Page 11 of Sinful Palace

I whipped my head around to see Logan standing there, looking down at us with a tight smile on his handsome face. He was holding a large takeout coffee cup in one hand.

Myla jumped up. “Sorry, Mr. Thorne. I didn’t mean to steal your girl. We’ve just been chatting while we have a snack.”

Don’t worry,I thought bitterly. He already knows. He could’ve been listening to every word if he wanted to, and he probably did.

Logan turned his gaze to her. “You can call me Logan,” he said, stretching his free hand out to shake hers. “Sorry to cut your conversation short, but our new room is ready. I think Willow could use some rest after the long night she’s had.”

Myla nodded. “I heard about the fire at your house. I’m so sorry,” she said. “I have to see a client in fifteen minutes anyway, so I better head off. Nice to meet you, Willow. You too, Logan.”

We both smiled as she headed off. When she turned the corner, Logan’s face instantly darkened. “I thought I told you not to talk to anyone.”

“You told me to try not to,” I said, clasping my hands in front of me. “Myla went out of her way to be friendly. It would’ve been rude to ignore her or tell her to leave me alone, and you don’t want your fiancée to start getting a reputation for rudeness, do you? Not when you insist on us having this so-called perfect relationship on the outside.”

He kept his lips pressed into a thin line as I spoke. “That’s fair,” he replied in a grudging tone. “But I was listening to you via the collar, and your conversation bordered on inappropriate. It would be nice if you could go five minutes without accusing someone in my family of sex trafficking.”

“We were just discussing the rumors, that’s all,” I mumbled, cheeks flushing hot.

“Right.” He held out the coffee cup. “This is for you.”

Surprised at the sudden change of topic, I furrowed my brows. “I thought you said you wanted me to get some rest.”

“It’s not coffee. It’s hot chocolate from the Belgian café on the ground floor. The warm milk should help you sleep.”

“Oh.” I accepted the cup and took a sip. It was delicious. “Thanks.”

“Let’s go,” he said curtly, taking my left arm.

He led me back to the elevator. This time, he pressed the button for the top floor before entering a long code into the small keypad on the console.

“Is your family coming?” I asked between sips of the hot chocolate.

Logan nodded. “Yes. That’s one of the things I was sorting out,” he said. “Chloe needs certain medical equipment in her new suite. It’s all been arranged now.”

“You work fast.”

He tapped a foot on the carpeted floor as the elevator hummed upward. “No. The people that work for my family work fast. We pay them a lot to ensure that.”

“Must be nice to have hundreds of people at your beck and call, willing to do absolutely anything at any time,” I muttered.

“Don’t act like you grew up in poverty, Willow,” Logan said with a slight shake of his head. “Your family is wealthy.”

“I’m not denying that,” I said, frowning. “I’m just saying there’s a difference between being wealthy like my family and being wealthy like yours. We’re in the sky, but you’re in the stratosphere.”

I thought he would scold me again for pointing out the truth, but he chuckled instead and held out a hand to motion me forward as the elevator doors opened. “After you.”

Two smiling maids were waiting for us in the floor’s main hall. It had high ceilings with white plaster moldings, wainscoting on the walls, marble flooring and soft lights in golden wall sconces. Pure luxury, just like the rest of the place.

One of the maids stepped forward. “Welcome. We hope you find your suite to your liking, even though we didn’t have much time to prepare.”

“I’m sure you did your best for me and my beautiful fiancée,” Logan said, putting one hand on the small of my back. The maid who hadn’t spoken practically swooned at the protective gesture.

Oh, how I wished I could roll my eyes…

I gritted my teeth instead, thinking of my little brother and all the near misses he didn’t even know he’d had over the last couple of months, all because of me. No more fuck-ups.

The maids led us down the hall and stopped at a set of double doors. “Here we are, sir,” the swoony one said, smiling sycophantically at Logan.

“Thanks. You can go now.”

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