Page 89 of Broken Princess
20
Willow
One year later
‘After a tumultuous eighteen months serving out the rest of President Theodore Rutherford’s term after his passing, President Quinn Rhoades has announced that she will not be seeking reelection in November 2020. Earlier this morning, she gave a brief and informal statement about this to reporters outside the White House. Here’s that statement now.’
Logan turned the car radio up as my mother’s voice began to pipe out of the speakers.
“I have faced many personal challenges during my time in the White House, including the loss of my husband and the near-loss of my daughter last year. On top of that, I have endured months of near-constant public condemnation from those who once believed I was responsible for President Rutherford’s death,” she said. “However, throughout all of this hardship, I always served to the very best of my ability, and I believe I succeeded in many ways. I will continue to serve the people as well as I can, but once this term is over, I’d like to take a step back from politics in order to spend more time with my family.” She paused for a moment to let that sink in. “Right now, our country is in desperate need of healing, so despite the dark cloud of negativity which has loomed over my presidency, I hope you will choose to remember the good I have done for the American people and let that inspire you to do some good yourself. I also hope I have inspired at least one girl or woman to get involved in politics and take some of the power they deserve from those who have held it out of their reach in the past.” There was another brief pause as Mom cleared her throat. “To have served in this office is an incredible honor, and it has led me to feel a personal sense of kinship with each and every American. To those who have stood with me during the difficult times, I will be eternally grateful for your support, and to those who have not supported me, let me say that I hold no ill will toward you, because I understand you were only concerned with the good of our country. May God’s grace be with everyone in the days ahead. Thank you.”
The radio presenter started talking again. ‘That was President Rhoades discussing her decision to step away from politics after the next election. As we all know, her presidency was plagued with scandal in its first year. However, she still managed to push through much-needed reform in our educational and medical systems, and in the time she has left, she will be focusing on prison reform. I believe we should remember this when we think of her time in the White House, instead of paying attention to the vicious rumors and scandals created by those conspirators who sought to destroy our democratic system. Thank you, President Rhoades, and from all of us here at Politico Radio, we wish you the best of luck in your future endeavors.’
Logan turned to me as we waited at a traffic light. “Are you looking forward to spending more time with her?” he asked.
I nodded. “Yeah. I think it’s the right thing for all of us.”
“I agree.” He reached over and squeezed my arm, smiling faintly. “I think she’s changed a lot.”
Not so long ago, Logan was filled with rage toward my mother and hell-bent on getting revenge on her for her part in the cover-up of Chloe’s hit-and-run incident. However, he’d calmed down a lot since everything came to a head with his own mother, and since her death, he had decided that there’d been enough vengeance and punishment inflicted upon those who had wronged him and his sister.
Now he was doing his best to understand that my mother deeply regretted the choice she made all those years ago, and that she only did it in an attempt to protect me. He would never be her biggest fan, but he was trying. Considering the circumstances—and the fact that he could’ve sent her to prison for what she did—that was good enough for me.
I nodded again. “She has.”
“Will you ever tell her about your dad?”
I hesitated for a second before shaking my head. “I don’t think so.”
Even though the Hale family’s secret plot was blown out of the water last year, which meant a lot of dark truths were abruptly revealed to the world, I never told my mother—or anyone else who didn’t already know—about the contract my father signed when I was a baby; a contract engineered by Elizabeth Hale herself as part of her deplorable scheme.
I figured Mom had suffered enough with Dad’s death and all of the other difficulties she’d encountered during her presidency after being falsely accused of Rutherford’s murder. I didn’t want to add to that misery by telling her that her husband once sold their daughter to the Thorne family, and that was how Logan and I ended up together.
Besides, my father wasn’t evil. Despite the awful things he did to me, he had a good side too. I wanted to let Mom and Jared remember that good side instead of pouring more darkness and negativity into the world by telling them the whole truth.
“Probably the right choice,” Logan said. As he spoke, he steered the car into a small side street. He stopped on the edge and turned to me with a devious grin lighting his handsome features.
“What are we doing here?” I asked, brows furrowing as I peered at the brownstone rowhouses lining the street. “I thought you said you were taking me to a café.”
“Sorry. That was a lie.” His grin widened as he reached over and pulled a long black strip of fabric out of the glove compartment. “Put this on.”
I gaped at him. “Is it a blindfold?”
“Yup. I don’t want you to know where we’re really going. Not until we get there.”
A small smile curved up my lips as I wrapped the fabric around my eyes and tied it in a knot at the back of my head. “Good enough?”
“Yes.”
He turned the engine on and pulled the car back out to the street. About fifteen minutes passed before it stopped again.
“Are we there?” I asked.
“Yes, but don’t take the blindfold off yet. I’ll help you out.”
I waited for him to come around to my side of the car. One strong arm hooked under me, carefully pulling me out, and then I was on my feet, awkwardly stepping up what sounded like a cobblestone path with my arms flailing in front of me.
“Don’t worry,” Logan said. “I’ve got you.”
