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Chapter 23: Daniel's Secret

"I sneak Erica into my room every night," Taylor says, and this confession is met with absolutely zero enthusiasm. Everyone in the room except for the newcomers seem to be well aware of this fact, and Taylor pinches the bridge of his nose as Sasha waits for the second half of his confession. He reads, "and she's my little sister."

Now, there's a reaction - a few surprised gasps, lots of wide-eyed looks, and Dustin sitting a few seats away from Sasha says, "That's sick."

"Ooh a deviant," Rob croons over the speaker. "I love it!"

Taylor's number starts ratcheting up on the glass in front of them - he's in the hundred-thousands by now, making him one of only three to reach that point so far. Daniel is creeping up on 700,000, and Melody beside him is at 302,458, presumably for her ruthlessness in the first challenge. Taylor flicks the notecard at Dustin irritably, and before the rest of them have a chance to hop on Rob's bandwagon, he barks, "You people are disgusting. She sleeps in the bed and I sleep on the floor - get your heads out of the gutters and stop letting them manipulate you."

He flops back down in his seat and Erica keeps her position on the floor - this revelation doesn't appear to have had an effect on their relationship, but everyone else is still staring back and forth between the two of them.

Francie asks, "Is that why you volunteered?"

Sasha remembers what Francie said when they were outside, about how Taylor is the only contestant to enter the house voluntarily. It makes sense now - if Sasha had a sister in a place like this, she would have done the same thing.

Rob and Meredith kindly give everyone in the room a few minutes to bicker back and forth with each other over all the new information they've been given. Some of them decide to stick with Taylor and Erica, ferreting out the details of their relationship, but some of them switch back to Daniel and his history as a politician. They have questions for him, and Sasha does, too.

She doesn't ask any, though. She just sits back and listens while Melody and Brody needle him about his decisions.

"Why would you even consider going into politics?" Melody asks. "That's so despicable, it must point to a moral failing on your part."

Sasha wants to object, to stand up for him, but she's ashamed to find that her need to hear the answer overrides that urge.

He speaks directly to Sasha, ignoring Melody and Brody and everyone else who's listening. He's explaining it to Sasha alone as he says, "You know as well as I do that the economic system in this country is deeply flawed. Capitalism can only grow unfettered for so long before it begins to eat people like us-"

"People like me," Sasha interjects. She folds her arms across her chest and it makes her sad that she can't relate to him anymore, but it's undeniable - the only thing they truly have in common is the fact that they both stumbled into Father Gary's wicked web, albeit for very different reasons.

"Fine," Daniel says. "The people at the bottom are the first to suffer. My father knows that and he's been working his whole life to move us back toward a government that's run by real people, not just figureheads with entertaining gimmicks. I thought I could help him fight that battle, but the deeper I got into old guard politics, the more I realized how futile it is."

"How long did it take you to figure that out?" Melody asks with a snort. "And how many kickbacks did you take in the meantime?"

"None," Daniel says, scowling at her before turning back to Sasha. "I learned that no one wants to listen to my father because they think he wants to shackle them with laws and regulations and red tape. My father means well but he's old-fashioned and living in another lifetime. I realized that I'd never be able to change anything from that side of the table, so I quit."

"Stop," Sasha demands, and Daniel looks pained by her protest, but she points at the wall. While he was talking, the votes had begun to pour in again. Clearly the audience isn't picking up what he's putting down, and he's at 873,992 by the end of his speech. Sasha says, "It doesn't matter if I understand you or not. If you don't shut up right now you're going to get eliminated."

Melody is the next person below him, clocking in around 417,000 for her part in the little interrogation that just took place, and Taylor trails behind them both at about 321,000. He must have been able to garner some sympathy for his courage in entering the house after his sister, but not enough to carry him out of the bottom three.

Meredith's voice cuts through the conversations taking place around the table. She says dryly, "Moving on to our next contest... you'll be happy to hear that there will be no props necessary for this one, although of course the envelopes will be reset."

Sasha feels her heart starting to race in her chest. Resetting the envelopes?

"Erica, do the honors," Meredith barks, and without any further instruction needed, Erica goes to one of the storage cabinets and pulls out a file drawer. She takes two envelopes out of it, identical to the ones already lined up there, and looks regretfully at her brother as she lays them both down on the top of the cabinets.

They're back to thirteen envelopes and thirteen contestants, and Sasha wants to scream that it's not fair. She can see in Melody's eyes and the set of her jaw that she's just waiting for another opportunity to attack Daniel, and with the way the votes are coming in, there's no way he'll withstand another secret aired.

"Everyone, sit down," Meredith instructs. "Rob, introduce the next contest."

"Okay, this is a fun one!" Rob growls. "How many of you have had that humiliating dream where you show up late to school and everyone's laughing at you, and then you realize that you're stark naked? Yeah, this challenge is going to be a bit like that, only the whole country is going to be watching it."

Sasha's pulse is thrumming in her ears and she sees Melody's hand going to the button on the front of her shirt. She's got a taste for Daniel's blood, and she's ready for the kill.