She's The One Who Made A Declaration Of War

Isabelle

Sterling and I walked into his father's office together. He had finally returned this afternoon and requested to see us both. From what Sterling had said this wasn't a matter about business. No, this was about our meeting with Elise while he was away.

Damon was standing at one of the windows in his office as he waited for us. Once we entered inside he turned around to give us his attention. "Have a seat please." He motioned to the two chairs that sat in front of his desk.

I could feel myself getting slightly nervous. Coming in here we didn't know if we were going to be reprimanded for acting without him or get praised for it. His face was as firm as stone so I couldn't tell which one it was. Damon Tipton's not exactly someone who you can easily read and he clearly kept it that way on purpose.

He sat down in front of us and looked between Sterling and I. He then focused his intense blue eyes on Sterling. "So you met with Elise while your mother and I were gone?"

"Yes." Sterling answered.

Damon raised a brow. "How'd it go?"

"She's still very adamant on trying to get me back together with her. I don't fucking understand the obsession she has." I could hear the frustration Sterling's tone held.

I grabbed his hand in mine in hope to calm him down. Elise wasn't anything that he needed to get worked up over. She's only a nuisance. One that'll be dealt with sooner or later.

"And how did you handle it?" Damon sat back in his chair.

Sterling let out an annoyed sigh. "I kept my cool and turned her down, again. She made her threat towards Isabelle but that didn't get to me like she thought it would. That's when she asked if I really wanted to start a war. She claims we need to be knocked down and she thinks the Tunt's can take us down one by one."

A dark sardonic chuckle escaped from Damon as a mocking smile crossed his lips. "Sounds like she's the one who made a declaration of war, a war that I can assure you the Tunt's are going to regret in the end."

"Yeah." Sterling scoffed.

"You know, she might be more annoying than Meredith Bushemp. At least when that bitch was plotting she was quiet about it." Damon responded.

Sterling furrowed his brows. "That says a lot."

I didn't know exactly who they were referring to. The only thing I had ever seen on the woman was news articles about how she went psycho and killed her son and grandson. Now it seemed like she had crossed Damon Tipton at some point. Something no one should do.

Damon took his attention away from Sterling and looked over at me. I could see him soften up his expression. "I heard you talked to the assistant. Have you got any details yet?"

"No." I shook my head. "I didn't want it to be too obvious that I was trying to find out information on Elise. I figured it was smarter to talk to her and make her feel like we're both in a similar situation, it'll get her to open up more later on which will probably give us everything we need. I told her to give me a call any time and we'll go out for a drink or something."

Damon gave a small nod as he took in the information. "That's smart. However, what if she doesn't reach out to you? What's the plan then?"

"Then I'll call her myself and invite her out." It was the only thing I could really think of. "The poor girl looks like she really needs a break. It doesn't seem like it would be that hard to convince her."

"I like where your head's at." Damon straightened up his posture. "While I know we'd all prefer to have this done and over with quickly, sometimes we have to play the long game to get the results we want."

"What about you?" Sterling questioned. "I know you've been away with mom but come on, we both know how you are. Do you have any information?"

"I've still got some digging to do." Damon answered. "I did find something out that has caused me to possibly have a theory about why the Tunt's seem to want you so badly in their family. I can't say it's accurate yet though."

"Well, what is it?" I could sense Sterling was slightly eager.

I can't say I blame him. I wanted to know myself. Elise seemed obsessed with getting Sterling back. She clearly had no problem going as far as she needed to. It would be nice to know why.

"Her father, Stephen Tunt, submitted some paperwork I got a hold of." Damon began to inform us of his findings. "It appears he's running for one of the senator seats."

"Okay." Sterling gave a nod. "But what has that got to do with me?"

"Think about it." Damon responded. "Our family name has a lot of pull all around the world. Even more so here in Tennessee since this is where we're based out of. Hell, I could probably release a statement saying I'm running for it and still win without an actual campaign. However, the business world is enough for me. I don't want anything to do with the corrupt world of politics."

"So are you saying that they want Elise to marry Sterling because then it's like they have the backing of the Tipton name?" I just wanted to confirm exactly where this was going.

"Yes." Damon answered. "That's exactly what I'm suspecting. Stephen probably thinks it would be a guaranteed win for him which he needs since there's already some strong candidates in the running."

"So I pretty much was just a pawn in a game of politics?" Sterling makes his disgust about the situation obvious.

"Like I mentioned, politics are corrupt." Damon's face got serious. "The Tipton name will never, and I mean never, be associated with any type of political office. That's not just coming from me either, that's coming from your grandfather himself."

"Understood." Sterling nodded.

"So what do we do from here?" We had some information, I wanted to know what we were going to do with it.

Damon's eyes focused on me. "You keep up with your plan to get her assistant to talk. She might confirm my suspicions or she might have something more to give." He then looked seriously between the two of us. "This information I have is to not leave this room. It's the one thing we have over them right now."

"What do you mean?" Sterling looked at his father curiously.

"Oh my son." Damon chuckled. "Like I said, our family has a lot of pull here. If Elise steps one foot out of line I'll make sure all his endorsers pull their backing. I'll even go as far as making sure he's not even on the ballot."