He did nothing! I did this! Only because he let you do it. The moment the thought entered my mind it was as if someone had dumped water on me extinguishing the flames, and I felt powerless, trapped in a cycle of rage as I watched the family gathered around Ethan and Ivy the more, and numbness at knowing Ethan put me in the position.
You should have killed him. The darkest voice in my mind whispered.
“You have three options,” a deep voice I didn’t recognize in an accent I couldn’t place spoke beside me, “option one, you make a huge scene and get all the attention back on you; option two, you continue to stand here in silent rage with that manufactured smile plastered on your face.”
“I thought you said three?” I replied, not even bothering to look back at him.
“I did, however it’s the most painful option for someone like you.”
Someone like me? I was not in the mood to be polite, nor was I in the mood to deal with another man who thought he knew me and deserved my attention. I was just going to tune him out when he said, “Your mother was an only child. So, from day one she had all the power coming to her. But you… You were never meant to be the Ceann na Conairte, as you people call it, because if you were, you’d be an only child too. You should know this. In fact, I’m sure you do know this, so why you keep running headfirst into the wall like a bloody idiot is beyond me…unless you enjoy the pain.”
I felt myself shaking, the blood in my veins boiling to the point where I burned from the inside out again. Swallowing the saliva in my mouth, I stood straighter, turning to him, but he didn’t turn to me. He was taller, around Ethan’s height, his hair a dirty brown-blonde, dressed in dark jeans and a white button-down shirt, the sleeves were rolled up at the wrist.
“You seem very interested in my family—”
“Only because you and your family make it a point to make people interested,” he cut me off before bending down to grab the ball that rolled to his feet. He smiled as he handed it to the little girl who took it from him, before rising back up. “The whole point of these little celebrations is to make sure people talk correct? Keep the Callahan family saga going. It’s a little irrational to get upset with people for doing what you ask them to do.”
“Irrational?” I gasped out. “Do I look like an irrational person to you?”
He snickered and, for the first time, glanced over to me, his gray eyes studying me before looking away. “If insanity could personify itself, it would choose to be you, Donatella Callahan; the woman who loved her mother but hated her mother so much she wanted to become just like her mother by killing her mother’s children. By God, you are the Greek tragedy Sophocles forgot to write…”
The glass in my hand shattered; the pain, the blood—my blood—which dripped off my hand didn’t faze me in the slightest. I couldn’t stop myself, before I knew it, my bloody hand was gripping on to his white shirt, pulling him closer to my face, and I was pressing my gun to his forehead. “Now that you’ve gotten my attention, would you like to repeat that AFTER I blow your fucking brains out of you head, that’s if you even have any!”
His gray eyes looked down at me, disappointed. “There you go, running head first into that wall again—”
I moved the gun to his eyes, not liking how they looked at me. “Are you asking to die today?”
“No, I’m asking if you are tired of option one.”
I didn’t understand what he meant for second before I remembered what he said earlier…making a scene.
“Calm down!” Wyatt yelled right into my ear, which was impossible since he was over by Ethan and Ivy. However, when I looked over my shoulder, he was right beside me, staring at me with wide eyes. Over his shoulder, I saw everyone… Everyone’s attention was on me. And not the attention I wanted, not the attention I’d planned; there wasn’t respect or fear, it was like…like I looked at wolf-dogs. When I finally saw Ethan, he…he was furious.
Letting go of the stranger’s shirt and stepping back, I tried to figure out a way to gracefully get out of this. But I couldn’t think. If I ran, it would look like I really was insane. As my arms slowly began to drop to my sides, a hand reached out and touched mine briefly, taking the gun from me. I looked up at Wyatt, thinking it was him, but he backed away as a fist collided with his nose. I didn’t have time to process how I ended up in another man’s arms… All I knew was that my gun was now pointed at my skull. Everyone’s expression had changed to concern. Ethan’s rage changed to panic as he stepped closer, the men beside him all reaching for their weapons.
“I wouldn’t if I was you,” the man holding me hostage said to one of the guards. I wasn’t sure who the idiot was that charged at him from behind, but even I could hear his lead feet as he tried to sneak up on madman who held a gun to my head.
He turned quickly, spinning me with him while tightening his grip on me. Just like that, he fired twice at the fucking guard’s feet. “I told you no, didn’t I?”
Using that moment, I stepped on his foot, elbowed his rib, and butted my head back into his nose. When his gripped loosened, but not as much as I’d hoped, I twisted out of his hands and jumped up, locking my legs around his neck. I brought him down to the grass hard. I tried to hold him there, but he broke out of my headlock and twisted my arm back to pin me under him, bringing the gun to my head.
“And just like that, the student has become the master,” he said loudly. But I had no idea what the fuck he was talking about. He just kept talking, saying “To think you, the Queen of Beata Veronica Negroni da Binasco School for Girls, of all people would let your guard down. You’ve lost your edge, Donny.”
Donny? I wanted to cringe, instead I kicked him right in the balls and punched him in the throat, forcing him to roll over before punching him again. He dodged, locking my arms.
“I should have shot you back when I had a chance…” He squeezed a little tighter.
What the hell is he talking about?
I didn’t get a chance to think much longer, due to his headbutt.
“You were a shitty fighter back then, and you’re still one now,” he added, smiling, as I glared at him.
BANG!
We both stopped at the gunfire, and he even had the nerve to check the gun in his hand. Realizing it wasn’t him, we both looked up to the voice above us.
“Are you two finished or would you like to keep acting like high-school children?” Ethan asked, staring down at us angrily.