Page 29 of Ruthless Prince

Mom gave me a tight smile. “I’m sure she’ll love that,” she said, dropping her eyes to her plate. “I know she can’t do much, but I like to think she still noticesthings.”

“Yeah. Metoo.”

My little sister’s condition was a sore point for the whole family. Ever since her accident five years ago, she couldn’t do anything other than sleep, drool, and occasionally moan. The doctors told us it was due to the brain swelling from her traumatic head injuries, and it would be a miracle if she ever regained fullcapacity.

She stayed in her bedroom here at all times now. The room was equipped with all the appropriate medical gear, and a team of nurses provided full-time care. I came to visit her whenever I had sparetime.

My chest tightened at the memory of my last visit. I’d managed to convince myself that Chloe started humming an old tune when I turned around to grab a new pillow for her, and for those few seconds, real warmth radiated through me as my heart drummed excitedly. Then I realized the nurse had left the window open to let some air in, and the sound I heard was simply one of the gardeners singing as she stood on a ladder near the window to prune the ivy on the outerwalls.

That was a real punch in thegut.

“I’m actually going to start spending a bit more time here over the next few weeks,” I said, glancing up at Mom again. “I need to get used to everything again, because Willow’s twenty-first birthday is coming up, and my apartment isn’t properly equipped for her. We’ll be staying here for the first fewmonths.”

Mom’s eyes went wide. “Oh, of course! I completely forgot that was coming up,” she said. “When exactly is herbirthday?”

“October20th.”

She tapped the side of the table with one fingernail. “Just over six weeks away. I can’t believe I forgot,” she said. She let out a sigh. “I suppose I’ll have to start preparing the place for herarrival.”

I shook my head. “I already took care of thearrangements.”

Mom smiled. “Oh, of course you did. That’s my Logan, always wanting to be in control. Just like your father.” She waggled an index finger. “That reminds me. He wants to speak to you. He said he was going to call you, but seeing as you’re here, you may as well go and seehim.”

“Where ishe?”

“In hisstudy.”

I nodded. “I’ll talk to him when we’re done here.” I cocked my head to one side and lowered my brows. “Jesus, Mom, whathappened?”

She frowned. “What?”

I pointed to the angry purple bruise blooming over her left arm. I’d only just noticed it. “That bruise. How did you getit?”

She flashed me a rueful smile. “Remember how I mentioned having one too many glasses lastnight?”

“Yeah.”

“Well, I seem to lose all sense of spatial reasoning when I drink. I walked right into a cabinet when I gothome.”

I grimaced. “You should really be more careful. Less champagne nexttime.”

“Don’t worry, it looks much worse than it actually is. Remember, I bruiseveryeasily.” She sighed. “It’s only going to get worse now that I’m getting old and thin-skinned.”

I snorted. “Please. You’re fifty-three. That’s hardlyold.”

Mom arched an eyebrow. “Back in my modeling days, I was considered old and over the hill when I turned twenty-four.”

“Well, thank god you weren’t relying on that as a career.” I rolled my eyes and finished my coffee. “I’ll go see Dad and Chloenow.”

“Take some food for your father. He always says he’s not hungry, but then it turns out he actually is, and he gets verysnappy.”

I picked up a croissant and put it on a napkin. “There’s a word for that.Hangry.”

Mom shrugged. “See? Iamold. I don’t know any of the cool wordsanymore.”

I chuckled and gave her a quick kiss on the forehead before leaving theroom.

I headed up the floating staircase, running a hand over the cool wrought iron railing. When I reached the top floor, I turned right. The maids were nowhere to be seen, so the main hall was quiet, save for the sound of my footsteps on the parquetfloor.