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She wrapped her arms around her middle as a wave of disgust rippled through her. Hadn’t her father known how devastated she had been because of that lie? She had ached over the loss of Mac. Not just for weeks and months. She had never stopped mourning his passing. It had felt as if her right arm had been chopped off. Callie had carried that loss with her ever since.
And now, having been reunited after decades, she vowed never again to be separated from her big brother. All these years they'd been kept apart when they could have been spending time together and bonding. Even though he lived in Breeze Point, Cape Cod with his big, bustling adopted family—the Donahues—they had made a solemn vow to see each other several times a year. Mac had also fallen head over heels in love with Delilah, who was now his fiancée. There was no way that Callie was going to miss that wedding.
There had been so much heartache, all because of her father's lies. Powerful men like her father always believed they could do anything, say anything, get away with anything. It was almost as if he considered it his right. Being from one of Savannah’s oldest and most elite families had given her father an invincible mentality. She could see it all so clearly now. It felt as if a veil had been lifted from over her eyes.
“I did it for you, Callie. Everything has always been for you.” Her father’s words washed over her. It had to be the biggest lie of all. It was just like him to justify everything by telling her he had her best interests at heart. At the moment she couldn’t find it within herself to move toward forgiveness. It was a process, wasn’t it? She couldn’t just snap her fingers and forgive her father. And she couldn’t live under his roof and sit at his table as if nothing had ever happened.
Lord, please bring me peace. I don’t want to harbor any negativity toward my father, but I can’t forgive him for what he’s done. The lie was too twisted. The layers of the deception ran way too deep. I lost too much.
“What about these boxes over here, Miss Duvall?” The deep masculine voice of Stan, one of the men from the moving company, intruded into her thoughts.
Callie looked over at the box of items that were stacked near her closet. They were all nostalgic items from her childhood—a heart locket, a picture of her and her parents on the first day of school, a valentine heart handcrafted by her other brother, Luke Duvall.
Luke. It had been terribly complicated to explain to him that her biological brother was alive and well. She loved Luke so much and she didn’t want their relationship to change because she was now reunited with her biological brother, Mac. She had enough love in her heart to be a little sister to both men.
Callie let out a sigh. She couldn’t control things. Everything was going to play out the way it was meant to. With God’s grace she would be able to handle it, one day at a time.
“Yes, Stan. Those are going to my place. The ones in the hallway are going to Olivia’s charity.” Her best friend did major charity work at a woman’s facility in downtown Savannah. All of the residents suffered from mental illness. Callie thought it was incredibly brave of Olivia to dedicate herself to so many hours at the facility.
Stan nodded and moved toward the stacked boxes. He picked them up with seemingly no effort at all and carried them out of the room.
After she handed the last of her boxes off to the men from the moving company, Callie stood in the middle of her bedroom and looked around at the empty room. Every single item belonging to her had been packed up and placed in the moving van or directed to Olivia’s charity. In that her grandmother had purchased her bedroom set and vanity for her as a college graduation present, Callie had no intention of leaving it behind. It didn’t belong to her parents. She could take those pieces knowing they rightfully belonged to her.
Last evening her father had come to her, asking her not to move out of the family estate.
“Callie. You are breaking your mother’s heart.”
Callie had sputtered with disbelief. “Me? I’m breaking her heart?”
“Please don’t leave. Not like this. I’ll do anything.”
Her father’s chin had quivered. He wasn’t a man to ever bend to another person’s will. At that moment it had seemed as if he might snap in two. Her heart constricted at the notion that she was hurting him.
Then she remembered what he had done. His lies had separated her from Mac. And nothing he could do would ever make up for those lost years. And she wouldn’t be emotionally blackmailed into staying at the mansion. Her whole life she had been told that her mother was fragile. It appeared to Callie that her mother was a whole lot stronger than anyone realized.
“I can’t stay. Not after a lifetime of secrets and lies. I need some time on my own. Away from this place.”
“Away from us?” Her father’s question had been blunt.
“Yes. Away from you.” Her voice had been ice cold. Her father’s eyes had widened with surprise. There hadn’t ever been a moment in her life when she had used that tone with him.
Her father had walked out of the room after that, seemingly defeated. Callie didn’t like the way things were unraveling within her family, but she could no longer be the good little girl who questioned nothing in her life.
She was changing. The moment Mac had shown up at her door she had undergone a transformation. Sometimes things happened in one’s life that altered them forever. She couldn’t go back—only forward. A thrill of excitement raced through her. Her own place. For the first time in her adult life she was on her own. Even though the circumstances were less than ideal, she was grateful to her dear friend Hattie for allowing her to stay in her guest house at her Bed and Breakfast. Savannah House, located on Tybee Island, was a place that was near and dear to her heart. Callie, along with her best friends, had all worked there summers during high school. In the last few years Savannah House had gone through some major changes, and as a result, Hattie had shuttered the doors on the place.
She twirled around, feeling almost carefree. Even though her world was in chaos, she felt happy about this move toward independence. It felt as if doors were opening for her.
A tall figure with jet black hair stood in the doorway. His height and the breadth of his shoulders filled out the entire doorframe. Callie let out a gasp and pressed her hand against her neck.
“I didn’t mean to frighten you.” The rich timbre of the masculine voice sent shivers down her spine. For a single moment she paused to admire his strong, chiseled features and the blue eyes that always seemed to be full of mischief.
“Jax! What are you doing here?” Jax Holden was one of the executives at her father’s company, Duvall Investments. She’d known Jax since she was a little girl. They had been in the same classrooms, played on the same playground and dated each other’s friends. Jax’s face was as familiar to her as some of the people she held dearest to her heart. Still and all, she couldn’t exactly say they were close friends. Childhood friends is how she would describe their relationship. And in the past few years there had been a sort of tension simmering between them that made her feel on edge.
“Your father sent me.” Jax stepped over the threshold and into her bedroom. Suddenly, it felt as if he had sucked up all the air in the room. For a moment it felt as if she couldn’t breathe.
Her first instinct was to take a step backward. He was standing mere inches from her. Callie sucked her teeth. Why had her father involved Jax in this? “You're doing his bidding?”
A tremor ran along his jaw. He bristled. “Is that what you think? I’m my own man. And he is my boss. I respect him, so when he asked me to help him out—”
