dignity to ribbons. He stared at his shoes as they tried to marry me off to a monster to save their properties. He had been a coward. But unlike Eleanor and Harper, he had never carried true malice in his heart—only an exquisite, fatal weakness.
“Sit down, Dad,” I said gently, gesturing to a chair.
Richard lowered himself into a tall dining chair, breathing unevenly. “They told me you were ashamed to see me. Eleanor told me that you had fallen so low… that you were working in a filthy