Page 25 of Broken Princess
“I get that, but who the hell do you think you are?” I said, cheeks flaming with indignant fury. “What makes you think the Hales deserve to rule over anyone else at any point in history?”
“We belong at the top because we’re the best. It’s our rightful place,” she replied, lifting her chin.
“Bullshit.”
She narrowed her eyes. “Most people on this planet are idiotic sheep, Willow. They have no idea what’s best for them or their country. But we do. We’re smarter and better in every conceivable way. Why do you think we’ve managed to amass so much money and power over the centuries?”
I scoffed. “The Hales aren’t better than anyone. You’re just lucky that you were born into a rich family in the right time period. That’s all it is. Luck,” I retorted bitterly. “Oh, and as for the fortune you managed to amass… I’m guessing a sizable chunk of that was made via this mansion, right?”
“Yes.”
“Running a modern slave market doesn’t make you or your family smarter or better than other people,” I hissed. “It makes you disgusting monsters.”
“Don’t be so dramatic,” Liz said, rolling her eyes. “You know as well as I do that people aren’t equal. Some are born to be slaves while others are born to rule.”
I folded my arms. “Is that what you think I was born to do? To be a slave?” I asked. “Is that why you convinced my father to sell me to the Thornes when I was just a baby? So I could be Logan’s slave in the future?”
“Not at all. I purchased you for the family for one main reason, and it had nothing to do with slavery,” Liz replied tartly.
“What was it, then?”
“Well, I knew the public wouldn’t turn on your mother right away when the Rutherford allegations came out, because it would seem too shocking. Too unbelievable. Like a soap opera.”
“Right,” I said stiffly.
Liz held up a palm to shush me so she could continue. “I needed something to undermine her credibility before all of that happened, so that the masses would already distrust her when the murder scandal finally came about as planned. When I found out your father was in debt to my husband all those years ago, I realized it was the perfect opportunity. If I bought you and ensured you would marry into a family of known Democratic party supporters one day—the Thornes—that would provide me with the exact ammunition I needed. People would wonder why the Republican president’s own daughter didn’t seem to support her party or policies, and they’d start to become wary of her. Around the same time, my associates and I would ensure that the murder scandal came to light. It would create a perfect storm.”
I swallowed hard. “So all of these schemes of yours… they’re planned decades in advance?”
“Usually, yes.” Liz smiled proudly. “I actually ended up needing you for something else, though. Something I didn’t foresee twenty years ago.”
“What was it?”
“Remember how I said my family planned to step out of the shadows eventually? Rule publicly for the first time?”
“Yes.”
“I wanted it to be Logan who crossed that line,” she said, a dreamy expression crossing her face. “Even as a young boy, he exhibited all of the characteristics of a great future leader. He was always so interested in politics, too. I planned to groom him to follow that interest so he would become president one day, around the age of forty-five or fifty. By that stage, the AUP would’ve been in power for a while. So really, he’d be more of a king than a president.”
“But he lost interest in politics.”
She nodded. “Yes. I didn’t foresee that happening. I’m not psychic, after all. But I realized I could use you to get him interested again,” she said. “He wouldn’t listen to me, because in order to hide my status from him, I’ve had to pretend to be nothing but his silly, air-headed old mother. But I knew he’d listen to you. His future wife.”
I licked my dry lips. “So all of the things you said during our chats were lies designed to manipulate me into getting Logan on your side.”
She frowned. “I don’t think I ever lied to you, Willow,” she said, tapping her chin with one finger.
“Yes, you did! You told me your relationship with Chuck was forced on you because of a contract just like mine. All to make me feel sorry for you, I presume.”
She arched a brow and smiled. “No, I actually didn’t say that. All I ever said was that the circumstances were similar. And they were. My marriage to Chuck was the result of a contract. But not like yours. In our case, Chuck was forced to marry me.”
My eyes widened. “What?”
“My family wanted and needed his family close to ours in order to carry out certain parts of our plan. So my father and uncle essentially bought Chuck from his parents in a similar fashion to how we bought you from your father.” She paused and let out a snort of laughter. “Why do you think Chuck is always screwing around with whores and talking down to me? He can’t stand me. He never wanted to marry me. But he was forced to do it, and he knows he can never divorce me. My family are too powerful to let him get away with breaking his contract.”
“Jesus,” I muttered.
She shrugged. “See? I didn’t lie to you. I just presented the information to you in an ambiguous way.”
