Chapter 32: The Truth

Chapter 32: The Truth

"Wait… that missing kid wasn't just lost—Debbie kidnapped him?!"

Frank stared at the kids, stunned.

"Hehe." Debbie stuck out her tongue playfully, trying to look cute.

Soon, Frank pieced the whole thing together.

Since school was out for the day, Debbie went to the park. She spotted a party being held at the missing boy's house. The kid was left unsupervised in the yard, and Debbie, struck by a mischievous idea, lured him away with a piece of chocolate. She brought him home… to play Barbie. She even dressed him up like a girl.

Of course, things quickly spiraled out of control. Fiona and the others found out what had happened.

By then, it was too late to quietly return the boy—his parents had reported him missing, and the police were already searching for him.

If Debbie confessed to kidnapping the child, Child Protective Services (CPS) would inevitably get involved.

CPS, the welfare department, primarily takes care of children—placing orphans or neglected kids into adoptive families to provide them a stable home.

Given the Gallagher family's situation, if CPS got wind of this, they'd take all the kids away without hesitation.

After all, Frank had a long and terrible track record—never around, completely irresponsible. Of the six children, only the eldest, Fiona, worked to support the family. The rest were either still in school or too young to fend for themselves.

And Fiona herself was only in her early twenties. Though she acted like a parent, she was still technically college-aged, with no stable job, scraping by on part-time gigs. She simply didn't have the means to support the whole family.

CPS wouldn't keep the kids together either. They'd be split up and sent to different foster families.

Something like this had happened before:

Debbie and Carl were placed with a Black family, Lip went to an elderly couple, Ian was taken in by a devout Catholic family, and Liam ended up with a white foster home.

Only after a lot of struggle and teamwork had they managed to reunite. None of them ever wanted to go through that again.

So when the truth about Debbie came out, the entire family decided to keep it a secret. They made a plan: return the boy without getting caught. And just like that, Debbie went from kidnapper to hero.

Kevin, Veronica, and even Steve helped out. That's why Kevin left the bar in a hurry—he got the call and came straight home. It's also why he brought up the missing kid when he returned.

Steve's role in helping plan things out softened Fiona's attitude toward him, despite her usually being cold toward him.

"So I was the only one who didn't know about this?" Frank complained. "Even Steve was in on it?!"

"We couldn't find you," Fiona explained. "Everything happened so fast, and no one knew where you were."

The whole thing happened over the course of half a day. Frank hadn't been home at all, and with no cellphone, they couldn't reach him.

Back in the day, Frank basically lived at the bar. If you wanted to find him, you just had to go there—he was like a background NPC.

But lately, Frank had been out hustling for money every day. No one knew where he went anymore. Ironically, he was at the bar when everything happened—but no one expected it, so they didn't think to check.

When Veronica called Kevin, the news had already gone public, cops were all over the streets, and time was tight. They just told Kevin to get home—Frank wasn't even mentioned.

So in the end, everyone in the house—even Steve—pitched in, while Frank, the supposed patriarch, remained completely in the dark. He didn't learn a thing until it was all over.

This gave Frank a serious wake-up call: He needed to buy a cellphone.

For the impoverished Gallagher family, a phone was a luxury. They only had two in the whole house, and even those were scavenged. They even had to ration their minutes.

Debbie's kidnapping incident also raised Steve's favorability in the family—which made Frank wary. For Fiona's sake, he couldn't allow Steve to get back together with her.

---

"Dad." Fiona pulled Frank aside.

"What's up?" he asked.

"Do you know why Debbie took Casey?" Fiona glanced toward Debbie on the couch and lowered her voice.

"Why?" Frank was puzzled.

"Because Casey's parents threw him a party. Debbie saw his dad playing with him, laughing together… and she felt it was unfair. She was jealous," Fiona said quietly. "She wanted what he had."

Frank frowned deeply at her words.

When he thought about it, this really was his fault. Debbie was at an age when she craved attention and love. But old Frank had been a selfish drunk who ignored his children, drowning himself in alcohol.

And with so many kids in the house, Fiona was always too busy working and taking care of everyone to pay attention to Debbie's feelings.

After Frank "crossed over" (i.e., body-swap or reincarnation), he did spend some time with Debbie—but once the credit card debt kicked in, he focused on working nonstop. Because of Karen's threats, he ended up living at Sheila's and barely came home.

Just as Debbie was starting to feel a sense of fatherly love for the first time… she lost it.

It's like that old saying:

"A man who has never seen light can endure darkness; but one who has seen light, and then loses it, suffers deeply."

So when Debbie saw another child's father throwing a party and being affectionate, it triggered something in her. Lacking love, she acted out.

This was another wake-up call for Frank. Being a father isn't just about making money—it's also about being there.

Now that his debts were paid off, he didn't have to work like crazy anymore. He could finally start focusing on his kids.

---

"Sorry, but I need to move back home. I need to be with my children," Frank told Sheila.

"At least stay for dinner?" Sheila said sadly, trying to hold back her disappointment. She didn't want him to leave but understood. Frank had cancer, and if he wanted to spend his remaining days with his kids, she wasn't going to stop him.

That night, Sheila made a lavish dinner. After the meal, Frank left.

Sheila lay alone in bed, lights off, moonlight streaming through the curtains.

"Mom? What's wrong?" Karen walked into the room.

"Frank left…" Sheila murmured, heartbroken.

"He didn't leave us. He just went back to the Gallagher house," Karen said, hugging her mother. "He'll be back."