Page 49 of Sinful Palace

“Well… thanks anyway,” she said softly. “You have no idea how happy I am that Jared is okay.”

I nodded curtly and headed over to the suite entrance.

When I threw the door open, I almost hit my father right in the face. He jumped back, eyes wide with shock. “Jesus, Logan. You almost gave me a fucking concussion!”

He wasn’t alone in the hall. Mom was standing off to the left, holding a cardboard cup holder with four tall coffees in it.

“What are you doing here?” I asked. “And where’s Mal and Adam?”

“We told them they could have a break,” Dad said, casually waving a hand.

My jaw dropped. “You know Willow’s in there, right?” I said. “She needs a security presence at all times.”

“It’s the top floor of Wonderland, Logan. She’ll be fine without a guard for half an hour.”

I folded my arms. “Why are you two even here?”

Dad jerked a thumb toward Mom. “I ran into your mother, and she mentioned that you had a rough night and barely slept,” he replied. “We thought it would be a nice idea to bring you and Willow some coffee.”

Mom smiled at me and held up the cup holder.

“Right. Thanks. Could you take one of them to Willow?” I asked.

Mom dipped her head in an acquiescent nod and quietly went into the suite with the drinks. Once she was out of hearing range, I turned to Dad, eyes narrowing. “Were you listening to our conversation?” I asked.

His face immediately reddened. “Excuse me?”

“You basically had one ear pressed up against the door.”

He snorted. “Christ, you’re paranoid. I was only standing so close because I was just about to knock. I had no idea you were going to come charging out of the room at that exact second.”

I crossed my arms. “So you didn’t hear anything?”

He scrubbed a hand across his forehead. “For fuck’s sake,” he muttered, eyes flashing with scorn. “This is what I get for trying to do something nice for my son… accusations of eavesdropping.”

He turned and marched down the hall, muttering under his breath.

“Dad, wait,” I said.

He turned around. “What?”

“You didn’t answer my question.”

“What question?”

“Whether you heard our conversation or not.”

He regarded me with a stony expression and didn’t respond for several seconds. “I already told you,” he finally said. “Your mother and I were simply bringing you coffee. I didn’t hear a damn word.”

I held up one palm. “Okay. That’s all you needed to say.”

“I shouldn’t have to explain myself to you at all,” he replied, curling his upper lip in a sneer. “Anyway, you can tell your mother I got a call and had to go. Unless you’d rather explain to her that you drove me off by making wild, baseless accusations.”

“It wasn’t baseless. From where I was standing, it looked like you were lingering outside trying to listen in on a private conversation.”

“If you say so,” he spat. With that, he turned on his heel and strode away.

I watched him go with narrowed eyes, picturing the look on his face when I asked him if he overheard anything Willow and I said in the bedroom.

The tight jaw, the ugly twist to his mouth, the flushed skin… it was the exact same expression I’d seen on him in his study at Thorne House a few weeks ago, when I questioned him about the Order leak.

He was lying then, and he was lying now.

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