Page 129 of Ruthless Prince

Maybe she really did do something to PresidentRutherford…

“Willow?” Jules said, leaning forward with her brows raised. The audience had gone completely silent withshock.

Mom leaned over and grabbed my hand, staring right into my eyes. “You don’t actually think I did this, do you?” she asked in a soft voice. For the first time in years, I saw genuine fear in her expression. “I’ve done a few things I’m not exactly proud of, but I wouldneverkill a man to advance my career. You have to know that, darling. Please tell me you don’t honestly believeotherwise.”

A hard lump appeared in my throat.Ohno…

I knew what my mother sounded like when she was lying, and right now, she wasn’t. She was telling thetruth.

She didn’t do anything to Rutherford, and I’d fucked everything up for her by making the whole world think she did. On primetime TV, noless.

“No,” I said, vehemently shaking my head. “I don’t think my mom would do that. Like I said, I wasn’t in a good place when I said thosethings.”

Dan’s smile faded. “In the recording, you referred to a conversation you claim to have overheard between your mother and her current Chief of Staff, Jamie Torrance. Is thatcorrect?”

“Yes, but itwasn’t—”

He cut me off. “The audio file wasn’t the only recording we received today,” he said. He waved a hand at someone offstage, and the massive screen behind us lit upagain.

My stomach plummeted as a video began to play. It looked as if someone had planted a small camera in the hedges surrounding the pool area at the Vice President’s mansion, and they’d managed to capture the same conversation that I accidentally overheard seven monthsago.

“Christ, Jamie, do you have any idea what it’s like to be me?” Mom was saying. “Being the VP is an abject humiliation. Everyone loves Rutherford, but he’s an incompetent baboon most of the time.I’mthe one who gets everything done, even when he shuts me out of every meeting and keeps me locked up in the Eisenhower Building. I’m the one who should be fuckingpresident!”

Jamie held up both palms in a conciliatory manner. “You’re right. I believe in you, ma’am, and I know you should be president. But this is just the way things are. I’msorry.”

“Shit. I can’t do this for six more years. I won’t.” Mom rubbed her forehead. “Screw it. We’re going with PlanB.”

“Plan B?” Jamie’s voice rose slightly. “Ma’am, that’s the nuclearoption.”

“Iknow.”

“We should take some time to considerit.”

“No. We’re doing it.” Mom folded her arms. “I’ve had enough of Rutherford trying to crush my projects for all the stupid parts of his own agenda. It’smyturn.”

Jamie lowered his voice again. “Ma’am, with all due respect, we’re talking about killing thepre—”

“Hey, Mom, what’s up?” I stepped up to the pair, cutting their conversation short, and the screen wentblack.

Jules’s eyes sparked with vicious amusement as she watched my family’s stunned reaction to the video. She and her co-host were clearly enjoying this ambush. “Willow, is that the conversation you were referring to?” she asked in a saccharinetone.

“I… I…” I couldn’t do anything but stutter inresponse.

“The full video is on our website, nightlyshow.com,” Dan announced gleefully, facing the audienceagain.

Mom stood up. “This is ridiculous,” she snapped. “That conversation has been taken completely out ofcontext.”

“How so, Madam President?” Dan asked. “It certainly sounded as if you and your friend were talking about killing thepresident.”

“We… we were talking about killing his reputation so I could run against him,” she said, face turning crimson. “We had some information on him that would’ve made him lose a lot of support if it ever went public. That’sall.”

“Madam President,stop talking!” a senior aide said, bursting onto the set. He waved a hand at the hosts. “Shut this down.Now!”

“Ah, the world of politics is such a dirty one, isn’t it, Dan?” Jules said, leaning back and glancing at her co-host.

They didn’t need to ask any more questions. They’d already gotten what they wanted. By now, the audience members were booing and hissing at us. Some were even shouting ‘murderer!’ at mymother.

She ripped off her mic and stormed off the set. Dad, Jared, and I went after her, our legs moving as fast as possible as we followed her through the maze-likehalls.