Page 24 of Broken Princess
“We did that. We used Order members and their connections to obtain damaging information on prominent Democrats, and then we used that information to destroy them. At this point, there have been so many scandals in the party that the vast majority of their supporters have grown sick and tired of it. They have no chance of winning an election for decades to come.”
“I see.” I tilted my chin to one side. “You’ve been destroying the Republicans just as much, haven’t you?”
Liz smiled victoriously. “Yes. Our plan there was different. We used your mother,” she said. “We saw her political potential years ago, along with Theodore Rutherford’s. We knew how much the two of them would appeal to voters. So we used our connections to ensure that Rutherford would eventually become president, and we also ensured your mother would become his vice president.”
“Then you killed Rutherford so you could frame my mother.”
“Not right away. First, we installed Jamie on his staff as a senior aide. Jamie then forged a relationship with your mother and convinced her that she should be the president instead, and he promised to betray Rutherford and help her make it happen.”
“Then you killed him.”
Liz smiled again. “Yes. Jamie poisoned him at his birthday party, under my orders. He also set up that conversation by the pool with your mother, where he provoked her into saying certain incriminating things. He secretly filmed it all so it could be leaked to the media later in order to make her look guilty.”
My brows furrowed. “But Jamie is about to be indicted, because that tape made him look guilty too. He’ll probably spend the rest of his life in prison.”
Liz shook her head. “No, darling. The plan is for Jamie to pretend to flip on your mom and cut a deal with the DOJ in return for immunity. He’ll claim that it was all your mother’s idea, and that she was the one who poisoned Rutherford. He’ll also say she seduced him into helping her cover up the murder, and he was so blinded by his feelings for her that he didn’t realize how terrible it was until the last minute.”
“So my mom will be completely destroyed,” I said in a hollow voice. “Even though she’s totally innocent.”
“Yes. Because of that, the Republican party’s image will be ruined as well,” Liz said. “Thus, both major parties are completely wrecked in the eyes of the public. No one will want to vote for either of them.”
“So that’s the problem you’ve manufactured. You’ve convinced the general public that the two-party system is broken and unsalvageable. Filled with snakes.”
“Yes. Good girl,” Liz said, reaching over to pat my head like I was a well-behaved pet. “Can you guess what our solution is?”
I let out a deep sigh. “The centrist party you’ve been supporting behind Chuck’s back. It’s really a front for the Hales, isn’t it?”
“That’s right, darling!” she said, clasping her hands together. “The American Unity Party. The representatives currently in it—like Jeremy Carlton—are our puppets.”
“What’s going to happen with it?”
“We’ll use every connection we have to ensure they win the next election,” she said. “Fifty years ago, it would’ve been impossible for a third party to win, given the state of politics at the time, but over the last few decades, we’ve pushed things to the point where people will actually come out in droves to vote for them.”
“And then you’ll use the party to erode people’s rights and freedoms, won’t you?” I said, upper lip curling with disgust. “You’ll do it so slowly that they’ll barely notice it’s happening.”
“Exactly. We’ll do that until the AUP is the only viable party left. Any other contenders will be smashed into submission.” Liz let out a satisfied sigh. “America will eventually become a true one-party state, and then we can finally step out of the shadows and put ourselves back where we belong. In charge.”
I shook my head slowly. “So the Order’s overall goal is to destroy democracy and form a twisted new kind of monarchy with your family as the rulers.”
“Yes.”
My eyes widened as a light bulb suddenly switched on in my mind.
When Logan and I went to question Chloe about Q’s identity a few weeks ago, we were suspicious of my mother. Because of that preconceived notion, we heard what we wanted to hear through Chloe’s rasping mutters.
We were wrong.
She wasn’t saying ‘Q is for Quinn’, and when she stuttered the word ‘mother’, she wasn’t referring to my mom. She knew it was her mother, and she knew what the codename stood for.
Q is for Queen.
I gritted my teeth. “That’s where your codename came from. You picked it because you fancy yourself as the rightful queen of this country.”
Liz smiled. “Yes. I know it seems a little on the nose, but I couldn’t resist.”
I shook my head slowly. “Do you know how insane all of this sounds?” I asked. “I mean, your family has been biding their time for over a hundred and fifty years and destroying countless lives, just so they can eventually have a chance at ruling the country one day. It’s absurd.”
“Well, we had to do it very slowly, or else it would seem like a coup,” Liz said, forehead creasing. “We needed it to look like a natural progression of society.”
