Page 51 of Sinful Palace

“I hope so.” I tilted my chin to one side. “What were you saying to my mom that night, anyway?”

“About killing Rutherford’s career?”

I nodded. “Yeah. How were you going to do it?”

Jamie rubbed his chin. “I’m not proud of this,” he said. “But we had a sex tape featuring Rutherford and two prostitutes. We were going to release it in an attempt to discredit him so people would vote for your mother when she ran against him.”

“Wow. Shady.”

“Yes. We really should’ve stayed on the high road and refused to entertain such a notion,” he said, shaking his head slightly. “But karma got us in the end, didn’t it? Like you said, half the country thinks we’re murderers now.”

I sighed. “That’s exactly why I’m worried about today.”

He squeezed my arm again. “Trust me, the security we’ve arranged is top-notch. There’s no way anyone is getting anywhere near the parade with any kind of weapon.”

“What about a sniper?”

“Not gonna happen. Every single building, rooftop, and nook in the area has been swept and cleared. No one could possibly get close enough to take a shot at your mom, even with a sniper rifle.”

I nodded. “Okay. That makes me feel a bit better.”

“Good.” He glanced at his watch and lifted his brows. “I have to go and check your mom’s speech one more time before she goes on. Will you be okay here on your own?”

“Uh-huh.”

He briskly stepped away. As I watched him go, a sudden vibration in my pocket startled me, and I drew in a sharp, anxious breath before remembering the new cellphone Logan had given me this morning.

He’d programmed the phone so that it could only text or call him, just in case I got any funny ideas again. He told me that he wanted me to have it so I could message him if I got scared at any point today, seeing as I’d spent the last few days fretting about the upcoming event. It was a kind gesture, considering his past standards for my treatment.

Despite his heartfelt apology the other day, I still didn’t entirely trust him, so while I was doing my best to get along with him for now—properly, this time—I was still mentally keeping him at arm’s length.

While I was grateful for everything he’d done lately to try and make things right between us, it didn’t change the fact that I was still his prisoner in the end. Also, he had a volatile temper, so for all I knew, he might get mad and change his mind about everything in the future, regardless of the promises he’d made. Then my brother would be in danger again.

The only way I could fully avoid that risk was to get out of the marriage contract with Logan. I was still working on it, slowly but surely, and while I did that, I had to try my best not to succumb to Stockholm syndrome.

It was harder than I thought it would be, especially when I considered the shocking but sweet way he came clean about his feelings for me the other morning, and the way he held me close and stroked my hair to comfort me during the wash of tears.

Every time I recalled those moments, my pulse picked up and all the old feelings I had for him as a teenager flooded back. I literally had to pinch myself to snap out of those moods and actively repeat my new mantra. Don’t fall for him. Don’t fall for him. For the love of god, don’t fall for him…

I swallowed hard, pulled the phone out of my pocket, and checked the message he’d just sent to me. How’s the event going? Has it started yet?

I tapped out a quick response. Not yet. I’m still pretty nervous, but the security seems good.

He replied instantly. I’m sure nothing bad will happen. Anyway, I wanted to let you know I finally had a chance to check the Caldwell servers for any information on your mom and Jamie.

Me: Did you find anything?

Logan: Yes, but it’s not exactly good news.

Me: What is it?

Logan: They have a file on the Rutherford murder case. Not much in it yet, but all of the stuff they have on your mom points to her being guilty, so it’s not going to look good if someone from the agency releases it. For example, they have her internet browsing history from her private computer. It looks like she did a Google search for aconitine two months before Rutherford was killed using that exact substance. She was using Incognito mode, presumably thinking that made the search private and untraceable, but that’s not the case. Internet history stuff is always traceable, no matter what anyone tells you.

Me: Surely she couldn’t be that stupid, though? If she wanted to look up deadly poisons to use in the murder of a president, she’d be smart enough to have some random intern do it on their computer so it couldn’t be traced back to her, right?

Logan: Agreed. I think you might actually be right about this whole thing. It reeks of a set-up. Someone could’ve sneaked onto her computer and done the search to try and make her look guilty.

Me: It’s crazy. I can’t believe someone is this desperate to get rid of her.

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