Trials and Tiaras (Untouchable #7) - Heather Long Page 0,91

I can’t be too upset about it.” What did they want? An apology? It was Frankie’s turn to grip my hand.

“Maddy seemed to be truly devastated,” Eugene admitted. “She tried to kill herself the day after Muriel and Eddie married.”

Frankie flinched.

“We kept it quiet, swept it away so no one would know, and insisted she go back to her psychologist.” Patience looked away. “Unfortunately, that man was part of the problem. Maddy had seduced him at some point. Then she just ignored us, went back to school like everything was normal, but she was in the social columns constantly, a new man every weekend. She went after all of Eddie’s friends. She was acting out her hurt. And then she got pregnant herself, and I’m afraid that was the final straw.”

“Young lady—Frankie,” Eugene said in a weary voice. “You asked why we didn’t do anything, but we did want to do something for you. At first, we wanted her to marry the father, but she refused to identify him, and then we were quite afraid she’d gone and gotten herself pregnant with Eddie. But that came to naught. When I told her I’d cut her off if she didn’t at least contact the father, she emptied her bank accounts and walked away. She refused to speak to us. The only reason we knew about your birth was because Ted told us.”

That lined up with what Grandpa told me.

“I did try to reach out to her,” Patience said. “After you were born, but she refused to take my calls. Then she disappeared entirely. I found out later she changed her name.” She glanced at her husband. “She used my maiden name—Curtis. We paid a private investigator to find her, and it took time to even realize she had changed her name. That day I came to visit…that was after Eugene’s heart attack. She’d refused all our calls, sent back our letters as addressee unknown, even when we sent them to you. I wanted to try and repair that relationship, but she refused to listen to anything I had to say. What she wanted was for me to apologize and admit we’d been wrong. When I threatened to take you from her, she told me she would kill you first.”

The fuck? Frankie flinched, and I stared at them.

“That is why we withheld contact, because I believed her. You were hers and only hers. The only thing in her life no one could take from her, and she’d kill you before she allowed it.” A distinct fog of tears touched her voice as Patience spoke. “I love Maddy very much, but there is something deeply wrong with her. We should have done more, but…”

“But we were afraid,” Eugene said slowly. “She wanted nothing to do with us or our money. We told her about changing the terms of the trust fund. I’d hoped that would encourage her…”

“Because you thought she wanted your money,” Frankie said in a raw voice that had me wanting to strangle everyone involved. Her nails dug crescents into my hand, but I didn’t let go. She could draw blood if she needed.

“She wants control,” Eugene admitted. “For us to surrender everything to her because we were wrong. After she threatened you, though, we couldn’t risk it, so we backed off. You seemed happy and healthy according to Patience.”

Frankie snorted as she fell back in the seat.

“We hoped if we gave her what she wanted…”

“You know, it sounds to me like you gave her what she wanted all the time,” Frankie said slowly, and I glanced over to find her not looking at them but looking up at the sky. It was coolish outside, but the sun shone down on their warm little room, giving them an illusion of a much warmer spring. “And you decided that it was better to leave me with someone who threatened to kill me if you interfered. That seemed reasonable to you.”

“She did like to exaggerate,” Patience said quietly, but there was no mistaking the devastation in her voice. They had believed her. It was why they’d retreated.

I could leave it alone, but I wouldn’t. “You don’t believe that,” I said flatly. “You were afraid of her. You have been for a long time. You couldn’t control her, not even with money or power or emotion. You tried to get her help, but she sabotaged that. You covered up her crimes, bought her out of trouble, and then when a child was involved, you