Rebecca’s POV
My stomach dropped. "What do you mean?"
Logan walked toward the small table and pulled out one of the chairs. He sat down heavily, rubbing both hands over his face before looking at me again. "I’m almost certain the key is inside Kaden’s private room."
I frowned. "His private room?"
"Yes."
It took me a second before realization hit me. My eyes widened. "You mean that room?"
Logan nodded, and I immediately felt my stomach twist. Oh, Goddess. Images of the room rushed through my mind—the dark walls, the strange equipment, the restraints, and all the other things I’d seen the last time I’d accidentally found myself inside Kaden’s private BDSM room.
"You’ve got to be fucking kidding me."
"I wish I was."
Stephanie looked between the two of us in confusion. "What room?"
"His BDSM room," I muttered, frustrated.
I turned back to Logan. "How do you even know the key is in there?"
"I don’t know with absolute certainty," he admitted. "But I’ve been quietly asking questions about Helen’s belongings without making it obvious what I’m looking for. Kaden separated certain personal items after her death. Most went into the royal vault, but smaller things connected to objects he regularly used were stored in the lockers inside his private room."
Hope stirred cautiously inside me. "Which locker?"
Logan gave me a long look, and my heart immediately sank again.
"You don’t know," I said.
"I’ve never even been inside that room, Rebecca."
I stared at him in disbelief. "What? But you’re his Beta. You have access to practically everything!"
"Practically," Logan emphasized. "Not that room. Nobody has access to it except Kaden. I don’t know the code to the entrance, and I don’t know what’s inside most of those lockers. All I know is that if the locket has a separate key, that room is the most likely place Kaden would keep it."
I started pacing, frustration building with every step. This was becoming more ridiculous by the second. "So let me understand this. The pin that opens my choker is trapped inside this locket. The key that opens this locket is probably trapped inside one of several lockers inside Kaden’s secret room. And the only person who can get into that room is Kaden."
"That’s basically it."
"Wonderful." I threw both hands into the air. "Absolutely fucking wonderful."
Stephanie bit her lip, obviously trying not to laugh. I shot her a glare before turning back to Logan. "What’s the code?"
He shook his head.
"You don’t know that either?"
"No."
I groaned and dragged both hands down my face. There had to be a way. I’d already been inside that room once, although that had only happened because Kaden had taken me there himself. I knew where the concealed entrance was, but knowing where a door was meant absolutely nothing if I couldn’t open it.
"Then how the fuck am I supposed to get inside?"
"That’s what we need to figure out."
I stared at him incredulously. "You’re the one who came here saying you had information!"
"I gave you information. I didn’t say I had a complete plan."
I dropped onto the edge of my bed, staring down at the locket in my hand. Every answer seemed to create another problem. The pin was right there. I could literally hear the damn thing whenever I shook the locket, yet somehow it still felt miles away.
Logan sighed before his expression turned serious. "Rebecca, listen to me. Don’t underestimate that room. Kaden values his privacy, and nobody is allowed inside without him. If he catches you trying to break into it, there isn’t an excuse in the world that’s going to explain why Ruby—the supposedly amnesiac pregnant woman staying here with his brother—is trying to enter the Alpha King’s most private room. Especially when he’s already suspicious of you."
"I know."
"Do you? Because you’ve spent the past week doing the exact opposite of laying low."
My jaw tightened, while Stephanie suddenly became extremely interested in staring at the floor.
Logan sighed. "I’m not attacking you. I’m warning you. Whatever you decide to do, you cannot get caught."
I looked down at the locket again and curled my fingers around it. So fucking close. I hadn’t survived everything I’d been through just to stop because there was another locked door standing in my way.
"I’ll think of something."
Logan stared at me suspiciously. "Don’t do anything stupid. Let’s wait for Kane to return."
I frowned. "Alpha kane won’t be able to help. So what do you expect me to do? Give up?"
"No. But don’t do anything on your own..."
I frowned but didn’t answer. Instead, I walked toward the window and stared down at the courtyard below. Kaden had spent the entire day avoiding me because I’d asked him to. I’d finally gotten exactly what I wanted—distance between us. And now, somehow, getting my freedom required me to destroy that distance myself.
The irony almost made me laugh.
"I just need to find a way to get him to take me into that room," I murmured.
The room suddenly went quiet.
I glanced over my shoulder and found both Logan and Stephanie staring at me strangely.
"What?"
Logan raised an eyebrow. "And how exactly do you plan on convincing Kaden to take you into his private room?"
"I don’t know yet." I looked down at the locket and tightened my fingers around it. "But I’ll find a way."
Even as I said it, my stomach twisted, because after everything that had happened between Kaden and me last night, there was one very obvious way I could probably convince him to take me there.
Logan stared at me for a long, heavy moment, his eyes searching my face for any sign that I was joking. When he saw none, he let out a harsh breath and shook his head, pushing himself up from the table.
"Stay low, Rebecca," he warned, his voice dropped into a low, serious tone. "I mean it. Don’t go looking for trouble, and don’t do anything reckless while Kane is still away. One wrong move right now will ruin everything."
Without waiting for my answer, Logan stepped silently to the door, checked the empty corridor, and slipped out into the hallway.
The moment the door clicked shut, the room fell into a heavy, suffocating silence.
I kept my back to Stephanie, staring out the window at the courtyard below. But I could feel her eyes burning into me.
"Rebecca," Stephanie said slowly, her voice laced with sudden caution as she took a step toward me. "How exactly do you intend to make Alpha Kaden take you in there?"
I didn’t respond. I kept my jaw tight, my gaze fixed on the garden below, my fingers clutching the locket so hard the metal bit into my palm.
A quiet beat passed. Then I heard Stephanie catch her breath.
"Oh my God," she whispered, overwhelmed by horror and disbelief. "Oh my God, Rebecca, no."
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