Page 12 of Ruthless Prince
He took a swig of his drink and looked back at me. “If she did, I’m gonna find out, and I’m gonna make her regretit.”
I looked over at Willow again, lips kicking up in a smirk. “Don’t worry,” I said. “I have a feeling that certain members of the Rhoades family are going to get exactly what theydeserve.”
“Yeah?”
“Yeah.” I nodded slowly. “Very fuckingsoon.”
3
Willow
Yawning loudly,I headed up to the second floor of the Executive Residence. It was just after midnight, and the East Room event had started dying down quite some timeago.
I was supposed to hang around to say polite goodbyes to several VIPs before I went anywhere, but I couldn’t wait any longer. I needed to get to my room and kick my damn shoes off. I usually loved heels, but this pair was brand new and hadn’t been worn in yet. My feet felt like they were on fire from all the blisters that hadformed.
Screw it.I stopped in the hall and removed my heels before continuing on my way, dangling the shoes by their straps from one hand. There was no one to see me and judge me except my Secret Service detail, and they didn’t care what I did as long as I didn’t put myself in anydanger.
Letting out a long sigh of relief as my bare feet sank into the soft hallway carpet, I kept going and turned the corner into the family wing of the residence. I slowed down near my little brother’s room. I was tempted to ask his security detail to let me in so I could say goodnight, but I quickly decided against it. He was only nine, so he’d gone to bed hours ago. I shouldn’t disturb his sleep. Besides, I’d see him tomorrow. We were going to spend the whole day together on the second White House basementlevel.
Not many people knew this, but there was a bowling alley on that level. Seeing as I hadn’t been able to spend much time with Jared lately, given our hectic schedules, I’d promised him that first thing tomorrow morning, we’d go down to that alley and hang out for as long as we wanted and eat whatever we wanted. Ice cream for breakfast, tacos for lunch, candy and popcorn chicken forsnacks.
He deserved it. It wasn’t easy for a kid to get used to a parent becoming the president, but he’d settled in without any complaints, even though I could see it made himanxious.
With another yawn, I stepped into my room and closed the door with a murmured ‘goodnight’ to my detail. I dropped my shoes and paused by a mahogany tallboy so I could put my jewelry away, and then I padded into the bathroom to wash my face and brush myteeth.
The sight before me stole the air from mylungs.
Three words had been daubed on my mirror in large red capital letters.TICK TOCK,BITCH.
My chest went tight, like a rubber band was squeezing all my insides. I couldn’t breathe. I couldn’t even muster up a scream. All I managed was a choked cry as I hurried out of the bathroom, heart hammeringwildly.
On my way across the plush carpet runner which led to the main door, I noticed something else strange. There was a folded piece of paper on my floor, right near the door. Someone must’ve slipped it under the crack earlier, and I hadn’t spotted it when I walked in a couple of minutesago.
Shaking, I dropped to my knees and gingerly picked up the paper. A shiver ran down my spine as I unfolded it. Somehow, I knew it was connected to the lipstick note on my mirror. I felt it in mybones.
I was right. A chilling message was printed in small letters on the middle of the page.When I’m done with you, you’ll wish you weredead.
This time, I screamed like a banshee. Before I could get up and run to the door, my Secret Service detail burst through it and rushed to myside.
“What’s wrong?” one of them asked, dropping his gaze to my face as the other scanned the room for active threats. “Are you all right, MissRhoades?”
My head swam with dizzying fear as I held up the note. “Someone left this for me,” I said, my voice piteously weak. “And the bathroom.There’s…”
My throat suddenly felt too constricted to get any more words out. I began to cry instead, hoarse little sobs shaking my body as I wrapped my arms around my chest. The agent closest to me motioned for the other one to check the bathroom, and then he carefully inspected the note. If he was shocked or concerned, his face didn’t betrayit.
“You’ll have to come with me, Miss,” he said, helping me to my feet. “Try to take deep breaths. I’ve got you, and you’re perfectlysafe.”
“No, I’m not! I’ve been telling you for months, someone is after me!” I said, face flaming with a mixture of fear andanger.
“Please calm down,” he replied as he steered me out of the room and down the hall. “This is the safest place in the world foryou.”
I narrowed my eyes. The best way to make anyone explode was to tell them to calm down. Surely this guy knewthat.
“How can you say that with a straight face when an intruder managed to get into my room?” I said indignantly, wiping the tears from my face. “I’m obviously not safe here atall.”
The agent kept a firm hand on my shoulder. “We’ll look intoit.”
Fifteen minutes later, I was curled up on a French lounge in a spacious second-floor sitting room with a white knitted blanket wrapped around my shoulders. Three Secret Service agents guarded the entrance in silence, their faces expressionless. One of them stepped aside a moment later to let a petite housemaid through with atray.
