IVY
“Holy shit!” I yelled, clasping my hands over my mouth, turning around to face the team behind me, and all I could say was, “Holy fucking shit!”
“Miracles do exist,” Nari replied, looking me up and down, then reaching into her purse to pull out debt cards and handing them to one of the people. “They go by the names Visa and Express.”
“The swelling really went down.” I leaned into the mirror, kind of scared of myself. It took three days for every single bump and blemish to be lasered away. All the bruises were gone too. I looked…I looked, well, like Nari, not physically but effortlessly beautiful like she said. “My hair bounces!”
“Okay, now you’re being embarrassing,” Nari said, signing the receipts as I ran my hand through my golden hair. I’d never used the word gold for my hair. But after they’d done their magic that was what it looked like, streams of gold sprouting out of my head. I was beautiful…really beautiful.
“Come on, let’s go.”
“Go?” I looked at her, everyone else already leaving.
She nodded, handing me a yellow clutch, which matched the yellow heels I was wearing perfectly. Both were “pops” of colors, added to the long-sleeved gray Carmen Marc Valvo Pleated Scallop Dress I wore. Words I still didn’t understand, but whatever.
“I’m glad you like it. However, right now I’d like to see how everyone else reacts. Come on,” she said, walking to the door.
“Everyone else?”
“People in the hotel. Think of it like a road test while we get brunch,” she said. When I stepped into the hall, the two men who stood guard behind me moved for the first time in three days, or at least I saw them move for the first time, to stand beside us…me…while Nari called for the elevator. It arrived quickly, and the same bellboy stood waiting.
“Good afternoon.” He nodded at us and his eyebrows came together when he looked at me. He stared even as I walked to stand behind him, his gaze meeting mine in the reflection of the elevator doors. Finally, when we neared the ground floor of the elevator he shook his head as if he’d ridded himself of whatever he was thinking.
“Have a good day,” he said when we got off.
“That was good,” Nari replied, standing beside me. “He came to the conclusion there was no possible way you could be the same woman who was brought up three days ago.”
“He was the test?”
“Part one.” She nodded and then looked down the lobby. “This is part two.”
I didn’t know what she meant and followed her toward the hotel restaurant. I was so busy doing my best to match her pace and not twist my ankle that I didn’t pick up on the looks I was getting until she pointed it out.
“When you first came here people stared at you because you didn’t look like you belonged,” she said, and I nodded. “Now the men are staring at you because they’re attracted to you and the women are annoyed you’re stealing their spotlight.”
I glanced around and caught more of those stupid leers guys did when they thought you were interested in them. I didn’t notice the girls because they weren’t looking or looking out of the corner of their eyes. It wasn’t like everyone stopped to stare at me, but there were people who did. Some were even looking at her.
“Welcome, ladies,” the hostess said at the restaurant entrance. “Table for—”
“Two,” Nari replied, and the woman nodded, leading us back through the restaurant until we sat by a glass waterfall.
“Your server will be right with you,” the woman said to us before leaving as we sat.
“Do people not know you own this hotel?” I asked.
She lifted the glass, inspecting it, which should have been a dead giveaway, but then again she could just come off uppity. “We opened this hotel last year. I’m sure they don’t know and it’s better for me to inspect when…”
“What?” I asked when she stopped speaking.
She shook her head. “We aren’t here to talk about me. Congrats, you now look good enough to be seen out with me in public. Now we need to work on your education.”
Oh no. “Please don’t tell me you’re going to have to teach me about salad forks or something.”
“Hardly. Whatever you want to eat your salad with is your choice. This is far more important,” she replied, lifting her hand out, and one of the guards, who were surprisingly easy to forget about, handed her a tablet and me one as well.
“The family,” she said and a family tree appeared on the screen. The first photo of… “My grandmother, Evelyn Callahan.”
Beside the picture was a photo of a handsome young man, maybe in his mid-forties.
