Page 132 of Ruthless Prince
“Do what?” he asked, rubbing hiseyes.
“You revealed Willow’s secret. Only the highest Order members have access to the confession tapes, right?” I said, lifting my brows. I didn’t wait for his reply. “So I understandhowit happened. One of you leaked it. I just don’t knowwhy.The secrets are only supposed to be revealed when members break their oaths and betray the group, and Willow hasn’t done that. I’ve given her some tests to see if she’d ever tell anyone about her situation, and while she didn’t exactly pass with flying colors, she’s never actually said a word to anyone else about us or theOrder.”
Dad’s eyes narrowed. “Jesus, you actually think it wasus?”
“Who else would itbe?”
“Logan, we didn’t do it. I thought you of all people would know better,” he snapped. “Why do you think I’ve been at the Hall for four fuckingdays?”
“I don’tknow.”
He let out a short, annoyed sigh. “We’ve been trying to figure out what happened. Obviously someone managed to break into our files without us noticing, and they’re the one who leaked Willow’s secret to the media. Like you said, she hasn’t betrayed the Order, so there’s no way we’d reveal her confessionourselves.”
“Are yousure?”
“Yes!” he said, slamming a hand down on the desk. “Do you have any idea what sort of damage this has done to the society? Why do you think we haven’t contacted all the members with some sort of statement yet? We don’t know what to say. We don’t even know how someone managed to break in and access our datayet.”
“It could be an inside job,” I said. “Even if it wasn’t you, one of the other council members could’ve doneit.”
“Do you think I don’t know that?” he asked, eyes flashing with scorn. “Q is having us investigate every possible angle. That includes looking within ourranks.”
“Have you found anything at all?” I asked. “I’d really like to know, because Willow is blaming me, and she’s losing her fucking mind overit.”
His jaw tightened, and he shook his head. “We haven’t found anything yet, but I swear to you, son, it wasn’t me. I had absolutely nothing to do withit.”
My eyes narrowed slightly. My dad never called me ‘son’. Either he was so sleep-deprived that he was losing his shit just like Willow, or he was lying and trying to smooth things over so I believed every word hesaid.
Something told me it was probably thelatter.
26
Willow
Isighedand leaned back against my pillows, mindlessly scrolling through news channels. Logan had been generous enough to set up a massive widescreen TV in my room so I could keep up to date on my mom’s scandal, seeing as I wasn’t allowed a phone or computer with internet access. He’d never been nice to me before, so I could only assume he was feeling guilty after destroying my family’sreputation.
That was a first for him. Until now, I didn’t think he was remotely capable of feeling emotions like guilt orremorse.
My stomach soured as I came across a re-run of the scandalous Nightly Show episode. They’d edited this version to zoom in on my mother, and the showrunners were loudly speculating on what each facial expression mightmean.
I grimaced and flicked to a new channel as awful memories of that interview flashed in my mind again andagain.
I couldn’t stop picturing my mother’s face when she told me she hadn’t done anything to Rutherford. The image haunted me day and night, filling me with burning shame and regret. I’d realized far too late that she was innocent, and now there was nothing I could do to fix all the terrible, stupid things I’d said and done to ruin her life. Nothing but pointlesswishes.
I wished I’d never overheard that conversation between her andJamie.
I wished I hadn’t jumped to conclusions aboutit.
I wished I’d never joined the Order, and I wished I’d never had that laced drink that made me spill my guts to them about my outrageoussuspicions.
Most of all, I wished I’d never done that horrendous TVinterview.
I knew Mom had overreacted by screaming at me and saying all that horrible stuff in the green room, but at the same time, I couldn’t blame her. I’d basically destroyed her career. Even if everyone eventually realized she didn’t do anything to Rutherford, enough damage had been done to her reputation over the last few days to ensure she’d never be voted in to run so much as a school raffle everagain.
It was all myfault.
With another heavy sigh, I settled on Channel 10. A colorful ‘Breaking News’ image was flashing on thescreen.
“This morning, shocking revelations in the Rhoades-Torrance case have added a new twist to the scandal. Information has come to light about Rear Admiral George Colgate, President Rutherford’s personal physician. Colgate conducted the autopsy on President Rutherford, citing heart failure as the cause of death. We’ve now been told that Colgate received several million dollars in an offshore bank account a few weeks after President Rutherford’s funeral, and he used those funds to purchase a luxurious Cape Cod vacation home. While the money hasn’t been traced to a specific source yet, many are speculating that Colgate was paid off by President Rhoades to fake the autopsyresults.”
