Page 95 of Sinful Palace

“Yes.”

I’d struggled to keep this from her over the last six days, but in the end I felt it was necessary. She’d been so depressed and listless over the loss of her father—understandably—and I worried if I told her such a shocking new piece of information, it might tip her into a deeper state of despair.

It wasn’t that I thought she was weak. I just knew that everyone had a limit of how much shit they could have piled on top of them before they finally broke.

There was once a time when I wanted Willow broken, but that had passed. Especially now that I knew the truth about her and Chloe.

If anyone deserved to be broken and tortured now, it was me.

Willow’s eyes narrowed. “That’s ridiculous. You do remember that Q is the one who brokered the contract between your family and my dad, right? Why would she want to sell me and then act like she knows nothing about it? I mean, you remember how she behaved when she found out we were engaged, don’t you? She was furious. Why would she be so mad about it if she’s the one who arranged it all in the first place?”

“She could’ve just been acting like she was mad so we’d never suspect her.”

Willow scoffed. “No. No way. Q just killed my dad. Not to mention how we’re ninety-nine percent certain that Q and some other Order members leaked all of that Rutherford stuff to create this scandal for my mom. You literally agreed with me just a few weeks ago when I said that someone is probably setting her up!”

“I know. I changed my mind.”

She folded her arms. “Why would my mom kill my father and tank her own career by making everyone think she murdered the last president?”

I held up a hand. “I know it sounds insane, but it actually makes a twisted kind of sense to me.”

“How?”

“Have you ever heard of a false flag operation?”

Her brows furrowed. “That’s when someone does something but they make it look like someone else was responsible, right?” she said. “Like when a right-wing person carries out a terrorist attack, but then people start saying stuff like: ‘it was really the other side; they staged the whole thing just to make the right look bad’. They’re accusing the other side of a false flag.”

“Exactly.” I leaned forward again. “I was thinking… what if that’s what your mom is doing? Something similar, anyway.”

“Huh?”

“Think about it. Her presidency isn’t actually over yet, is it?”

“It might as well be. Half the country is convinced she’s a murderer. She could be impeached or thrown in prison.”

“I know, but hear me out. What if your mom—as Q—really did arrange Rutherford’s death, but she set it up in a way where there’s supposedly irrefutable evidence that someone else did it? Evidence that conveniently hasn’t come out yet,” I said. “At the same time, she could’ve arranged for someone to film that supposedly-incriminating conversation with Jamie and then leaked it to the media herself.”

“You mean it is a set-up, but she’s the one setting herself up? Rather than someone else framing her?”

“Yes, exactly. So for a while, she looks mega-guilty, and everyone makes assumptions and smears her and Jamie in the media.” I paused and leaned back. “Just when things start to look really dire for them, your mom finally leaks the so-called evidence that proves someone else killed Rutherford. Then she goes on a big fucking victory tour.”

Willow slowly shook her head. “Why would she do any of that?”

“Well, for one, she gets to be president with Rutherford dead and out of the way. And secondly, people will come out in droves to support her once they start to believe she was falsely accused and framed by some other party. People fucking hate false accusation stories, because it’s such a massive injustice. It’s a great way to drum up a ton of sympathy.”

“I guess.”

“If that actually winds up happening, voters will massively favor her. Then she’s practically guaranteed to win the next election.”

“That’s a pretty big if.”

“I think it’ll happen,” I said, folding my arms across my chest. “Seriously, I bet you—within the next month or so, new evidence which totally exonerates your mom will be released to the Justice Department and media, and everyone will feel terrible for daring to question her innocence.”

Willow frowned. “You really think she’d take all those risks and do all that stuff just so she can be president for a few years?” she asked, twisting her hands in her lap.

“I know it sounds ridiculous, but we know Q is definitely a woman now, and your mom makes a lot of sense for the role. She’s smart. Crazy-ambitious. Power-hungry. Plus she covered up your involvement in the Chloe incident five years ago. So we already know she’s capable of pulling off extremely shady shit without remorse.”

“That’s true.” Willow chewed her lip. “I still don’t know how she covered it all up and convinced me I was sick the whole time. I didn’t remember any of that while I was under.”

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