Page 88 of Broken Princess
A devious smile played on his lips as he turned to look at me. “It’s not empty.”
I let out a soft laugh. “Well, yeah, it’s full of files and papers, but they’re all blank. Same thing.”
He winked. “No one suspected anything, so it’s fine.”
I grinned and leaned in to let him kiss my forehead.
His mother didn’t really experience a moment of remorse as she lay dying in the sitting room seven days ago. The truth was: she remained a cold bitch until the second the light faded from her eyes. We did ask her about the Order confessions, though, and she told us they were stored in her safe. Then she informed us that she was the only one who knew the code, and it was the sort of safe that was impossible for even the most seasoned experts to crack open without automatically destroying the contents.
She refused to give us the code, of course, out of pure spite. Those secrets remained hers and hers alone.
Just in case some new technology came along in the future that would render the safe openable, Logan and I took it out to the middle of the Potomac, weighed it down with chains, and tossed it into the water yesterday afternoon. Now no one would ever discover the secrets of the Order members.
We needed a contingency plan, though, because we had a sneaking suspicion that a few dissenters might pop up when we announced our desire to lead the society, so we decided to bluff our way out of the situation with the box of fake secrets. We figured no one would want their so-called confessions to be read out aloud to everyone, and Nicholson proved us right on that count.
I knew it was hypocritical of us to do such a thing, given our call for a new Order free of lies, but it needed to be done. Just a little white lie to ensure everything ran smoothly from here on out.
“Doesn’t this feel strange?” I said as Logan pulled back to finish sealing the box.
He lifted his brows. “Does what feel strange?”
“The way everything has just… ended,” I said slowly, tilting my head to one side. “I mean, I know the media is going to go nuts once the story gets out, and they’ll probably hound us for ages, but all of the danger is gone. Everyone who threatened us is either dead or locked up.” I paused for a beat and swallowed hard. “It’s all over. Just like that.”
Logan smiled gently. Then he rose to his feet and pulled me up with him, wrapping his arms around my waist. He locked his hands on my lower back and leaned down to kiss me again, hot lips sending shivers through my body as they lingered on my neck.
“All of that might be over,” he murmured against my ear. “But not us. Never us.”
