Page 11 of Ruthless Prince
No, Quinn Rhoades rose to power all by herself, and she didn’t kill anyone along the way. Theodore Rutherford’s death was tragic, but it just a random turn of events. No one’sfault.
“Do you have any idea what it would take to murder a president and cover it all up?” I said. “The Rhoades family doesn’t have that kind ofpull.”
“You think?” Teddy’s shouldersslumped.
I nodded. “I know you’re still looking for a reason for what happened, and Quinn might make a convenient scapegoat, but your father died of a freak heart attack. That’s all itwas.”
“You sound like a real asshole rightnow.”
I blew out a quick breath. “I’m just worried about you. This is obviously fucking youup.”
“I feelfine.”
“You clearly don’t.” I tilted my head to the side. “Maybe you should go and see aprofessional.”
He snorted. “Of courseyou’dsay that, but I don’t need to pay to getfucked.”
“I meant a doctor, moron. Not a Wonderlandgirl.”
“What, like a psychologist?” He frowned and shook his head. “That stuff is allbullshit.”
I shrugged. “I don’t know, man. It could be worth ashot.”
“Nope. This is the best therapy right here.” Teddy held up his empty whiskeytumbler.
I rolled my eyes. “Right.”
“On that note, I’m gonna go get anotherone.”
As he sauntered away, I glanced around the ballroom out of pure boredom. Willow and Rowan were now standing with the White House Chief of Staff Jamie Torrance and his date, a petite blonde in a figure-hugging crimsondress.
Jamie was in the middle of telling an animated story. I could actually hear part of it from where I was standing. “So I said ‘what, you actually expect the truth from this K Street lobbying sewer stream?’ And then he toldme…”
I lost track of his sentence when some party guests on my other side burst into raucous laughter. I shot one of them a dirty look before returning my focus to the othergroup.
As Jamie spoke, dark eyebrows shooting up and down, Willow smiled and nodded politely at random intervals. On the surface, she looked as gorgeous and put-together as ever, but I could tell it was all an act by the way she repeatedly touched the back of her head—a nervous tic she’d always had—and the way she kept raising her hands like she wanted to bite her nails before stopping herself at the last second, not wanting to ruin her perfectmanicure.
I smiled. She was putting on a decent show, but beneath it all, she was frazzled and nervous. That meant I was getting to her with all the anonymous texts and emails. I’d started sending them to amuse myself while I waited for her twenty-first birthday—the day she officially became my family’sproperty.
I loved playing games with her. Messing with her mind. Convincing her the whole world was after her. It wasn’t anywhere near as good as what I had planned for her in the future, but it was the best I could do fornow.
When October finally came, she’d long for these days, as much as she despised them rightnow.
Teddy returned to my side, reeking of booze. “Spilled it on my jacket,” he explained, brushing at a wet patch. I noticed his eyes were glassy, and spots of color had appeared on hischeeks.
“Probably better on your suit than in your stomach,” I said, eyes narrowing. “You’re fuckingwasted.”
I should’ve seen the signs before now. He was drinking far too much. It was no wonder he’d lost so much weight and looked so pallid. He was completely broken over his father’s death, and as he said earlier, whiskey was his idea of griefcounseling.
“You should slow down.” I clapped one hand over his shoulder to steady him in case he started swaying. “Actually, I should just get you out of here. You need to sleep it off, and I’ve got shit to dolater.”
He waved a dismissive hand at me, glazed eyes returning to the president. “Nah, man, I want to stay. I want to watch her.See if she looks guilty when I catch hereye.”
I sighed. “Come on, man. You really think Quinn Rhoades did something to yourfather?”
“Yeah. Maybe. Idunno.”
I let out a snort. “Convincing.”