“Sedric. My grandfather. He was murdered when Ethan was a baby. None of us knew him, but Evelyn visits his grave every week,” she said with ease.
“She really loved him,” I whispered, seeing all the photos of them together.
“Yea,” she said as if it was nothing and clicked to the next picture of three men. “Sedric and Evelyn had three children. Neal, my father, their first son. I, as I told you, was adopted. And my parents later had a son, whom they named after my grandfather, Sedric. He is currently the starting pitcher for the Chicago Cubs, something my father will brag about to anyone who will listen.”
“He’s so—”
“We’re about to eat. Don’t say hot or cute. I’ll puke,” she said, flipping to the picture of another handsome man with brown eyes.
“This is Declan Callahan. He’s not Sedric and Evelyn’s son, but their nephew. However, they raised him after both his parents were gunned down. He’s married too.” She scrolled to this beautiful dark-skinned woman. “Coraline, they also have one adopted daughter, Helen. She is currently the head of technology at WaveTree and handles all cyber security for the family. Think Tony Stark, without Ironman…and, well, black and female.”
“So ingenious, cocky, and—”
“An infuriation to her co-workers but simultaneously also hard not to love.” She nodded, flipping to the next picture. “Her younger brother is Darcy, the starting point guard with the Chicago Bulls. He and my brother are close, obviously because of their love of sports, but also because they are rivals. Apparently, there can only one number one athlete in the family and city.”
“People must love them.” I grinned, seeing a picture of them running through the city. They were both handsome with their number nine jerseys.
“Exactly,” she said.
I glanced up.
“Darcy and Sedric, by merely playing a sport, bring good press. People hear a negative story about us and then see them and think, ‘but they’re such good boys, they must come from good families,’ on top of the fact that they are both bi-racial, with their parents still happily married, people feel good. In their minds, racism is dead, equality is here, and anyone can fulfill their dream.”
“I was starting to feel good till you started shitting all over my rainbow.” I frowned. Jeez, it was like she had this unbelievable ability to ram reality down your throat.
“You don’t need to see this family through rose colored glasses. You need to see it for what it is,” she replied, and I leaned back into my seat.
“I hardly doubt they both play sports because they care about the family image.”
“And you’d be wrong. When both of them were young they went to Ethan after hearing he’d take over as the head of the family and let him know they’d always be loyal to him. You see, people are always looking for cracks in the family to get in through. My father’s first wife betrayed the family, and…she’s gone.”
“Did he—”
“Don’t ask, don’t tell,” she shot back. “Anyone could set them up. Make it seem like they are also betraying the family. Ethan, back then, told them simply, make me look good and have fun doing it. Play a sport. An arena, which can also have fans, be treated like superstars, and never be linked to anything they aren’t meant to be in. I inherited my father’s hotels. I don’t need people to fan over me, only respect. Helen is the same. We are all in our own spheres, so we don’t ever step on each other’s toes. It’s not a happy accident but by design…Ethan’s design.”
“All of you are doing careers he told you to do?”
She nodded as if that wasn’t creepy. “He grew up with us. Our parents were busy. He watched over us all, and as we got older, as we got more worried about what our lives were going to be like when were adults, he…he knew each of us better than we knew ourselves. He knew Helen was a computer genius and told her to keep at it. He knew the boys liked attention, competition, and sports. I’m bossy. I like being bossy. Why not be a boss? You think it’s weird and yet we’re probably the only family in America who has monthly dinners and never misses a birthday or holiday with extended family.”
When she said it like that it didn’t seem as creepy.
“Finally,” she said and flipped to a photo of a gorgeous couple, the man with green eyes and brown hair, the woman with long black hair and big brown eyes. “Ethan’s parents, Liam and Melody Callahan, the previous king and queen…both dead.”
I froze. Just staring at them, their photos, from what looked to be a magazine spread, I wasn’t sure if it was fake or not, but they looked at each as if they were the only two people on the planet.
