Page 62 of Sinful Palace

“Yeah. Anyway, I saw a pregnant woman in the room. Your dad was there too.”

Logan’s brows shot up again. “You think it was the same woman I saw?”

“No, this one was giving birth,” I said. “The woman you saw had to be a different one, because it was months later.”

“Jesus.”

“That’s really weird, right? Two pregnant women associated with your dad?”

“Yeah. It’s beyond fucking weird,” he said, rubbing his forehead. “So this woman you saw… she was actually having a baby right then and there?”

“Yes. The place was set up like a luxury hospital room.”

“Why haven’t you told me about this before?” he asked. “I’ve been an Order member for four years, and I’ve never heard of a room like that, let alone anyone giving birth down there.”

“I honestly didn’t even remember until you mentioned the other pregnant woman just now,” I said. “I drank something weird that night when I was trying to fit in, so when I woke up the next morning, I felt really groggy and barely remembered anything. The memories just float back to me sometimes. Like when I visit the Order Hall, or when someone brings up something related to what I saw there.”

“Are you sure you saw my dad there?”

“Pretty damn sure. It’s foggy, though.” I rubbed the side of my head, as if that would coax more memories out of hiding. It actually seemed to work, because something else popped into my mind a second later. “I think he was talking to her.”

“About what?”

“I can’t remember exactly what he said, but I think it was about some sort of contract.” I squinted as I tried to remember everything, feeling as if I were straining my brain. “God, it’s all so hazy.”

“A contract?” Logan frowned again. “Like… to take the baby?”

“Yes, I think so.”

“Do you know why?”

“No. But I do know your dad has no problem buying babies from desperate people,” I said, gesturing to myself with both hands. “So I don’t think I imagined the whole thing.”

“Yeah, that’s fair.” He nodded and rubbed his chin. “What do you think it all means?”

“I think it means he probably is Q,” I said, excitement rising in my belly. “Maybe he and his upper-level cronies are operating some sort of baby farm out of the Order Hall. That could be why they keep it from the rest of us. They know most members won’t approve, but they still need their connections and resources. Like what you said the other day—a secret society within a secret society.”

“If that’s true….” He trailed off and shook his head.

“It means there’s a hell of a lot more going on in the upper echelons of the Order than we originally thought.”

“No shit,” he said. He scraped a hand through his hair. “Christ, we sound like a couple of conspiracy nuts.”

My shoulders sagged. “Well… maybe this is nothing, and we’re just trying to find connections because we’re desperate to know everything. Maybe your dad just impregnates his mistresses all the time, and he makes them sign agreements to hide it from your family.”

Logan shook his head. “No way. He might be a pretty shitty parent, but he’s always wanted more kids anyway. If he knocked someone up, he’d want to raise the baby, and he’d easily be able to rope my mom into the whole thing. She basically does whatever he says. Besides, she knows he has affairs all the time, so it wouldn’t be a huge shock to her.”

“So you think he’s definitely up to something weird with this baby stuff?”

He pressed his lips into a thin line. “Yeah. For sure. But does that mean he’s actually Q? I still don’t know if I can picture it.”

I could picture it easily enough. Chuck Thorne regularly terrorized his wife and left her covered in bruises, and he was more than happy to let his son keep a girl in a torture dungeon. He also took that same son to a brothel at the tender age of fourteen, tried to force him to screw a sex worker, and slapped him when he couldn’t.

He hid all of those things from the rest of the world. Easily.

Based on that, it seemed clear to me that he was also capable of leading a corrupt secret society while pretending to everyone else that he was just a normal rich douchebag. He probably only pretended to be an Order council member so he could always be at parties and meetings to keep an eye on everything that went on. Hidden in plain sight.

“I really think it could be him,” I said softly. “Like I said the other day, he fits the profile. Mostly, anyway.”

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