Page 116 of Ruthless Prince
“I told you not to play dumb, little whore,” he said. His eyes turned darkly vicious as his lips twisted into a snarl. “I know all aboutit.”
I was about to argue my innocence again when he pulled several familiar pieces of paper out of his jacket pocket. He held them up with a triumphant gleam in hiseyes.
Anna betrayedme.
“How… I don’t….” I trailed off and shook my head as terror seized my chest. Why would she do this tome?
“You must think I’m an idiot,” Logan said, jaw tightening. He cocked his chin to one side. “Why don’t you believe me when I say I’ve thought of everything? Did you honestly think it hadn’t occurred to me that you could communicate silently if you had thechance?”
I kept staring at him, unable to breathe, let alone speak. I should’ve known he’d catch me. He was always one stepahead.
“This was a test,” he went on, throwing the notes on the floor. “You’ve been behaving well for the most part, but I needed you to prove yourself. I needed to see what would happen if you were ever given an opportunity to betray me. Now I know. You told Anna everything as soon as you could. Sweet little non-existentAnna.”
My blood ran cold. “You’reAnna?”
He snorted with derision. “Of course I am. I can’t believe you didn’trealize.”
“No,” I whispered, shaking my head. I felt as if I were trapped on a frozen lake again, only this time, the cracks above the icy depths were widening and splitting right open, and I was falling, flailing,sinking…
Logan let out a cruel chuckle and closed the gap between us, dragging the tip of his finger across my collarbone, eliciting tingles that spread across my skin like wildfire. “I can’t believe you thought it would be that easy to escape me,” he said, amusement and naked hatred glimmering in his eyes. “Maybe we need to get your brain checked. That Vespa crash must’ve knocked several IQ points right out ofyou.”
I kept staring at him in horror, unable to form a coherent response. He smiled thinly again. “Tell me where the phone is,Willow.”
I finally mustered up a shred of courage and raised my chin defiantly. “It doesn’t matter. You’re too late,” I said, my voice scarcely above a whisper. “I told someone else. They’re going to helpme.”
“You think you told Rowan Harris,” he said. “Unfortunately for you, the phone wasrigged.”
I shook my head. “It wasn’t. It worked justfine.”
“Yes, but I was monitoring it the whole time. I even saw your self-important Google search when you went on the browser,” he said, raising an eyebrow. “If you’d tried to email anyone or use an online messaging service, I would’ve shut off the internet before it got anywhere. I also set it up so that any texts would be automatically forwarded to my phone without you knowing, and I installed a clever little program that would mimic the number you were trying toreach.”
My chest felt hollow, like all the oxygen had been sucked out of the room. “So it was you allalong?”
“Yes. Rowan has absolutely no idea you tried to tell him anything.” He pulled his cell phone out and held it up. “Convincing, wasn’tI?”
He laughed again, and my chin trembled as bile filled my mouth. I felt myself sinking deeper and deeper into the icy abyss ofdespair.
No one knew I was trapped here. No one was coming to help. I’d screwed up everything, and now my brother was in terribledanger.
“I’m sorry,” I whispered, peeking up at Logan. “Please forgiveme.”
“Oh, come on.” He gave me a nasty smile. “You aren’t sorry. Not onebit.”
My whole body was wracked with tremors now. I held up my palms in defeat. “I am,” I choked out. “Please….”
“You’re only sorry you got caught,” he said, crossing his arms over his muscular chest. “Tell me, Willow, if you actually managed to get out of here with those notes and text messages, would you really feel bad watching me rot in prison for the rest of my life? Would you really feelsorry?”
Hot tears spilled down my cheeks as I blubbered out an incomprehensibleresponse.
“Didn’t think so.” He shook his head slowly and let out a theatrical sigh. “You know what happens now, don’tyou?”
“Please don’t hurt Jared,” I said, throwing myself at his mercy. Literally. I slid off the bed and sank to my knees at his feet, bowing my head and clasping my hands in front of me like I was praying tohim.
He clearly enjoyed being worshiped like a god, because his lips curled into a smile as he watched me. His eyes remained cold and unmerciful. “Sorry, princess. I told you the rules and the consequences for breaking them, and you went ahead and did it anyway. I have no choice but to carry out the appropriatepunishment.”
“No!” I cried, grasping at his pant legs. “Please, Logan, it’s not his fault! It’s mine. Punish me. Nothim!”
“Tell me where the phone is,” he replied calmly, kicking one leg out to dislodgeme.
