Ethan stepped outside but didn’t bother looking at me. Instead, he moved to another awaiting Range Rover. Sedric started to move to him, but Ethan shook his head. “As for you, Sedric, you are no longer needed. You can stay behind.”
“Sedric? Are you ready to go?” Darcy called before appearing at the door, too, dressed in black as he came outside. His brown eyes glanced over him first. “What’s wrong? Why the hell do you both look like someone just took a shit in your cereal…Nari?” His hazel eyes were on me now, seeing my shame, too.
“Forgive me, Mrs. Khan, but Mrs. Callahan wants you off the property now, and you should get to the hospital.”
Darcy’s eyes widened. He opened his mouth to speak. However, because everyone had to see this moment of disgrace, Helen came and placed her hand on her brother’s shoulder.
“You should go; Ethan’s already two men down. Don’t keep him waiting,” she said and nodded to the Range Rover.
Not wanting to be further shamed…I tried to escape.
Numb.
Stupefied.
I hobbled in, and the man closed the door. However, a few seconds later, the door opened right back up, and I hoped to God it was my father or even Ethan. But instead, it was Helen, the second-worst person it could possibly be. She looked me up and down once and only once before she got into the car next to me and closed the door.
“Ethan said if anyone went after me, he’d consider that being against him,” I said quickly, sucking in a breath. I held open my eyes to fight the tears of frustration, threatening to come out. I just want to hide, and I didn’t want her to be here.
“No, he told Sedric that,” she replied. “He wanted me to let you know it would be in your best interest to apologize to her soon.”
“Is that so?” I laughed.
“No. That’s a lie. Ethan couldn’t care less, apparently. He let me come because I wanted to give you that advice. Nari, take it. If you don’t, he won’t let you back home,” she replied, checking her phone.
“This is bullshit!” I hollered. “She shot me.”
“It’s not that bad,” Helen said, looking down at my thigh again. “She could have—”
“Helen, she shot me! Your cousin! In our house! A stranger—”
“She is not a stranger, Nari!” she shouted and looked at me. “What is wrong with you? Did you not see or hear how he just sat there silently as she shredded us with a smile on her face the other day? Not just me but Nana. He did and said nothing. So, it is clear they have come to some sort of agreement. So, do you really think that Ethan would let you disrespect her after he just made it known to everyone to fucking respect her? And worst of all, you did it over money.”
“She was buying millions—”
“And so what?” she sharpened her tone, lifting her hands. “Are you saying Ethan doesn’t have the money to pay for it?”
“I—”
“Doesn’t matter if that isn’t what you meant. That’s how it would come across! The city is in chaos. You don’t think people are wondering if we are in chaos, too? You think there aren’t people in this house talking? And your smartass chose to gripe over diamonds? There are three things you do not insult the men of our family about: their wives, their money, and their mother. So, congratulations.” She clapped for me. “You’ve fucked yourself over and took your brother down in less than ten minutes. Will you never learn, Nari?”
“And what did I fail to learn again, Helen?”
“Your place,” she said that part softer and with a frown of pity.
“Ah, my place.” I snickered. “Right, you can say that now that you're screwing Wyatt. You can talk down to me—”
“Exactly, but in my defense, I told you I’d betray you, didn’t I?” she said, and just then, I realized what she’d meant.
I was on my own now, the only fake Callahan left. Sedric and Darcy were Callahan by blood. Helen, a Callahan now by being with Wyatt. Me, alone at the bottom of the totem pole.
“You have the same problem Dona did,” she went on with her damn lecture. “You can’t bow. The only difference is you aren’t Dona. No one is going to give you a pass for it. If you haven’t noticed, Calliope is not like the others. She does not wait. She does not ask for permission. And she doesn’t give a fuck about your feelings or your pride. Why would she? She doesn’t know you, and you just insulted her in front of everyone. What would you have done in her place?”
I didn’t answer. I looked away and outside toward the front gates, watching as Ethan and Darcy’s car drove out. The golden C on those black gates suddenly felt much colder, and I remembered this was what it meant to be a Callahan…and wasn’t that insane.
“We are crazy,” I whispered to her. “The fact that in this modern era, you, a bright technological scientist, me a hotel mogul, would force ourselves to bow to other people just because of a name. Everything we have subjected ourselves to and for…is a name.”
Reaching up, I wiped the corner of my eye quickly.