Page 99 of Ruthless Prince
“My old ones, sir?” I asked, eyes darting to the coat, sweater, scarf, and jeans that I arrived in nine days ago. They were crumpled and filthy by now, coated in a mixture of blood, sweat, tears and grime from being used as a makeshift mattress andpillow.
“Yes. Not therobe.”
With trembling hands, I did as he said. When I was dressed, he took my right hand and squeezed painfully tight. “Smile for me,princess.”
My lips twisted, and he smirked. “That’s not a smile. That’s agrimace.”
I tried harder, and he gave me a satisfied nod. “Good. I’m taking you up to the third floor. If we run into any household staff, you need to smile at them just like that and act like everything isnormal.”
I gestured toward my dirty clothes, matted hair and bruised face. “What if they ask about this, sir?” I said, daring to raise my voice above awhisper.
“They won’t. But I’ll make some sort of comment about a car accident if anyone looks at ustwice.”
He led me out of the dungeon and directed me through the halls outside, one hand on the small of my back. When we reached a stairwell, he took my arm and helped me up, obviously understanding how difficult it was for me to navigate something as simple as stairs in my current physicalcondition.
That simple gesture gave me a fleeting sense of hope. He wasn’t completely heartless and sadistic. Sometimes he could be empathetic. On top of that, he clearly loved his family, given his desperation to exact revenge for his sister. No one who cared about their family that much could everbe—
No.
I cut off my train of thought as soon as I realized where it was heading. One tiny moment of kindness couldn’t make me sympathize with Logan or think of him as anything but a ruthless monster. That would mark my descent into Stockholm syndrome, and I couldn’t bear the thought of thathappening.
While I might deserve punishment for my past actions, it didn’t change the fact that Logan was malicious and unnecessarily cruel. He didn’t have to punish me so terribly and mercilessly. He didn’t have to keep me trapped in this nightmare. He chose to do it because he was just as much of a monster asme.
On our way down the main third floor hall, we passed two housemaids. They didn’t say anything, but they shot curious glances in mydirection.
“Fender bender,” Logan said in a lighthearted tone. “She’s okay,though.”
Their faces flushed from the embarrassment of being caught staring, and they nodded and turnedaway.
When we reached the end of the hall, Logan turned a key in a wide door and opened it with a flourish. I stepped through, eyes widening as I took in my newsurroundings.
It was obviously meant to be a bedroom, but it was more like a luxury hotel suite. The ceiling was high and adorned with ornate plaster rosettes and gold-plated chandeliers, and the walls were painted an immaculate white and decorated with wainscoting and oil paintings in gilded frames. On one side, there were three tall Palladian windows with white mullions, and the thick velour drapes around them were a delicate cream shade with goldentrimmings.
The furniture matched the old-world style of the ceiling and paneling, including the enormous bed, which had matching white covers and pillowcases with intricate gold-threadedpatterns.
While the room radiated purity and happiness with its light color scheme, it didn’t fool me. Dark things surely lurked in here if Logan had anything to do withit.
“That way,” he said, pointing to a set of double doors on the far left of the lavishspace.
I slowly padded over. He followed me and pushed the doors open to reveal a huge bathroom decorated in a black, white, and gold scheme. A palatial shower with three separate rainfall showerheads stood directly ahead, and a large marble tub sat in the middle of the tiled floor. On the left was a double vanity with two polished white basins and wide black marble surfaces on either side. The surfaces were stacked with hair and skin products, along with several bags from a popular makeupstore.
“What’s this for, sir?” I asked, turning my gaze back to Logan. I didn’t believe he would actually let me have these luxuries. Not after the way he’d treated me sofar.
“You have an hour,” he said, ignoring my question. “Wash your hair, scrub your body, and apply as much makeup as it takes to cover the cuts and bruises. You’ll find everything you need for that on the vanity. When you’re done, brush and style your hair, and then put on thatrobe.”
He gestured to a long black silk robe hanging from a rack near theshower.
“Thank you, sir,” I murmured, clasping my hands in front of me and bowing my head. I couldn’t believe he was actually letting me clean myselfup.
It didn’t occur to me what that might mean until I was in the shower a few minutes later, groaning with satisfaction under the hot spray. If he wanted me clean with all my injuries hidden under makeup, then that meant he wanted me to be seen by someone other than himself, his parents, or the maids. He might even want to take me out of themansion.
I didn’t know whether that was good orbad.
When I was finally scrubbed and polished within an inch of my life, I dressed and stepped out of the bathroom. I tentatively stood before Logan as he peered closely at my face, which was thickly coated with concealer and foundation to hide the bruises. He opened my silk robe, and his brows knitted with a studious frown as his eyes raked over my body to ensure that I’d covered the othermarks.
“I couldn’t reach most of my back,” I said, picturing the angry red welts strewn across it. When I saw them in the mirror a few minutes ago, I almost vomited. “I’msorry.”
“That’s fine. The robe will cover that,” he said. “You’ve done well, and just in time. Your gift is about toarrive.”
