by J. J. McAvoy
“This one is called the Sabra,” the dealer said, lifting a massive stone up for her to see. “It is a 9.90 carat, Asscher-cut diamond ring, set into a beautiful platinum band.”
“It will do,” she replied, obviously disappointed. “I’ll take them.”
“Them? So, this and the earrings for your daughter?” he asked, grinning like a madman who just saw fucking Christ.
“No,” she replied and paused pointing around. “Everything you brought. I’ll be taking them all.”
The whole room went silent. I think the man died standing up. He looked up at the men who still held necklaces and the bracelets…there were at least a dozen suitcases of diamonds and other jewels.
“When you say everything—”
“O’Phelan, please help this man. His brain seems to be short-circuiting. And I have neither the time nor patience for it,” she said, rolling her eyes and already looking at the shoes.
O’Phelan went over to him with a tray and pen. The man stared down at it and then him, too stunned to speak. “Merely fill in the price. Mr. Callahan has already signed them.”
Now I felt like I’d died.
No…Obviously, I was having a mental break. Yes, I was losing my mind.
“I’m going to need to call my boss….and a calculator?” the man said, his jaw about to come undone.
O’Phelan nodded, showing him to the dining hall to make space. “Take your time,”
“Is there anything you are looking for, in particular, Mrs. Callahan?” the woman said quickly and bubbly, standing next to the shoes.
“Everyone, get out,” I said softly, and none of them moved. “I said get out!”
They jumped and even moved, with the exception of O’Phelan, but Calliope held up her hand and spoke gently. “Any of you move, and not only will I throw you and your shit out, I’ll make sure the next time any of you see a diamond, it is from the across the street where your homeless ass will be.” They froze, and she turned, tearing her gaze from the shoes, to stare at me with the deadest eyes I’d ever seen. “Come, take a walk with me, Nari,” she said, moving out into the main foyer.
I followed her, and the moment the living room doors closed behind us, I opened my mouth to speak. All I saw was her hand; it came across so quickly I didn’t even have a second to move.
However, she didn’t slap me. Instead, her hand hovered right over my cheek, and she smiled. “Nari, I get this is…difficult for you. A strange woman is in your former home. But what you just did was unacceptable and can never happen again. Are we clear?”
I had to look behind me to make sure I was, in fact, not insane, and she was talking to a maid behind me. But when I looked, I saw no maid.
“Do you know who you are talking to?” I asked her.
“Do you?” she shot back, closing the distance between us.
“Yes, some gold digger who just got here,” I reminded her. “This is my house! Whose money are you spending right now? What the fuck are you—”
“Stop talking,” she cut me off, and I could clearly see how she was holding herself back. “This is not your house. It belongs to Ethan, and therefore, it belongs to me. I’m spending Ethan’s money because it is also my money. And you will watch your tone when talking to me, Nari, or I will cut out your tongue and hang it on your ear….and what pretty ears you have.”
Who did this bitch think she was? “You are—”
She stepped closer, her voice dropping dangerously soft. “Please, do not test me because you’ll lose just as epically as you did before. I am trying to be polite.”
“Do you think I’m scared of you?” I laughed, crossing my arms. “I was raised by women who would eat you alive. You aren’t scary, and just because you managed to trap my cousin with a kid doesn’t change what you are—trash.”
She sighed deeply and took a step away from me, clasping her hands. “Gentlemen,” she called out, and the two guards who were inside glanced back over to her.
“As you all know, this is Callahan Manor. Which means anyone who is not a Callahan or allowed in by a Callahan is not to enter this place. This woman,” she pointed at me, “is not a Callahan. I do not know how she got in here but throw her out and never let her back in, please.”
They glanced at each for a second before walking over.
“Don’t you fucking think about it,” I snapped at them before turning to Calliope. “Married or not, this is my home—”
“Gentlemen, if I have to ask you to escort Mrs. Khan off the property one more time, you will join her.”
This time they didn’t hesitate.
“What is going on?” I heard my brother’s voice. Dressed in all black, he came down the stairs quickly, his eyes on the guards before returning to his gaze me…All while I was trying to swallow the rage building in my throat. I’m going to kill her!
“Nari?” Sedric reached out to touch me, but I smacked his hand away and held out my hand, telling him not to get in the middle of this.
“Apparently, I’m no longer welcome in my own goddamn house anymore,” I snapped.
“Say what?” Sedric snapped, looking at her.
“This is your next move? Two days in?” I hollered. “I promise you that this is only going to hurt you—”
BANG.
I glanced down at my thigh, the shock running through me like blood. I reached over to touch it because I couldn’t believe it, and when I saw the blood that stained my hands, my knee buckled.
“Nari!” Sedric screamed, grabbing hold of me before I fell to the ground.
However, all I could do was turn and stare at the woman, now holding a gun in her hands. She looked down at me, bored. Her smile was gone, her face blank, her eyes, though gray, were void of anything.
“You shot me?” I whispered in disbelief.
“Yeah, I did. You seemed to be having trouble understanding me, so I switched to a language I thought you would be able to comprehend. Violence,” she replied and casually glanced over at the guards. “You two also seemed to be having trouble understanding me. Should I say drag her out one more time? Or am I still speaking a language you do not understand?”
They moved so fast I didn’t see them, but it might have been because of the pain now racing up my thigh. Nevertheless, I felt their hands on me.
“Get your fucking hands off my sister!” Sedric yelled, but they ignored him, and he pushed again before turning to her. “Stop this shit now, or the next bullet goes into your fucked-up head.”
“That would be ill-advised.”
