Page 33 of The Royally Broke Billionaire
Her voice sounded forlorn. Piper wanted to run over to give her a hug, but she sensed that it wouldn’t be a welcome gesture.
Unfazed by her attempt to shut him down, Cole responded with a tantalizing hint. “What if I was to told you that the guilty party is in this very room?”
Piper gazed at the other faces in the massive room. The royals, the queen’s brothers and their wives, and even the well-mannered waitstaff discreetly blinked around the room. They looked just as curious as she felt about whom it could be. Piper just hoped Cole hadn’t found some ‘evidence’ that pointed the finger in her direction.
Enjoying his role to the fullest, Cole gave them another hint. “What if I also told you that the rat who leaked the story is sitting at your table breaking bread with the king right now?”
There were several surprised gasps. Of the eight people sitting at the table, Piper couldn’t imagine that any of them would release the story before the king was ready.
Trey Donovan’s brows were slashed together into a harsh, black vee. “What is the meaning of this, Daniels? Are you trying to turn us against each other? No one at this table would have done what you are suggesting.”
“One of you would, and did,” Cole said confidently.
After a dramatic pause, during which Piper felt like slapping the billionaire to force him to get on with it, he finally lifted a finger and pointed across the room. Their gazes all travelled in the direction he was indicating.
Piper lifted her hand to her mouth as she realized whom Cole was accusing. She shook her head not quite able to believe it could possibly be true.
Queen Tess looked even more stunned. Unable to keep the hurt from shining in her eyes, she asked in a shaky voice, “Mo?”
32
For her part, Mo looked furious over the accusation. She glared her fiery green eyes in Cole’s direction when she seethed, “How dare you accuse me of this? It’s pure blasphemy.”
Pierce immediately jumped to his wife’s defense. “This is preposterous. Mo and Tess have been friends their entire lives. The princess wouldn’t do anything that might hurt the queen or my brother.”
Cole tipped his head to the side, obviously doubting the prince’s confident assertion. “Mmm. I’m quite certain she did.”
Trevor Donovan took his linen napkin from his lap and tossed it onto the table. “I refuse to believe this. You are a scoundrel and a snake, who thrives on drama. Why should we listen to you?”
“I have proof.” Cole dangled that tidbit gleefully.
“Impossible!” Mo shouted. Her normally pale complexion was bright red with fury under her freckles, as she shoved her chair back and shot to her feet. The princess reconfirmed her reputation of being a klutz as she toppled her juice and water glasses in her haste.
Cole remained cool and confident as he watched the scene unfold before him. As the waitstaff sprang into action to clean up the mess, Cole said, “If you’ll all follow me into the press room, I have the evidence all queued up and ready for your viewing pleasure.”
Piper didn’t know what to think as she followed the others to the media room. She didn’t want to believe that Mo would betray them this way, but Cole certainly seemed confident in his bold claim.
Once they were all assembled in the room, facing the giant screen, Cole sauntered up to the stage in front of it.
Mo’s lips were pooched out and her arms were crossed angrily, but she didn’t say anything as they all waited with bated breath to see Cole’s big reveal.
“Princess Maureen,” Cole bellowed in a loud stage-voice. “Did you or did you not post the pictured video to your official social media accounts?”
Mo glared at the screen, which had a picture of a beautiful and majestic Monarch butterfly resting on a bright yellow, star-shaped tropical milkweed bloom. “Yes,” she huffed before adding, “But so what? It was just a pretty butterfly.”
“Or was it?” Cole asked dramatically. “Tell us, Mo, did you run this video past the royal sensors before posting it?”
“Of course not. It’s just a silly butterfly sighting. Why would they object to that?”
“Why indeed?” Cole tapped a finger to his chin as if he was truly pondering the question.
Proving that he’d had enough of Cole’s gutsy accusations of his wife, Pierce glared at Cole. “What is the meaning of this? Are you claiming that the butterfly told the press about Liam?”
“Not exactly,” Cole hedged, obviously enjoying being the ringleader of all of this frustration and drama.
“Spit it out then.” It was the king who spoke with a tone of finality in his voice. It was clear that his patience was wearing thin.
Jumping into his explanation with vigor, Cole said, “Yesterday, I used many of my own world-class resources in the information technology field to track down where this story started, and all paths led back to this seemingly innocuous video.”