“Melody…total badass,” she whispered, and I looked up to see her staring at the photo on her tablet too. “If there was a glass ceiling within fifty feet of her it shattered automatically. She and Liam were arranged to be married because her father was the head of the Italian mafia…until she took over.”
“Wait…what?” I whispered and then remembered the two Italian women who’d protected me when back at the prison.
“It’s a long story. If I started, I’d need at least four novels to finish,” she replied, tapping the photo. “To summarize, when they got married, they merged the Irish and Italian mafia, in doing so crushing everyone else in their path. She later moved to public life, becoming governor, and was so loved, people hoped she’d run for president. But she said Chicago was her home and if she wanted to live in a giant white house she’d paint her house white. She died due to a sudden cardiac attack from a car accident…Liam, her husband, was crushed. It was the darkest time in our family. I can still remember him the week after. You could hear his screams throughout the house, and then it got quiet. He’d drink himself to sleep…my father and Uncle Declan kept suicide watch. After her funeral he barely spoke to anyone and visited her grave every day until he died a week after the twins turned eighteen. Ethan was nineteen.”
I reached for my glass of water, not sure what to say. My throat hurt badly, even more so when I looked at the couple.
“They had three children. Wyatt Sedric Callahan, who’s currently a trauma surgeon at Boston Medical.”
I wanted to say beauty ran in the family but then again, seeing as how I’d been transformed, I couldn’t really believe it was genetics. Either way, Wyatt was handsome. Tall, with deep brown eyes, brown bedhead hair, and a five o’clock shadow. He was rugged in a way and relaxed. So far, he was the only person I’d seen who didn’t wear suits. If he wasn’t in scrubs, he’d be wearing jeans and a sweater.
“His twin sister is Donatella Aviela Callahan.”
Ugh… she was pretty much her mother but with green eyes. In other words, even more stunning.
“Let me guess, she’s like a supermodel?” I muttered.
“No. Donatella is a novelist,” she replied, completely catching me off guard.
“An author? Her?”
“No one knows. She writes under a pen name. Everyone thinks she’s just the family princess, but her work is pretty famous.” She tapped again, getting to the last photo. “Last but not least, your future husband, Ethan Antonio Giovanni Callahan, the head of the Irish and Italian mafia, and the Callahan family.”
Fuck me.
Ugh, not like that…well…no, I just meant. Holy shit. I glanced back up at her.
“Yea, that’s why I saved him for last.” She winked, turning off the tablet and handing it back to the guard, who once again I forgot was there. “Tell them they can bring the food now.”
What are you doing, Ivy?
I was getting sucked in and distracted…
It didn’t matter what he looked like or what any of them did.
“It doesn’t matter,” I whispered. “I’m not putting myself through all of this for him…for any of you. I’m here for one reason only…my father…for revenge.”
“Then you’re in the right place. We specialize in vengeance. But…” she said as the server put the plates in front of us.
“But?” I repeated when he walked away.
“Can you handle it?”
“What?”
“Ivy.” She leaned in. “Joining hands with Ethan doesn’t mean he’ll go in with a bat and hurt whoever hurt you…he’s a student of Machiavelli. He’ll tear them down slowly and then wipe them from the face of the earth.”
I leaned in as well. “I know my unsophisticated demeanor often makes people look down on me. I also know people think I am weak, but Nari, I’ve read The Prince too. Machiavelli once said ‘I love my city more than my soul.’ And as such, no sacrifice is too small. Your grandmother asked me to give up my name. I said okay. You told me to cut my teeth and rip the hair from my body. I said okay. Marriage for the Irish is forever. Which means, a man I do not know will own every part of me, indefinitely, and still I said okay. I don’t care how he does it…as long as he does it.”
NARI
“Well, then I guess nothing else can be said,” I replied, lifting the water to my lips, and she reached for her fork. I watched him, through the frosted glass of the waterfall, rise to his feet, button up his suit jacket, and walk toward the exit.
The king had heard what he’d needed to hear…