by Hart, Stella
Chuck held his hands up. “I understand how difficult it is to believe me on this issue, but it’s the truth. I was completely unaware of my wife’s true nature and motivations until recently, when my son came to me with his newfound knowledge,” he said. He coughed and went on. “As most of you know, Elizabeth passed away last week from complications related to a rare and deadly form of hemophilia. Many of you have sent our family messages of condolence, flowers, and gifts, and while I am grateful for the sympathy, I would like to ask you to stop. My wife doesn’t deserve to be mourned. Her memory should fade into oblivion, just like her family and their sick, twisted empire should.”
“How do we know you aren’t just saying this to cover your own ass?” the bald man in the front row called out, eyes narrowed.
Chuck clenched his jaw. “While she was acting as our supreme leader, my wife attempted to kill our daughter Chloe,” he said in an acid tone. “You all know how close I was with Chloe before her so-called accident. If I’d known it was my wife who was ultimately responsible for the hit and run which left Chloe in her current state, I would’ve killed her myself.”
A deep mutter went around the room.
“What’s happening with the Hales and the shadow council now that Q is dead?” someone called out from the middle.
“Logan, Willow, and their friend Rowan, who assisted them in their investigation, have handed over everything they know to the FBI. The entire shadow council has been arrested and detained, along with several members of my wife’s family, and Lilith Hall is crawling with agents as we speak. Ledgers have been found on the premises with the names of every single person who has used Lilith Hall or purchased a slave from there since its inception, and those who are still alive will be arrested and charged soon. Furthermore, the young girls and boys who were residing at the Hall are safe now. However, they will need our support in the years to come. Lots of it,” Chuck replied. He swallowed thickly. “As for myself and the other fourteen high council members… we are cooperating with the case investigators. While we were ignorant as to what ultimately happened to the babies born right here in the Order headquarters, we were still responsible for many parts of the scheme. This makes us complicit in the shadow council’s activity, and we understand that we must be held responsible for our actions. That is the only way forward from here—full accountability.”
Logan patted his father on the shoulder as he spoke. His other hand remained entwined with mine, squeezing my fingers tightly.
“So that’s it, then?” the dark-haired woman called out. “The Order is done?”
Logan dropped my hand and stepped forward. “Not exactly,” he said. “The Order as we previously knew it is over, obviously, seeing as the media and general public are going to find out about it, along with the terrible things my mother did when she was the leader. But we know the society is capable of doing good things, too. It’s happened before, even if it was only part of the Hale agenda, right?”
A few people nodded. Logan went on, voice crisp and clear. “We believe that with the right leadership, we can keep the Order going, and we can continue to use our connections, knowledge, and wealth to do positive things for the world. For the actual greater good, not just the Hale family’s twisted idea of the greater good,” he said. “As my father just stated, we believe in full accountability for this new version of the society. No more secret leaders and shadow members, no more puppet councils, and no more murder schemes. Every member will be aware of everything that goes on.”
“But your father and the rest of the high council will probably be going to prison soon,” the bald man said. “They might get decent plea deals for cooperating, unlike the others, but they’ll still be going away for a while. So who the hell is going to act as our leader until they’re all out? You?”
Logan briefly shook his head. “It’s too much power for one person to carry on their own,” he said. He paused and grabbed my hand, pulling me forward. “So… we’ve decided that Willow and I will act as co-leaders for the new Order.”
The room went into an uproar after that. At least a hundred members shouted their disagreement toward the central stage, faces arranged into furious expressions, while others murmured to each other behind their hands, looking more curious or confused than angry.
The outspoken bald man in the front row leapt up. “You’re in your fucking twenties. What the hell would you know about leadership? What would you even know about the world?” he snarled. “The leader needs to be someone like me. Older and wiser.”
Logan’s lips flattened. “Let me ask you something, Nicholson. Did you manage to uncover Q’s identity and take down a ring of sex traffickers who intended on staging a coup right here in America within the next twenty years?” he said, eyes narrowing. “Oh, you didn’t? Then sit the fuck down.”
Several people chuckled at that. Nicholson slumped into his seat, glowering at us.
Logan raised his palms. “Look, everyone, I understand your concerns. I really do. I’m young, and Willow is even younger. But you all know what we’ve done now. You know we can be trusted, and you also know we can’t be corrupted,” he said. “My mother offered me the world when I told her that I knew who she really was. She could’ve given me all of the power I could ever imagine, and all I had to do in return was stay quiet about her family and the Order’s true goal. I could’ve accepted that, but I didn’t. I’m here instead, telling the truth about her.”
“I suppose that’s true,” a reluctant voice said from the back of the space.
Logan put his arm on my shoulder. “Willow is stronger than any of you could possibly imagine. She’s also smart and compassionate. She might not have much experience in leadership, but I know she’ll be great at it,” he said. “And just to mitigate any lingering concerns you might have about how young and green we are, we’ll be forming an advisory council to help us lead the new Order. This council will be made up of twelve older and more experienced members.” He paused and focused his gaze on the front row. “We might even consider you for that, Nicholson, if you lose the shitty attitude.”
