Trials and Tiaras (Untouchable #7) - Heather Long Page 0,89

been a noticeable shift in her demeanor. She didn’t back down, and if anything, all the knocks that kept hitting her had made her stronger.

I flicked a look from her to the grandparents, who both wore controlled expressions, even if Eugene’s slipped a little at her question. She’d scored a mark on them. Considering she’d only just met them and wasn’t as familiar with this world as I was, she may not have seen it. But I had.

At the same time, if they compared her to Maddy again, I was going to rip them a new asshole. Frankie was nothing like Maddy. Polite courtesy only went so far.

Eugene cracked first and leaned forward, focusing on her. “I don’t know if our explanation will ever be enough.”

“Maybe not,” Frankie agreed as she lifted her chin. The determination in her eyes seemed to gleam even brighter. I needed to tell her later just how stunning she was in that dark green sweater, jeans, and boot combo she had on. Maybe when I peeled it all off. “But I’d like to hear it one way or another.”

With a glance at his wife, Eugene sighed. “Your mother—Madeline…” he began, then hesitated again. “A parent never wants to talk ill of their own child.” His lips turned down, but the droop to his shoulders disappeared as he sat a little straighter. “She was a difficult, demanding, and very competitive child. These are not negative traits, not really.”

“We encouraged it,” Patience admitted, and while Eugene could hold Frankie’s gaze, she couldn’t. She kept looking away. “Perhaps too much. I had…three miscarriages while Madeline was young, and each time, she grew more agitated with me for trying to have another child. I thought at first she was just trying to excel to prove to me I didn’t need to have another one. Selfishly, I wanted to think the best of her that she didn’t want me to be sad.”

Eugene put a hand over his wife’s. “When we couldn’t have more children, we accepted it and focused all of our energy on Maddy. She was such a happy child for a long time. She excelled at school, at home, in all of her extracurriculars. She was charming, delightful, and won the hearts of everyone who knew her.”

Yeah, I might have to throw up if they keep this line of the story going. Rather than comment, I kept my focus on Frankie. From the moment she’d asked the question, I’d settled a hand on her thigh. Our legs were pressed together, but I wanted her to remember she wasn’t alone.

“Again, I have to stress she was happy. Or so we thought. When we enrolled her at Blue Ivy Prep, we did it because she wanted it. The agreement was initially, she would say there during the week and come home on the weekends. By the time she reached seventh grade, however, she wanted the full immersive experience, so she alternated weekends she came home. By the first year of ninth, she stopped coming home except for holidays.” Patience looked so troubled. “We thought it normal. She was a young lady, she wanted to assert her independence.” When she flicked a look at me, she didn’t have to tell me that was also the year she and my dad had probably started dating.

“We’ve always been close with your family, Archie, as I’m sure you’re aware,” Eugene said, taking up the thread, even as Frankie’s hand slid over mine. I turned mine over, and we interlocked our fingers. “She and Edward practically grew up together, but I don’t think they really noticed each other until that year. The relationship accelerated at an unseemly rate.”

“We don’t really need those details,” Frankie said with a faint grimace.

“Good thing, because I don’t particularly relish sharing them.” Eugene’s voice had grown stronger. “That was also the year she began to act out. We heard through sources of her throwing her weight around at school. She’d gotten access to a small trust fund set up by my mother. It was for incidentals, pocket change.”

If it was anything like the one I came into, then it would’ve been a lot more money to Frankie than they realized. Fortunately, they skipped ahead and didn’t focus on that.

“She began to host illegal parties,” Patience said with a sigh. “The headmaster tended to overlook these infractions because we contributed a great deal of money to the school.”

Frankie shot me a look, and I gave her a little shrug. I couldn’t