Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
SHE WASN'T RUNNING LATE. No, Francesca Rhodes was never late to anything. Was she a bit behind schedule? Perhaps a little. Was she sure that her driver had just passed by the man of the hour himself? Absolutely! She would get to that fucking birthday party by the skin of her teeth. Her palms had been sweating for the last hour. As a matter of fact, her entire body had been perspiring for the past week.
With the stress of finding an adequate birthday gift for the man rich enough to buy anything he wanted piled on top of her husband chirping at her every chance he got and the workload at work, Frankie hadn't had one single moment to herself all week. It also didn't help that this party was the first time she would be seeing her father since his 'business trip' to the Alps.
Business trip was code for burying his sorrows into a ton of women who were at his beck and call. Every time the man got the chance, he hopped on his private plane and fled off to the snowy mountains of the European continent. This in turn left behind a shit ton of work for his daughter, who had been doing all of the work of CEO without reaping the benefits.
Before Frankie was even a thought, her father had been cohorting with Logan Roy. The two had met so many years ago in Quebec, where Benjamin Rhodes had took the leap and invested in Logan's company, effectively helping create the man that the Roy family patriarch was today. With a seat on the board of Waystar Royco (that he had promised Frankie she'd get as a wedding gift though she was still yet to actually receive it), Benjamin had been involved in the company basically from the get-go.
After sending a tight-lipped smile to both the doorman and security guard that was stationed outside the elevator of Logan's newest home, plus also sending a look of confusion to the disheveled young man clutching a plastic bag that lingered in the foyer, a deep sigh fell from her lips as she gripped tightly to the present she'd purchase for him. In all honestly, Frankie couldn't have cared less about Logan, in fact she pretty much despised the man. Always had done.
Sure it was hypocritical to hate her father in law but still loved her own father, who was more like Logan than he cared to admit. But Logan—he was cruel. He was undermining, borderline abusive. She could remember the moment her husband Roman had arrived home, his nose swollen and bloodied after he'd been struck across the face. His own father had hit him and it hadn't been the first time.
That was why the Rhodes-Roy woman felt zero shame in her hatred of Logan Roy. Her father was many things but a hitter he was not. Not once had he lifted his hand to her and perhaps that was why she held her own dad in higher regard. He was many things but unlike Logan, Benjamin had never struck her.
