Page 28 of Unforgiving Queen

“You can tell me,” she said softly, but a hint of vehemence showed through. Grandma was a dragon when it came to protecting my sister and me.

“Well, it could have been an immaculate conception sort of deal,” I muttered under my breath. I should have known this conversation was coming. She’d requested my charts, and I hadn’t been in the right frame of mind to ask the doctors to withhold sensitive information.

“Reina, don’t.” Her tone told me she was at her wit’s end. “Just don’t.” I brought my free hand to my neck and started twisting my necklace nervously. Her eyes fell to it. “Still wearing that thing, huh?”

“Yes,” I mumbled. “It reminds me of Mamma.”

She nodded, but something about the look in her eyes was unsettling.

I opened my mouth to say something, but before I could get a word out, images slammed into my brain. Old, rusty memories.

Sadness squeezed my chest as I stared across the water. It was murky today, the gray sky crying right along with us at the loss of Mamma. Phoenix was in her room, but it didn’t matter. I wanted to be alone anyway. I threw little pebbles in the water and twisted the necklace Grandma clipped around my neck when I was getting dressed earlier.

I told her Mamma gave it to me when she was taking a red bath.

Her eyes turned into blue stones and scared me a little, but then she smiled. The fear evaporated but sadness remained.

My mouth turned down at the corners. There would be no more Mamma. I didn’t want to stay with Papà. I didn’t know why. Maybe Phoenix and I could run away together and be like Shirley Temple in her movies. We’d have our own adventures.

Shuffling footsteps pulled me out of my thoughts, and I turned around to find Papà towering over me. He was angry. Very angry.

His eyes fell to my necklace and his gold ring caught the light before it connected with my cheek. It burned and I stumbled backward. I trembled like a leaf, my hands cradling my stinging cheek.

“P-Papà—”

He gripped the chain at my throat, yanking on the necklace.

“Where did you get that?” His smile was mean and ugly. It terrified me. “Nosy fucking kids.”

I suddenly didn’t like Papà at all. I wanted to get far, far away from him.

“What are you doing, Tomaso?” Grandma’s voice was like a whip, startling both of us.

My gaze darted her way in a plea for help, but her eyes weren’t on me. They were on Papà, and they were violent.

“Reina took something that doesn’t belong to her.”

Grandma came between us, and I buried my face into her hip. Her hand wrapped around me and patted me gently, just like Mamma used to do.

“Grace gave it to her.” Papà took a step forward, towering over us, but Grandma stood her ground. “The night she died, Reina saw her in the tub as she was bleeding out. Grace gave her the necklace.” His expression paled. “She’s keeping it, Tomaso.”

I was too scared to move. Too scared to breathe.

My eyes widened as my chest tightened. I had never felt such pain, not when I fell from the tree, not when I hit my head and fell in the pool. I brought my hand to my chest and tapped it, hoping to loosen it so I could inhale some air. I needed my lungs to expand and be normal again. Instead, it suffocated me, burning in my throat.

Until the world turned black.

It was my first panic attack. Unfortunately, not the last. But the next morning, Grandma had Phoenix and me packed, ready to move back to California.

I was jolted back to reality at the sound of the car door clicking open and Grandma’s driver’s words as he leaned in to address her. “The train will be departing soon. We will take Reina’s bags ahead and meet you there.”

I gathered my things, still dazed from my flashback. How could I have forgotten all this? My stomach coiled, but I pushed it down. There was no sense getting upset over it now.

Instead, I intended to get some answers.

“Why did Papà get so upset about this necklace? That day he found me with it?” I questioned, gesturing to the pendants hanging from my neck.

A heartbeat passed.