Page 63 of Sinful Palace

Logan rubbed his hands up the side of his jaw and clasped them behind his head. “Shit,” he muttered.

“So… what are we going to do about this?” I asked in a tentative tone.

He stood up. “Well, first off, I’m going to take some vacation time from work. I’m keeping you as close as possible from now on. Unless I absolutely need to go out or talk to someone, I’m going to be right here with you.”

I looked down at my feet, unsure if that was a good or bad thing. “Okay.”

“I’m also going to speak to my father about this Order shit first thing tomorrow morning.”

My eyes widened. “Logan, you can’t be serious!”

“I am.”

“You can’t just go and confront him. You said yourself that Q and the Order can be dangerous, and you were right. Look what happened to me. I asked a few questions and they hijacked my mom’s parade to drop a corpse as a warning. Imagine what else they’ll do if they start to see you as a liability.”

He lifted one brow. “So what do you want to do? Forget it all and start acting like a normal, obedient member again? Let them walk all over us?”

“No, of course not. I want to know what the hell is going on. I just think we need to be careful. Actively confronting your dad could get you in serious trouble.”

He shook his head, lips set in a grim line. “Dad already knows we—or you, at least—want to ask questions, so I think we’re past the point of sneaking around and trying to pretend we don’t know he’s up to something,” he said. “I’m not going to go in with guns blazing; I’ll be careful with what I say and how I word it all. But I am going to talk to him.”

“You aren’t worried he’ll hurt you?” I asked, anxiously twisting my hands.

“I have one thing on my side that you don’t, Willow. I’m his son. We might not be very close, but he’d still never hurt or kill one of his own kids.”

“I hope you’re right about that,” I mumbled.

He tilted my chin up. “Right now the Order thinks they can get away with bullying you. Fuck that. You should be allowed to ask questions about the society you’re in, especially when you think they might be conspiring against your mother,” he said, eyes smoldering with anger. “I’m not going to let them get away with threatening you, and from now on, I don’t even consider myself a member anymore. Not as long as they think they can get away with treating you like this.”

I swallowed hard. “I know you want to keep me safe, but you really need to be as careful as you can. I’m not so sure that your dad wouldn’t do anything to hurt you.”

“Don’t worry. I’ll be fine, and so will you. I’ll make sure of it,” he replied. “He might be my father, and he might very well be the big fucking secret king of the Order too, but if he touches you or so much as looks at you the wrong way from now on, he’s going to have a fucking problem. You’re mine, not his.”

There it was again; that possessiveness rearing its simultaneously beautiful and ugly head.

He stroked one finger down the side of my face, tucking a loose strand of hair behind my ear. “Everything’s going to be fine, princess. I’m going to fix this for us, and then it’ll all go back to normal.”

I turned toward the closest window. Outside, fat gray clouds drifted around, and early dusk colored the rest of the sky with shades of purple and navy blue. Dark and miserable, like my mood.

“No. It won’t,” I murmured. “I don’t think anything in my life will ever be normal again.”

Logan went silent for a few minutes, letting me stew in my thoughts as I watched the dark clouds open up in bursts of rain that loudly pattered against the windowpane. Then he pulled me back around to face him and pressed his phone into my hand. “Here,” he said. “You should call your mom. See if your dad came back yet.”

I nodded and swallowed the lump in my throat. “Okay. Thank you,” I whispered.

Mom’s private cell number was already programmed in Logan’s phone, so all I had to do was hit the dial button. It rang four times, and then a familiar masculine voice answered. “Is that you, Willow?”

“Yes. Hi, Jamie,” I said. “Is Mom there with you?”

He hesitated. “She’s dealing with a delicate diplomatic situation at the moment, so she can’t make it to the phone.”

“You mean she doesn’t want to speak to me?” I said, rolling my eyes upward.

There was another awkward pause on the other end of the line. “No, I didn’t say that,” he finally said. “She’s just very busy.”

I sighed and rubbed my temples. At least Jamie was lying to me out of kindness, unlike so many others in my life. “I was just calling to see if my dad showed up yet,” I said.

“No, he didn’t. Sorry. If there are any updates, I’ll let you know.”

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