I knew that voice better than I knew my own. His footsteps were heavy as he moved over and stepped past me and next to her. He gave her a look, but she didn’t even glance back at him.
“Ethan, apparently your baby mama—”
“If you don’t want to find your ass full of holes and out on the street, too, Sedric, I’d advise you to choose better words,” he snapped, and his eyes were just as dead as hers.
Sedric stared just as confused as I felt. He glanced down at me and my leg.
“Drive her to hospital and then leave her there. She’ll find a way back to her home just fine.”
“Ethan!” I yelled out to him, finding the strength to push the idiot off me. “You can’t be serious! I was just…”
“Disrespecting my wife in my goddamn fucking house!” He sneered, glaring at me. “Be grateful she left you with only a flesh wound. Now go.”
“Ethan—”
“She’s bleeding all over the marble. It’s unsanitary and bothering me,” the bitch had the nerve to say, but they were dragging me out, and she was waving goodbye.
What was happening?
What did I miss?
Why was he acting like this?
“Ethan! Are you crazy? We are family,” Sedric yelled at him before following me, but I couldn’t even process this. I was being dragged out of my house like a broken doll…like trash. Once again, I glanced at Calliope, who just waved.
“You follow her,
Sedric, and that means you’re against me,” Ethan said as he came out of the doorway arch.
“Sedric, I’m fine!” I shouted to him. “Go back in. I’m fine!”
He stood there, staring at me. But I tried my best to just smile and shake it off. It was stupid because who could shake off being shot.
“Mrs. Khan,” the man holding me said, and when I gave him my attention, I saw the car door already opened for me.
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.
“That name is what made you a hotel mogul and me a scientist. Or did you forget where you came from?” she questioned, and my head whipped back to her. And with no shame, she stared back. “Do you think it is by accident or just pure love that your mother is married to Neal Callahan? No. Melody Callahan chose your mother to make sure Neal didn’t end up with someone she did not trust. Before that, who was Mina? I can’t even remember your mother’s maiden name, and my memory is solid. Your mother was no one. She had to crawl and fight out of poverty, worked every day of her life so she could go to a good university and provide for her daughter, you. And guess where all her hard work got her? A job as Melody Callahan’s assistant. Melody, who didn’t even go to a university, but some unknown, random community college in the middle of nowhere. I don’t even think she graduated. But even still, she ended up the governor of the goddamn state. No one brought it up, no one questioned it. Why? Because she was Melody Callahan. Because that name meant more to everyone else than your mother’s fucking hard work. Do you really think we would have anything we have today without the last name Callahan?”
“You make it sound like no one from poverty ever makes it to wealth. It’s been done. It can be done. Hard work can—”
She rolled her eyes. “I’m not talking about a few million. I’m talking billions on top of billions. Of the five hundred largest publicly-traded companies in this country alone, there are only four women of color as CEOs. Two of them are my mother and me. Do you want to know how many Asian women are on that list?”
“I’m guessing my mother and me.” I winced, feeling the heat and pain in my thigh again.
“We bow down here because people will bow down to us everywhere else. It doesn’t matter how smart we are. It doesn’t matter how hard we work. Without that name, we would not be where we are today, and you know it. Which is why you still identify as Ms. Callahan instead of Mrs. Khan.”
“Is that the reason? Maybe we’d all be happier with a few million instead of billions. Maybe less is better.”
“If that is the case, why are you in Chicago and not Seoul? Why aren’t you happy being just Mrs. Khan?” she shot back, and I didn’t answer her. So, she went on. “Having power, keeping power, being at the very top of the totem pole, comes with a price we all must pay. If you are tired of paying, get out of the way. That’s the way the world works. You don’t change it by bitching or making it harder for anyone else. We are all trying to readjust with her here.”
“I need to get stitches for my leg, Helen,” I grumbled.
“Do it, the
n take a few more days before you come back to apologize,” she demanded, and I was really fucking getting tired of her condescending lectures.
“I—”
“Before you snap at me next,” she glared, “think about Sedric. Think about your father and your mother. You just think. You want to start a civil war inside because of your pride? I’ll let you know right now, I will not be on your side for it.”
It felt like my heart was being ripped out as I exhaled. “I knew you were just as cold-hearted as Dona. That’s why you two always got along so well. You just never voiced it before. Glad to see you are finally being yourself.”
“You’re just saying that because you’re on the outside now and hurt. When you’ve been welcomed back in, I’m sure you and I are going to be best friends again. Until then, no one will contact you. Do not do anything stupid; I am begging you as your family.”
Just like that, she got out of the car and, without a word, slammed the door behind her.
When she was gone, I exhaled hard, placing my hands over my face.
Fuck her for being right.
Everything she said was right, which was why it hurt. I’d royally fucked up and, in turn, hurt Sedric, too. I was supposed to be smarter than this.
Fuck!
8
“Intuition is the nose of the heart.”
~ Amit Cilantro
WYATT
“I can see you’re pissed. But do you have to be pissed in front of me?” I asked Sedric, trying to readjust the pillow under my leg, seeing as I still had to fucking heal. Goddamn bones. I hated being stuck in bed. And I hated it even more with him pacing in front of my goddamn bed.
“Your brother confuses the shit out of me!” he snapped at me.
“Yeah, he does that. He’s Ethan,” I said as I ate from the cherry cup of Jell-O in my hands.
He was ready to pull his hair out. “Nari was shot, and he did nothing! Nothing! Actually, no, he did something; he allowed her to be kicked out of the house. What happened to family first? What happened to the rules?”
