A full bladder forced Callie out of bed. She didn’t want to wake up, she didn’t want to feel the pain, she wanted to stay asleep and pretend her heart hadn’t been broken into a million shards.

After Brundar had left, she’d cried for hours, had called in sick and cried some more, until finally falling into an exhausted sleep.

Trudging to the bathroom, she relieved herself, then went back to bed. But sleep wouldn’t come back. How could it when her mind was racing, and her heart was aching, and her soul was crushed?

How could he have turned so cold?

It had happened in front of her eyes. Brundar had shut down, his shields slamming down with an almost audible thud, his eyes becoming flat. No emotion, nothing. Like he wasn’t even there.

And the worst part was that she couldn’t help blaming herself. What had possessed her to push him like that? Accuse him of lying?

But it hadn’t been a false accusation. Brundar had lied to her face.

If his employment terms prohibited him from having a relationship, Anandur would have said so.

That was the second lie she’d caught him in, and he’d admitted the first one. How many were there?

Was he married with a bunch of kids, and had all his talk about being married to his job been a smokescreen? Did he want to keep her as a mistress? Would Anandur have told her if that was the case?

God, she felt like a loser playing the ‘what if’ game.

Her mouth felt disgusting, she needed to brush her teeth, and she desperately needed to get some caffeine in her. Everything would look better once she had her morning coffee.

As Callie waited for the coffeemaker to provide her salvation, her thoughts kept jumping around like a bunch of helium balloons in a cage, bouncing from the walls to the ceiling and the floor, chaotic.

Coffee helped her put some order into the mess.

It didn’t make sense to think Brundar was married. Anandur would’ve been much less accepting of her, or would have at least looked uncomfortable on behalf of his brother. Unless he was a cheater himself.

But that was a far-fetched scenario, and she pushed it aside.

His explanation about wanting to ensure her safety sounded true. She hadn’t known him then, and accepting his offer of a place to live was much easier the way he’d presented it. She would’ve refused to let him pay for the apartment, and according to the neighbor, Callie could not have afforded the rent.

The question was why. He’d been attracted to her from the start but had resisted her not too subtle advances. Which was consistent with the story about his job and not being allowed ongoing relationships.

But what kind of a job demanded such a thing? Even commandos and other Special Forces soldiers could have girlfriends and wives. Many probably chose not to, given the constant danger they were in, but it certainly wasn’t prohibited.

Brundar and Anandur’s situation was most likely the same. Getting involved in a long-term relationship wasn’t recommended, but it was not forbidden.

Which left her with the conclusion that Brundar just didn’t want that. It was about time she accepted that the man was emotionally handicapped and incapable of sharing his life with anyone.

Even before his brother had hinted at it, she’d known that Brundar had issues. It was quite obvious.

Her mistake was a classic female pitfall.

Callie had deluded herself that she could fix him. The worst part was that she’d convinced herself that it wasn’t what she’d been doing. She’d called it pushing, helping him out of his shell, teaching him to communicate better.

All of that boiled down to her trying to fix him.

Except, the man didn’t want her to fix him. Furthermore, she knew that trying to change someone was futile. But she’d listened to her heart, and that little liar had made her believe that love conquered all.

It was time to face the facts.

She was in love with the idiot. But she wasn’t going to waste her life trying to fix the unfixable. Callie had made that mistake before, and it had landed her in her current predicament. She should’ve learned her lesson.

Only an idiot kept making the same mistakes and hoping for different results.

If Brundar wanted her, if he was willing to make an effort, he knew where to find her. At least until she found a new apartment. And a new job. Because she wasn't going to hang around and live off his charity.

Today was as good a day as any to start.

It was a little after nine o'clock in the morning, and her doctor’s appointment was at eleven, which meant she would probably be done by twelve. Plenty of time to go apartment and job hunting.

If only she had a car.

Change of plans. After her doctor’s appointment, she was going to get herself a car—a used one she could buy for cash. Heather Wilson had no credit history, and no employment record, so leasing one was out of the question even though she would’ve preferred to keep her money for emergencies instead of buying a car with a good chunk of it.

But it was okay. She was young and healthy and hard working. She had plenty of time to save up for future emergencies.

Flipping her laptop open, Callie Googled Craigslist and started going over the used cars section.

A few phone calls later she had a couple of good options she was going to check out.