Nicholson simply grunted in response, face twisted into a scowl.
“Anyone who isn’t happy with the new arrangement is free to leave the society,” Logan went on. “There will be no threats of retribution like there used to be when Q was in charge. Anyone can revoke their membership at any time for any reason.”
I expected several people to get up and walk out when he said that, but no one did. Nicholson, however, stood up again.
“This is ridiculous,” he said, hands curled into fists by his side. “I want the Order to stay, but not if you two are in charge. I deserve to be the leader far more than either of you.”
Logan raised an eyebrow. “Why?”
“Because I’ve dedicated thirty years of my life to this society,” he snapped. “I shouldn’t be relegated to an advisory council position, or worse, nothing at all. I deserve more. More than you, anyway.”
Logan lifted his chin. “How many of you agree with him?” he asked. “How many of you don’t want me or Willow in charge, despite everything we’ve done to right the wrongs of this society already?”
Surprisingly, only fifty or so people put their hands up. The vast majority seemed to have swung around in our favor already.
Nicholson turned to scan the crowd. “Listen to me,” he called out. “We’ve all loved being members of this society, so when Logan says he wants to keep it going despite everything, it’s exciting to hear. I understand that. But here’s the thing—it can only remain a secret as a result of our silence. If one of us goes out and tells the world that the son of Elizabeth Hale is running a secret society in the same tunnels where she ran all of her evil schemes, chaos will ensue. The public will assume the worst; that he’s just like his mother. There’ll be protests. Riots. Most of you will want to distance yourself from that drama, and then the new version of the Order will crumble until it has no power or influence left. It’ll ev
entually turn into a punchline, and these hidden halls will become a tourist destination.” He turned back to Logan with a smug smile. “How do you like the sound of that?”
Logan cocked his head to one side. “So you’re threatening to expose us if we don’t make you the leader?” he said coolly.
Nicholson folded his arms. “I’m just making a point,” he said. “If you don’t have our unanimous support, the new Order could—and likely will—cease to exist before it’s even achieved anything.”
Logan nodded slowly. “That’s true. Any one of you could betray us to the outside world,” he said. He turned to me with a smile. “That reminds me… Willow, would you like to tell everyone about the box?”
I nodded and headed to the back of the dais. A large cardboard box sat behind one of the thrones. I pushed it over to the front, and then I leaned down and patted the top.
“Last week, we discovered something else about the Order that we haven’t shared yet,” I called out to the captivated crowd. “Liz was pretty old-school. Even though we were all told that the secrets and confessions we gave up on our pledge nights were digitized and stored on a server, that was actually a lie. The truth is, Liz kept everyone’s secrets stored in a safe instead of a computer. There were paper copies of everything as well as a hard drive containing all of the audio recordings of the confessions.”
I stopped and waited for a few seconds as a nervous titter went around the room.
“Liz told us about the safe and gave up the code just before she died. A last-minute bout of remorse, I suppose,” I finally went on. “We made copies of everything in there and brought them to show you today. It’s all right here in this box.”
“Why did you bring it?” someone asked. There was a distinct edge to their voice.
I smiled. “Just in case,” I replied. “We don’t want to run the Order the way Liz did, because loyalty based on fear and blackmail isn’t our style. So we originally planned on telling you that we intend to destroy every member’s confession. That way we can really start things off on the right foot. However, we realized that we might run into a little bit of opposition in the early stages, so for now, we’ve decided we aren’t above using the secrets in this box. We don’t want to do it, of course, but if push comes to shove, we will.”
Nicholson’s eyes narrowed. “What will you do, exactly?”
“What do you think?” I asked, lifting my brows.
“I want to hear you say it.”
“Fine.” I lifted my chin. “Like Logan said before—if anyone isn’t happy with the new arrangement and they want to leave, that’s fine. No hard feelings. Your secrets will remain safe and hidden, and eventually, they will be destroyed. I can promise you that. However, if you want to threaten us, we’ll have to defend ourselves with the only weapon we have at our disposal.” I focused on Nicholson again. “For example, I’m sure the media would love to know all about your secret.”
His face blanched. “You wouldn’t dare,” he muttered.
“Wouldn’t I?” I replied. I crouched next to the box and opened it up before leafing through several manila folders. Then I pulled out a thin white envelope and opened it up. “You made this confession thirty years ago, Nicholson, so there are a lot of members here today who’ve never heard it. I’ll read it out to them now, just so you know how serious I am about handing this over to the media if you ever threaten the society again.”
I paused to take a deep breath, and then I held up the piece of paper from the envelope and unfolded it. “During his confession on Pledge Night, Nicholson stated that—”
“Enough!” he snapped, holding up a hand. “I see your point. There’s no need for you to continue.”
I smiled sweetly. “Are you sure?”
“Yes,” he replied, shoulders slumping. “You have my word. I won’t say anything to anyone beyond these walls, and I’ll give you and Logan a chance to lead for a few months before I make up my mind. If I’m still unhappy then, I’ll leave quietly.”
