Page 86 of Broken Princess
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 eventually 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.”
