kitchen table, the hum of the ceiling fan filling the silence. Olivia was across from her, laptop open, fingers tapping against the keys in an impatient rhythm.

Leanna stood by the counter, arms crossed, her expression skeptical.

“You’re serious?” she asked finally, voice edged with disbelief.

Olivia didn’t look up. “I wouldn’t be wasting my time if I wasn’t.”

Jessica exhaled, rubbing her temple. “You’re saying the President of the United States…” She paused briefly as if considering the implications of her words, “President is compromised?”

“I’m saying something is wrong with him.” Olivia’s voice was measured, but there was an intensity beneath it. “The way he speaks, the phrasing. It's like he’s reading from a script. And then there’s the shift in policy.” She turned her laptop around, showing the news article. “Russia. NATO. You don’t find this odd?”

Jessica skimmed the headline but said nothing.

Leanna shook her head. “It’s politics. Leaders change their minds all the time.”

“Not like this.” Olivia’s jaw tightened. “I’ve been covering politicians for years. This isn’t strategy, this is a rewrite.”

Jessica leaned back in her chair. The idea was insane. It should be insane. But Olivia wasn’t an alarmist. She didn’t jump at shadows. And that was what unsettled her the most.

---

Later that night, Jessica found Sam on the porch, watching the rain with a glass of whiskey in hand. He looked at home in the quiet, his presence as steady as the tide.

She stepped beside him, taking a slow breath. “Do you ever think about it?”

Sam glanced at her. “Think about what?”

“This. The game. The lies.” She gestured vaguely toward the darkened sky. “Everything.”

Sam took a sip, considering. “It’s the only game in town.”

Jessica smirked, but there was no humor in it. “You ever want to quit?”

He turned his gaze back to the water. “Every damn day.”

She studied his profile. Tracing the lines of his face, the calm in his eyes. He made it look easy, holding onto his own sense of self. Maybe that was why she kept coming back to him.

“Olivia thinks something’s wrong with the President.”

Sam didn’t react immediately. He swirled the whiskey in his glass, the ice shifting. “And what do you think?”

Jessica exhaled. “I don’t know.”

Sam nodded as if he expected that answer. “Let me tell you something about power, Jess. It doesn’t move in straight lines. People in control don’t wake up one morning and decide to change the world.” He took another sip. “They’re moved. Pushed. Quietly, piece by piece. Most of the time, they don’t even notice it happening.”

Jessica frowned. “You think Olivia’s onto something?”

“I think Olivia sees things other people don’t.” He tilted his glass toward her. “And I think you’re trying not to.”

She didn’t answer. The rain fell in sheets now, thick and steady, drowning out everything else. Jessica knew what Sam was really asking. What are you afraid of? And she didn’t have an answer for that, either.

---

By morning, Olivia was still at her laptop, bleary-eyed but wired.

Jessica poured herself a cup of coffee, leaning against the counter. “You’re really not letting this go, are you?”

Olivia looked up. “If I did, I wouldn’t be me.”

Jessica exhaled. “Alright. Let’s assume you’re right. What’s the next step?”

Leanna shot her a look. “You believe this now?”

Jessica shook her head. “I believe something’s wrong. But I don’t know what.”

Olivia sat back. “Then we find out.”

Jessica stared at her coffee, feeling the weight of the moment settle over her. They were standing at the edge of something vast and unknowable. And once they stepped in, there would be no turning back.