Page 31 of Ruthless Prince

The homepage of Beltway Buzz was on his screen, along with the article smearingWillow.

I kept an impassive expression on my face. “Why would I be responsible forthat?”

Dad’s eyes narrowed, and he scoffed. “I’m not an idiot. I know you’ve been running some sort of secret hate campaign against that girl for years now. I wish you’d tell me why, but I’ve come to realize that probably won’t happen anytimesoon.”

“Look, I admit I don’t like Willow very much, but if she got wasted at the ball last night and wound up with alcohol poisoning, then that’s on her,” I replied. “It’s got nothing to do withme.”

He rolled his eyes and nodded at a black leather armchair near his desk. “Take a seat. We need to discussthis.”

“Why?”

“Because I know you did it, and I have to say, I’mappalled.”

I smirked and lifted a brow. “Really?You, of all people, are appalled at someone fucking with Willow Rhoades? That’srich.”

“It’s not what you did. It’s how you did it.” He rubbed his chin again. “For one, you could’ve beencaught.”

“I wascareful.”

“It was still risky,” he replied. “I know you can’t stand Willow, but when you do things like this, you risk our name and reputation. Do you understandthat?”

“Yes.”

He leaned forward. “I know the contract with Stephen technically states that Willow becomes your property on her birthday this year, but there’s more to it. Generally speaking, she’ll be the property of the entire Thornefamily.”

“Not really. I’m the one who has to marry thebitch.”

He rubbed his eyes with one hand. “Christ, Logan, what is your problem with her? I know she’s a Rhoades, but she’s not thatbad.”

“If you say so.” I lifted a noncommittal shoulder. “Anyway, like I said, I’m the one who has to marry her. That means I get the most say over what happens to her. I’ve read that contract a million times,remember?”

Dad held up a palm. “I know. That’s exactly what I wanted to talk to you about. In fact, it’s what I was saying before you cut meoff.”

“Okay. Go on.” I leaned back, twisting my fingers in mylap.

“I understand that at the end of the day, it’s up to you to treat Willow however you see fit. The thing is, though, we acquired her for our family’s benefit in the long run.” He coughed briefly and went on. “I know you don’t care much for politics anymore, but you’re well aware of our long-standing ties to the Democratic Party, along with the influence and power we wieldthere.”

I snorted. “Oh, yes. All our influence and power did them a world of good recently, didn’t it?” I said sarcastically, referring to the scandals which had engulfed the party in recent years, paving the way for Republican victories for decades tocome.

Dad waved a hand. “That was a minor setback. We’ll recover. Your engagement and marriage to Willow will play a huge part in that.” He leaned forward again. “You know, we actually anticipated a long time ago that the GOP would try some dirty tricks with our party, and all the bullshit over the last few years has proved us right. Who do you think was responsible for all the leaks that led to thescandals?”

“I heard there’s actually no proof the Republicans were behindit.”

Now it was his turn to snort. “Don’t be stupid. Of course it was them. They’re out to ruin the liberals, and right now, it’sworking.”

“Noshit.”

“Anyway, the engagement and marriage between you and Willow will be a huge coup for our party. You know why?” He lifted his brows and kept going, not even giving me a chance to answer. “When the daughter of two staunch Republicans suddenly decides to marry a Thorne, thus aligning herself with the liberals, people will sit up and take notice. They’ll wonder why she essentially abandoned her parents’ party, and that will lead to a lot of doubt about them. It might not sound like much, but it’s actually a big play forus.”

“Right.”

“That’s the main reason we bought Willow when we were presented with the opportunity. Like I said, we anticipated that we might need someone like her, and right now we do.Desperately.”

“Uh-huh.”

“On that note…” He picked up his phone again and shook it in my face. “Can you see how this Beltway Buzz article might hurt our cause? If people think Willow is a drunken loon, her seemingly strange choice in husbands won’t be seen as such a betrayal to the GOP anymore, and then it won’t have the effect we want. People will just think ‘oh, well, there’s that crazy girl doing crazy things again’. You see mypoint?”

I sighed. “Yup. I get it. I’ll fixit.”