Page 130 of Ruthless Prince

“Mom,” I said, touching her arm when we reached the green room. “I’m so sorry.I—”

She shook me off, eyes blazing with fury. “You spoiled little bitch,” she spat. “I was sad to see you leave the White House a few weeks ago, but now I’m glad you won’t be around. I never want to see your sorry little faceagain.”

Hot tears spilled down my cheeks. “Mom, please listen to me. I had no idea this wouldhappen.”

“Everything I worked to build. Everything I sacrificed. None of it matters now. You’ve ruined everything!” she shrieked, flinging her hands in theair.

Her words shot arrows of hurt and despair right into my heart. “I didn’t mean to,” I said in a choked, husky voice. “This is obviously some sort of set-up.”

She jabbed a finger at my chest. “That was you on the audio recording, wasn’tit?”

“Yes,but—”

“Butnothing! You’ve fucked up everything in my life, you vindictive littlebitch!”

As she spoke, she picked up a vase from the nearest table and smashed it on thefloor.

Startled, I took several steps backward, right into Logan’s waiting arms. He wrapped them around my waist, gently stroking me with one hand. Despite my fury toward him, I was too upset at the overarching situation to even try to stop him from touchingme.

“Yeah, that’s right,” Mom hissed, glaring daggers at us as two aides tried to calm her down and prevent her from stepping in the shattered china. “Run to your fiancé. You’ve made itveryclear that you’ve chosen his family overours.”

“I haven’t,” I said, chest heaving withsobs.

“Ma’am… your mic is still on,” an assistant said, rushing towardme.

Mom’s eyes went wide. She flew forward, ripped the tiny microphone off my chest, and threw it to the ground before stomping all over it. “You just can’t help yourself, can you?” she said as the black plastic crunched under her heels. “You have to keep ruining everything forme!”

“I think you’re ruining things all by yourself,” Logan said curtly. “No one forced you to call your daughter a spoiled little bitch in front ofeveryone.”

She lifted her hand as if she were about to slap him across the face, but an aide stopped her. “I hope you really love him, Willow,” she said, eyes narrowed as she continued to glare at us. “Because you’re no longer a Rhoades. You’re a Thorne through andthrough.”

“I’mnot!”

She turned her attention to Logan. “Congratulations,” she spat. “She’s allyours.”

25

Logan

Four days had passedsince the now-infamous Nightly Show incident. The country was still in an uproar, and it showed no sign of dying down anytime soon. It probably wouldn’t for months, because it was the biggest scandal to hit the States indecades.

Quinn’s approval ratings had plummeted to an all-time low for any president, and a Senate Judiciary committee was being formed to investigate the allegations that she and Jamie Torrance had conspired to kill Theodore Rutherford Senior seven months ago in order to steal the OvalOffice.

Teddy was over the fucking moon about the whole thing, seeing as he’d suspected this shit for months. If he was an Order member, I would assume he was the one who tipped off Channel 8 and sent in those recordings, but there was no way it was him. He would never be able to get his hands on the Order files, because he had no idea the secret society even existed. Besides, there was no way he would’ve sat on the recordings for so long if he actually hadthem.

Willow thought I was the one responsible for the attack on her mother and Jamie, no matter how many times I tried to tell her otherwise. After all the chaos at the downtown TV studio, she retreated into her shell and refused to speak to me, no matter how much I threatened her. At one point I even told her I’d stick her back in the dungeon for a week if she didn’t answer me, but she simply shrugged and stared at the wall behind me with glazed eyes like she couldn’t careless.

I didn’t put her in the dungeon in the end. She seemed broken enough already. I let her hide in her luxurious suite instead, away from the prying eyes of the public and all the media vultures, and I didn’t try to talk to heragain.

Untilnow.

My patience had worn thin, and I was sick of her attitude. She belonged to me, and that meant she needed to talk to me whenever I commanded it, no matter how upset shewas.

I strode down the hall to her room, unlocked the door, and threw it open. “You can’t hide from this forever, princess,” I said, eyes narrowing on Willow. She was lying on the bed, completely naked. “What the fuck? Why aren’t youdressed?”

She looked up at me. “Couldn’t be bothered after I got out of the shower,” she mutteredlistlessly.

My brows furrowed. “Did you let the maids see you naked when they brought youfood?”