“That’s all we’re asking for,” Logan said with a solemn nod. “Like Willow said, we really don’t want to use anything in this box. It’s an emergency defense mechanism only. Not a constant, looming threat for everyone, like it used to be.”
“What about the rest of the nay-sayers?” I asked, scanning the crowd. “Will you do the same as Nicholson? Will you give us a chance before you make up your mind?”
The dissenters were silent for a moment. Then they all nodded grudgingly.
“So it’s settled,” Logan said. “You’ll give us a chance, and we’ll show you what we can do.”
“I hope we can prove ourselves worthy,” I added. “Thank you.”
One person started to clap, followed by about five others. Then ten. Slowly, more and more members joined in until the whole room echoed with applause.
“You did well,” Chuck murmured when the meeting was finally over, patting me on the back. “Didn’t back down.”
“After everything that’s happened to me this year, it’ll take more than a crowd of angry secret society members to make me back down,” I said with a wry smile.
Chuck’s brows gathered together, and he pulled me aside. “I haven’t said this yet, but I probably should’ve,” he muttered, rubbing his chin. Then he fell silent.
“What is it?” I asked, eyes widening.
He lay a hand across his chest. “I don’t ever expect you to forgive me, and that’s fine. I just want you to know that I’m sorry about the way you were treated when you first arrived at Thorne Hall. I’m sorry about the contract, too,” he said gruffly. “It was wrong. I was wrong.”
I swallowed hard before nodding. “It’s okay, Chuck. I forgive you.”
I would be a hypocrite if I refused to forgive him. After all, I forgave Logan for doing far worse things to me.
Besides, I understood Chuck’s motivations a lot more now that I knew the truth about everything. He’d been forced into a loveless marriage with Liz and remained trapped in it for over two decades, and all of those years with a woman he despised had chipped away at his soul. He’d developed a general disdain for women as the result of his hateful feelings toward Liz, and he wound up treating them accordingly. Me included. Chloe was the only one who escaped his sexist wrath, because she was his daughter, and he couldn’t help but love her unconditionally despite everything.
He nodded, gave me a sad smile and stepped away. Despite the forgiveness I’d offered him, I knew he would never forgive himself for the things he’d done. Not only to me, but to every other baby he’d brokered a contract for down here in the Order Hall. Even if he got out of prison in just a few short years, he’d have to live with that guilt and shame forever.
Most of the society members were filtering out of the ceremonial chamber now. Next to me, Logan was resealing the cardboard box. I crouched to his level and whispered in his ear. “What do you think would’ve happened if anyone realized the box was empty?”
A devious smile played on his lips as he turned to look at me. “It’s not empty.”
I let out a soft laugh. “Well, yeah, it’s full of files and papers, but they’re all blank. Same thing.”
He winked. “No one suspected anything, so it’s fine.”
I grinned and leaned in to let him kiss my forehead.
His mother didn’t really experience a moment of remorse as she lay dying in the sitting room seven days ago. The truth was: she remained a cold bitch until the second the light faded from her eyes. We did ask her about the Order confessions, though, and she told us they were stored in her safe. Then she informed us that she was the only one who knew the code, and it was the sort of safe that was impossible for even the most seasoned experts to crack open without automatically destroying the contents.
She refused to give us the code, of course, out of pure spite. Those secrets remained hers and hers alone.
Just in case some new technology came along in the future that would render the safe openable, Logan and
I took it out to the middle of the Potomac, weighed it down with chains, and tossed it into the water yesterday afternoon. Now no one would ever discover the secrets of the Order members.
We needed a contingency plan, though, because we had a sneaking suspicion that a few dissenters might pop up when we announced our desire to lead the society, so we decided to bluff our way out of the situation with the box of fake secrets. We figured no one would want their so-called confessions to be read out aloud to everyone, and Nicholson proved us right on that count.
I knew it was hypocritical of us to do such a thing, given our call for a new Order free of lies, but it needed to be done. Just a little white lie to ensure everything ran smoothly from here on out.
“Doesn’t this feel strange?” I said as Logan pulled back to finish sealing the box.
He lifted his brows. “Does what feel strange?”
“The way everything has just… ended,” I said slowly, tilting my head to one side. “I mean, I know the media is going to go nuts once the story gets out, and they’ll probably hound us for ages, but all of the danger is gone. Everyone who threatened us is either dead or locked up.” I paused for a beat and swallowed hard. “It’s all over. Just like that.”
Logan smiled gently. Then he rose to his feet and pulled me up with him, wrapping his arms around my waist. He locked his hands on my lower back and leaned down to kiss me again, hot lips sending shivers through my body as they lingered on my neck.
“All of that might be over,” he murmured against my ear. “But not us. Never us.”
20
Willow
One year later
‘After a tumultuous eighteen months serving out the rest of President Theodore Rutherford’s term after his passing, President Quinn Rhoades has announced that she will not be seeking reelection in November 2020. Earlier this morning, she gave a brief and informal statement about this to reporters outside the White House. Here’s that statement now.’