Page 111 of Ruthless Prince
“Logan already explained everything. You sold me to pay off your debt. End of story. Now leave me alone. I never want to speak to you again,” Willow said. There was a short scuffling sound. “Let go of my arm,” she hissed a few secondslater.
“Please give me a minute. Or even just thirtyseconds.”
She sniffed. “Fine. Thirty seconds. But only if you promise to leave me the hell aloneafterwards.”
“What I did… it was amistake.”
“No, Dad. A mistake is when you accidentally use black pen to fill out a form when it says you have to use blue. Selling your baby daughter is plainevil.”
“I wasn’t well back then. Remember I told you I used to have some mental issues? That was it. I was an addict. I wasn’t thinking straight when I realized how much trouble I’d gotten myself in,” Stephen said, stumbling over his words. “You have to understand. You have mental issuestoo.”
“Not really. I have a bit of an anxiety problem, sure, but the rest was misdiagnosed. My so-called psychotic hallucinations were real. It was just Logan messing with me. He did all that stuff and set me up to convince me I wascrazy.”
“What?Why?”
“Because he likes hurting me,” Willow said, voice rising. “But I don’t know why I’m tellingyouthat. Why would youcare?”
“I didn’t think he would hurt you.” Stephen sounded panickednow.
“Oh, really? How exactly did you think I’d be treated by a family who were willing to buy a girl for theirson?”
“They were supposed to keep you alive and well. That was part of thedeal.”
“They are keeping me alive, obviously, and well enough that I can be seen in public,” Willow hissed. “But Logan hates me. He gets off on hurting me. It’s all your fault. If you’d just owned up to your mistakes twenty-one years ago, I wouldn’t be in thissituation!”
“Please, darling. Listen.” Stephen’s voice was shaky now, as if he were on the verge of tears. “I’m so sorry. If I knew this would happen, I would’ve never agreed to the deal in the first place. I loveyou.”
“Sorry doesn’t help me now.” Willow snorted with derision. “Tell me, what else would’ve made you decide not to agree to thedeal?”
“What do youmean?”
“I want to know how much you think I’m worth. Or not worth. You were $150 million in debt to the Thornes,right?”
“Yes.”
“What’s the lowest you would’ve been willing to go to solve yourproblems?”
“I don’t know what youmean.”
Willow lowered her voice again. “Yes, you fucking do. I want to know where you draw the line. What number would you consider too low for me? A million? Twenty million? Fifty? What exact number would you settle on? What am Iworth?”
“I can’t put a number on it. You’re priceless to me. You’re my littlegirl.”
“And yet youdidput a number on it,” she replied. “I’m not priceless to you. I’mworthless.”
There was a resounding crack in my ears, followed by a grunt, and I realized Willow had slapped her father across the face. An odd sense of pride flickered deep in my chest. She was a scrappy little thing when she wanted to be, and I loved seeing her fight. It made it that much better when she finally cried and gave in to me. That muchsweeter.
“I’m going to the bathroom now. I suggest you do the same,Dad,” Willow said, voice dripping withcondescension.
“One more minute.Please.”
“No. By the way, you should probably splash your face with cold water and stay in the bathroom for a while. I’d really hate to have to explain to Mom why you have a bright red handprint across your leftcheek.”
“Please don’t tell her. I’m beggingyou.”
Willow drew in a deep breath. “Don’t worry, I won’t tell anyone. But it’s not foryoursake,” she replied. “It’s forJared.”
“Willow….”
