Page 21 of Under His Skin

He had no idea how his mother, of all people, had decided not to look down on Alex, when she looked down on every other person in existence. There hadn’t been a single friend or acquaintance she hadn’t said a bad word about. Tracht could remember how she would smile and fake familiarity with guests, and once they were gone, the facade would melt and she’d spend an hour complaining about them.

She was probably judging Anna right now too, as if Tracht’s father hadn’t been just as corrupt, as if Franziska herself didn’t benefit from this system that favored those with money.

When the first break came, Tracht went to talk to Anna in the small meeting room set aside for her. She was doing a good job of keeping it together, although he was sure as the trial wore on she’d start pretending to be truly afraid and shaken. Anything that could win the jury over.

“That wasn’t too bad,” Tracht commented lightly. “It’s all judicial corruption they’re accusing you of right now.” He picked a wall to lean against, since he didn’t want to get too comfortable.

“Yeah. I hope they stick to that angle.” Anna ran her hands through her hair. “I wish Mother weren’t here. Did I tell you, she’s testifying?”

Tracht’s eyebrows shot up. “She’s a witness for you? How did you get her to agree to that?”

But Anna started laughing, and the lawyer shook her head.

“No, she’s the prosecution’s witness. Which will look terrible for us, having the defendant’s own mother testifying against her.” Anna’s lawyer scrolled through her tablet and sighed loudly. “At least we got lucky with the judge. He’s a regular in my… scene.” Her eyes flicked over to Tracht, as if she was afraid of saying more than that.

Anna burst out laughing. “If your scene is BDSM or kink or whatever, don’t worry. Johannes has seen it all and worse. In fact! Johannes, why don’t you go to one of those clubs? See if you can find out what sorts of things he likes. Oh, what if—”

“No.” Tracht gave her a deadpan look. “It’s been over five years since I stepped into a BDSM club here on Cadmus, and I’d like to keep it that way. I have Alex. I don’t have any need or desire to mingle with the scene.”

It wasn’t strictly true, of course. There’d been a few parties he’d gone to here and there, ones that Singh had invited him to, but he didn’t recognize the judge from any of those, which told him the judge was probably into the softer versions of everything. Tracht was done catering to the sensibilities of others.

“Just take him with you! Aren’t those the sorts of places where you go in pairs anyway?”

The lawyer looked like she wanted to say something, but they were interrupted by a knock on the door.

When Anna nodded, Tracht pressed the button to open it, and then had to press his lips together to stop himself from saying anything when he saw who was on the other side: Franziska.

She gave him a withering look and walked past him into the room. “Anna. How nice to see you.”

Up close, it was easier to see Franziska’s age, although she must have invested in some form of cosmetic surgery since the last time Tracht had seen her. It was subtle, just enough to make her look closer to sixty than eighty. Alex would probably still have called her really old, although Tracht figured she was too stubborn to go out any earlier than one hundred.

“Mother. What are you doing here? I’m fairly certain you shouldn’t be talking to me at this point of the proceedings.” Anna stood up and walked to stand in front of her, her entire posture defensive.

“I’m here to talk to my children. Both of them.” Franziska turned to the lawyer. “If you could please leave; this is a family matter.”

Anna’s lawyer shook her head. “Considering that you’re here to testify against my client—”

“Just go,” Anna interrupted. “Whatever this is, I want to get it over with. I know Mother wouldn’t do anything to jeopardize the case.”

The lawyer still looked uncertain, but in the face of three Trachts glaring at her, she apparently decided she was better off leaving.

As soon as she was gone, Franziska sat down in one of the chairs. She did it slowly, clearly meant to irritate both Tracht and Anna.

“I didn’t want it to come to this,” Franziska said finally. “Anna, I’m beyond disappointed in you. When I heard the news, my first thought was that I honestly expected it to be Johannes.”

Anna scoffed loudly. “Oh, thank you. Your opinion has always been so valuable to me, of course.”

“I’m insulted you think I would slip up like that,” Tracht interjected, which got him a glare from Anna. “But I’m surprised you’re willing to get involved in this mess. What will the neighbors think?”

“They will think I’m washing my hands of you,” Franziska said coldly. “I didn’t know that all the money I invested in your education was going to go down the drain like this, Anna. You were the reasonable one. I thought at least one of my children has empathy, understanding. At least one of my children isn’t a sociopath.”

Tracht laughed loudly, although he saw Anna’s eyes widen at the insults.

“Franziska, if you think Anna’s alleged corruption is beyond the pale, I’d invite you to actually get involved in the business world. I’d bet the Sigrun that every one of your peers has done worse than her supposed crimes. It’s so easy to claim the high ground when all you’ve done is invest the millions Father left us.” Tracht chuckled again.

He couldn’t think of a single person he hated more than his mother, and he counted Parsons, Nick Stone, and even Espinosa among that set. Here she sat, pretending she was better than both him and Anna, as if she hadn’t been the one to raise them.

“So is this what you came here to do? To insult us?” Anna barked out. “Because I can get all that from strangers. I don’t need it from my own mother as well.”

---