Page 13 of Ruthless Prince

“Here you go, Miss Rhoades,” the maid said with a sympathetic smile, setting the tray on a low coffee table. “Chamomile tea. According to the Prime Minister, this is the best type. He swears by it whenever he has a roughnight.”

“The PM knows what’shappening?”

“He heard all the commotion from the Lincoln Room,” she explained. “He was concerned about you and asked me to bring this to help calm yournerves.”

“Oh. Thank you. Please tell him I’m very grateful to him too,” Imurmured.

My cheeks felt like they were on fire. Even though something truly terrifying had happened to me, I was still mortified that I’d disturbed our esteemed British guest with my earlier shrieking. My mother would have a lot to say to me about that when she arrived, nodoubt.

I sipped at the hot tea for what felt like hours before another person entered the room. I sat up straight, assuming it would be my worried parents, but instead I was greeted by Jamie Torrance, my mother’s Chief ofStaff.

Jamie was one of my favorite White House employees. He was relatively young compared to most of the other senior-level staff, and he was good-looking too, with smooth tanned skin, aquiline features, chestnut hair, and striking green eyes. He looked like he should be gracing the cover of GQ instead of working at the White House, but he didn’t seem to care too much about his looks. He was intelligent and deeply perceptive, and he’d more than earned his position on my mother’steam.

After getting a degree from Stanford and a JD from Yale, he’d spent his early thirties working as a successful political fixer and campaign manager for various candidates. Eventually he was given the job of White House Communications Director before moving onto a senior advisor position when Rutherford was still president. Upon Rutherford’s death, my mother tapped him for Chief ofStaff.

Even though he’d enjoyed so much success at such a relatively young age, he hadn’t let it go to his head like a typical D.C. douchebag, and he was always polite andkind.

“Hey, Willow. Sorry it took so long for me to get here,” he said, taking a seat beside me. His dark brows were knitted with concern. “How are youfeeling?”

“Pretty bad,” I replied, rubbing my temples. I had a splitting headache now. “Where’s Mom and Dad? I’ve been waiting forthem.”

He rubbed at a smattering of stubble along his jaw. “Unfortunately, they had to leave just after theball.”

“What? Why? They didn’t say anything to me aboutthat.”

“Apparently there was some sort of situation at the Brazilian Consulate that your mother had to attend to. She asked your father to accompanyher.”

I gaped at him. “A situation atmidnight?”

“Believe me, they want to be here for you. They’re going to take care of the Brazilian issue as quickly aspossible.”

I pursed my lips and stared down at my lap. I half-expected this from my mom, but not my dad. He’d always been there for me, no matterwhat.

“Your detail told me what happened, and we have the security chief investigating the situation,” Jamie continued. “A full forensic sweep is being carried out on your room as we speak, and the entire White House is being checked too, along with thegrounds.”

“Thank you,” I said in a small voice. “Have they found anything atall?”

“Not yet. They’re still reviewing the security footage, though. Chief Flint will keep usupdated.”

I slowly shook my head. “I don’t understand how this keeps happening. I’ve been getting crazy threats for months, and no one’s taken it seriously at all. Not untilnow.”

“I’m sorry if it’s seemed that way in the past, but trust me, the safety and wellbeing of the president’s children is a top priority for the staff here,” he said with a reassuring smile. “We’ll find out what’s going on as soon aspossible.”

“Thankyou.”

“The texts you mentioned—you haven’t been able to show them to anyone, haveyou?”

I swallowed hard. “No. I don’t understand how, but the messages always disappear off my phone as soon as I’ve read them. Same with the emails. Whoever’s been sending them must have some sort of program that auto-deletes everything on bothends.”

His brows pinched together in a slight frown. “Perhaps, yes. You’ve mentioned that threatening letters have arrived for you as well, correct? Not counting tonight’snote.”

“Yes. I showed them to my security detail, and they said they’d pass them on to the security chief, but I didn’t hear anything about it afterthat.”

“Isee.”

I pressed a palm to my forehead. “I just remembered. I got another letter earlier tonight. I think that one was just a prank, though. It looked different to the others, and there wasn’t any sort of threatening message. It just said ‘the orderawaits’.”

Jamie frowned. “I’ll have the staff look into that too. It might berelated.”