Page 78 of Sinful Palace

16

Logan

I sped allthe way back to Wonderland, making it there in half the usual time. It still felt like it took forever.

When I finally strode into our suite on the top floor, I saw Willow sitting alone on the bed, arms rigid by her side. There was dried mascara on her cheeks, but she wasn’t crying anymore. She was staring at the wall instead, eyes glassy and expressionless. She looked like she was in a trance.

I hurried over to her and gathered her into my arms. “Tell me what happened,” I said, stroking the nape of her neck.

She muttered something unintelligible. I drew back, tucked her hair behind her ears, and tilted her chin up so that she was forced to look at me. “Willow,” I said in a commanding tone. “Tell me what happened. From the very start.”

That seemed to be enough to snap her out of her dazed reverie. She took in a deep, shaky breath and lowered her gaze to the bed. “Jamie called about an hour ago,” she mumbled.

“How?” I asked. Her phone was only able to receive calls from specific numbers I’d programmed into it.

“He called downstairs and asked to be connected to our room. Said it was an emergency,” she said, listlessly waving her hand toward the landline phone on the other side of the room that we used to order food or call housekeeping.

“What did he tell you?”

She chewed on the inside of her cheek for a moment. “A jogger saw a body floating in the river at six o’clock this morning. She called the cops and they pulled the body out. They transported him to the Chief Medical Examiner’s Office, but they had no idea who he was, because he’d been in the water so long that he was totally unrecognizable. When they examined him, they found an ID card with my father’s name. They also found a note zipped into a waterproof pocket on his jacket. It said ‘Sorry’.” She sniffed and looked away again. “He couldn’t swim.”

I rubbed my jaw. “Fuck.”

“They said judging by the state of his body, he’d probably been in the water for a few days. So he probably jumped in not long after the parade.”

I frowned. “How do they know he jumped?”

“Apparently medical examiners can tell stuff like that,” she said softly, fidgeting with her hands. “No injuries inflicted before he went in the water. Nothing to suggest he was forced in any way. Water in the lungs, meaning he definitely drowned and wasn’t already dead before he went in. In cases like that, they determine the person either jumped in on purpose or accidentally fell. When they found the note in his pocket and identified him from the card, they decided it had to be a suicide. Guess they figured he couldn’t handle being a Rhoades with all the scandal at the moment. Too much pressure, or something like that.”

I squeezed her hand. “I’m sorry,” I said.

She muttered something incomprehensible again and looked toward the window, shoulders slumping.

“Did you speak to your mom?” I asked, trying to keep her talking.

“Yes. Jamie put her on the phone after he told me everything. I talked to her for a while.”

“You should probably be with her right now. I’ll take you to the White House,” I said, straightening my shoulders.

“No.” She bit her trembling bottom lip. “She doesn’t really want me around at the moment. She has to make all the funeral arrangements and figure out a way to tell the whole world that her husband is dead. I’d probably just get in her way.”

“Then I’ll take you down to Alexandria to see Jared,” I said. I stood and held out a hand, but Willow shook her head and stayed on the bed.

“We can’t do that.”

“Why not?” I asked.

“Mom hasn’t told him yet. She said she doesn’t want to do it this close to Christmas.”

My brows furrowed. “Are you serious?”

“Yes. She said she’s worried it’ll ruin every Christmas for the rest of his life if we tell him right now. She wants to wait a while.”

I shook my head slowly. “How can she keep something like this from him? Once the media picks up the story, it’ll be everywhere.”

“She’s making my aunt keep him away from live TV, internet, and newspapers.”

“That’s fucked up. He deserves to know his father is dead, as horrible as it is.”

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