Darcy and I couldn’t explain it. Why we had this burning desire for power, to be the strongest, to be joining this life. He’d actually done a better job of it than I did. All I could say was it was in my blood. Our blood. We were Callahans, there was something corrupted in us. And instead of fighting it, we needed to embrace it.
“Are you coming or not?” he bellowed at me.
“Relax, old man, the birds are still going to be there,” I hollered back and followed him…for the last time. Soon he’d need to follow me.
Their era was over…it was our time now.
“What?” he asked when he saw my face.
I paused, glancing around quickly before whispering, “I was just thinking about Ivy’s death—”
“The person who shot her was an expert.” He frowned as we got out into the upper deck behind the house, the rain still pouring down. “Clean shot through and through, she used a bullet that was small yet strong enough to not shatter the skull.”
“She?” I questioned, looking to him. “How do you know it was female who shot her?”
He paused, thinking to himself before smiling and reaching out to touch the rain. “I don’t. I was thinking of your Aunt Melody. It’s the type of shot I would have done.”
“The great Aunt Melody,” I replied, walking out into the rain and toward the stairs. “Either way, the shot was good. But that wasn’t what I was thinking.”
“It wasn’t?”
I shook my head as we walked, the rain beating down on us both.
“I was thinking…I’m glad she’s dead,” I said seriously, causing him to stare at me just as seriously but not speaking. I added, “If she was alive, Ethan would be still here. He’s like the sun. We all have to revolve around him. And as great as it is, sometimes the rain needs its glory, too.”
“What did we do to you children?” he replied with a smile on his lips.
“Made us into a better verison of you,” I reminded him.
They made us them, so we’d go on finishing what they started. They couldn’t blame us now. Everyone was born with a destiny in this family.
That was to get power and keep it.
DECLAN
“Call me back, okay? I love you.” Cora sighed, taking the earpiece out of her ear and tossing it on to her vanity counter before rubbing the side of her head.
Walking up behind her, I placed my hands on her shoulder and massaged gently as she leaned back into me. “She’s not answering my calls.”
“Did you expect her to?” I asked back softly. “She has a right to be upset. More than a right.”
She frowned, turning around to stare at me with those deep brown eyes of hers. “I know she has a right, but it still doesn’t change the fact that I’m going to worry about her even if it is my fault.”
“Our fault,” I replied. I took a seat beside her on her bench. “I’m not sure if we’ve been raising them or ruining them. Should I be proud that Helen knows right from wrong and chooses what most people would consider right? If I am, then how can I also be proud of Darcy for wanting to do what is wrong? I’m so bloody confused, Cora.”
She leaned over, resting her head on my shoulder. “I’m pretty sure ruining your children is part of parenting...how else can they grow up and protect themselves from the world?”
“Brilliant.” I wrapped my arms around her as I snickered. “We’ve done a wonderful job then.”
She giggled but only before briefly sighing again. “Darcy’s retiring. Apparently, he hates basketball...did you know?”
“No,” I grimaced and shook my head. “He looked fine, happy. He said he was. I took him at his word and supported him. But I should have known better.”
“How?” She frowned, sitting up and forcing me to face her. “How in the world should we have known that?”
“He’s my son,” I said back to her. “He may look more like you, but since he was a baby, all I could see was this younger version of myself. Just like him, I was shy, liked to observe, and didn’t want to rock the boat. I told myself over and over just be happy with what I have. Yet deep down I was aching to....to be Liam. However, because he was like my brother, I pushed my ambition to the side and went along to get along. I was the good little solider. I accepted that long ago, but you should have heard Darcy. It was like being lectured by the part of me I let go of. He all but said I cheated him out of his inheritance…and I did! Because I was weak. Because I was so passive.... I altered both his destiny and my own.”
“Bullllllllshit,” she all but sang as she rose from the bench and took off her earrings.