Cruel Shame (Knights of Templar Academy #3) - Sofia Daniel Page 0,34

her?”

“The husband confined her to an attic room, while he acted as though the wealth he had married into was his own.” Kendrick took a long drag from his Irish coffee and licked the cream from his lips. “No matter what my grandfather said, she wouldn’t admit to needing help. Eventually, she stopped answering letters or allowing visitors. The last our family heard about her was an announcement of her husband’s remarriage.”

I slumped in my seat. “You think my mother’s life is at risk?”

“Your stepfather is as odious as he is dangerous.”

Kendrick was right. Billy Hancock wasn’t about to plot Mother’s murder but might bring about her death from drink and drugs and domestic violence. I wrapped my fingers around the warm mug, my mind swirling around the unsolvable dilemma that was my mother.

Sometimes, I didn’t know if I was fixating too much on Billy Hancock being the root of her addiction. Until recently I’d discovered that her problems started with Father Neapolitan, the Liddells, and the fallout from her getting pregnant with me.

A rush of guilt tightened my chest. I cleared my throat, pushed thoughts of being the product of rape to the back of my mind, and took another sip of the hot chocolate.

Kendrick set down his mug. “You must have a tremendously strong will to have escaped those people unscathed.”

I raised my shoulders. “Because of Billy Hancock, I’m terrified of dogs.”

He nodded, realization flickering across his eyes about the barbed comment the older man made about keeping the kennels shut. “I have a newfound respect for your resilience. If you can survive a man like Hancock, you can survive the Liddels.”

“But Mr. Burgh—”

“The plan you told your mother was sound. Even if she won’t raise a word in the headmaster’s defense, clinical evidence that Mr. Burgh is your maternal grandfather will disprove Elizabeth’s allegations.”

“I wish there was something I could do about her,” I muttered.

Kendrick tightened his lips but didn’t reply.

“What?” I said.

“Elizabeth is…” He rotated his eyes to the side.

Now it was my time to purse my lips. I hoped this wasn’t the part of the evening where he defended the honor of the girl who strung him along for years.

Kendrick met my gaze. “Elizabeth isn’t intelligent enough to have concocted everything by herself.” I opened my mouth to speak, but he raised a palm. “She’s vindictive, resourceful, and determined, but this plan to discredit Mr. Burgh must have come from her mother.”

I nodded. Everything he said so far made sense. The mere fact that Elizabeth decided to use the cocaine she’d received from her family instead of planting it in my room said she wasn’t the mastermind behind the plot to tear me down. “But what are you saying?”

“There might be a way to resolve this with Elizabeth’s help.”

I shook my head. “She’ll never side with me against her family. Besides, she’s crazy.”

Kendrick picked up his drink and took two long sips. “She wasn’t nearly this erratic last year. And you said yourself, she acted as though she was high on cocaine.”

The server came and guided us out of the bar area and into a gorgeous sunroom restaurant. Three of its walls were floor-to-ceiling glass, with a vaulted glass atrium that reflected the cloudy, dark sky. Outdoor lights beyond the windows illuminated manicured gardens of snowdrops and violas growing among colored shrubs.

Moments after we sat at a corner table, the waiter brought our first course, cured salmon on a bed of roasted fennel and aioli, a garlic mayonnaise sauce.

“You want me to appeal to her better nature?” I asked.

“Appeal to her weaknesses.” His gaze swept down my body. “With hindsight, I understand why she got those other girls expelled. They were blonde, petite, pretty, and had refused her advances. She would do anything to stop the knowledge of her preferences from going public.”

I clutched at my knife and fork. “If you’re saying I should seduce her—”

“Not at all.” His cheeks turned pink, and he lowered his forearms over his crotch. “Elizabeth spent years leading others to believe they stood a chance at winning her. In doing so, she amassed a crowd of followers, willing to do her bidding.”

Nodding, I cut a slice of salmon and let his words percolate in my head. I’d feel shitty about pretending to like someone, even if it was Elizabeth. She was also as strong as an ape and powered by insanity. Getting into a room alone with her could be disastrous. I shook off those thoughts. Kendrick’s idea was