Page 4 of Of Beauty, Brains, & Bravery

“Anything else, Jimmy?”

“Just wanted to know if everything was okay.” He looked at me, and then he looked over at Callie.

“Everything’s fine. Thank you.”

“It’s not fine!” Callie said, walking over to Jimmy. “I want you to take me home right now.”

“I don’t think I can do that, miss,” Jimmy said, shaking his head, “but I’m sure Antonio can—”

“I don’t care about Antonio. He’s rude. Take me home now or I’ll call the police.”

Jimmy chuckled at her words and then looked over at me.

I shook my head. “You can go now, Jimmy.”

“Yes, boss,” he said, nodding his head. “You have a nice evening, ma’am.”

“Thanks for nothing,” she said. Her eyes looked back at me reproachfully. “So he is your goon, after all.”

I took a couple of deep breaths. I knew she was mad, and I didn’t blame her, so I wasn’t going to show my impatience. “You need to know something, Callie.”

“What?” she said, shouting.

“My mother…” I held my hands up in the air.

“Yes?” Her face paled for a few seconds. “Please don’t tell me we have the same mother.”

“What?” My jaw dropped. Was she crazy? Did she think I was a sicko?

“Your mother. My mother. Please do not tell me they’re the same person. I couldn’t live with myself if—”

“I’m not sick. Callie, I may be a wolf and I may be in the Mafia, but I wouldn’t knowingly sleep with my sister.” I felt disgusted. “I can’t believe you would even think that.”

“I mean, I didn’t really think it,” she said, shaking her head, “but I don’t know, it’s not like I trust you anymore.”

I sighed. “Your dad and my mom had an affair.”

“What?” She blinked, looking confused. “What are you talking about?”

“I’m talking about the fact that your father and my mother had an affair.” I gritted my teeth, trying not to get worked up.

“No, there’s no way. He absolutely loved my mom. He adored her. He hasn’t even dated anyone since she died. He—”

I took a couple of steps closer to her. Her entire body was shaking. Maybe I should have waited to give her this information, but I knew I had to give her something to get her to stay. “Your mother and my mother, they died on the same day,” I said.

“What? I don’t understand what you’re trying to say.”

“Your dad was with my mother, driving. I don’t really know the full story, but he got into a car crash. My mom died instantaneously.” I spoke the words almost as if they meant nothing to me, almost as if I hadn’t hated her father for as long as I could remember. “Your dad walked away injury-free.” My eyes bore into hers.

She shook her head in disbelief. “No, my dad wouldn’t do that. He… he loved my mom,” she said softly. “He loved her.”

“I don’t know what to tell you, Callie, but your dad left the scene of the accident. He left my mom to die.”

“What? No, he would never do that! He’s a good guy.”

“He got a call from the hospital,” I continued, because the last thing I thought was that her father was a good guy. I stared at her face and beautiful features and felt sad for her. Her entire world was going to be turned upside down with this news. