I disagree with you on the notion of free will for consciousness. Consciousness is the result of the interaction between neurons in our brain, and it still falls within all the things that get affected by cause and effect.

Even if you believe that the existence of consciousness is something extraordinary, something different than inanimate materials, an exception to the rule, you still can't disagree that our brain's evolution, memories, experiences, instincts, fears, feelings, are all affected by how things, animate and inanimate, interact around us and have done so since the beginning of the universe.

Which is why in reality, we do not have free will. It looks as if we do though, which is just as good I guess. The reason is that there are so many parameters to take into account in countless systems, that one can never practically calculate all of them. Therefore, they appear random and for us, it feels real. @jsxchemistry has written a nice article explaining this concept.

It is very important to realize that every single decision you take as a human is based on factors such as your childhood experiences, your hormonal levels, the society you grew up in, your parasites, your intestinal bacteria, your religion, cultures and languages you have been exposed to, your parents' ideologies, your genetic predisposition, your mother's practices during pregnancy, your current age, your immune system, environmental triggers and many, many others.

These are what make you unique. So many factors are combined that cannot be replicated, so each of us is different than other people. In that sense you are not "you" and your decisions are not "yours". You are just the culmination of all the above chaotic interactions. So all of these factors have "decided" for you before your conscious thinking did.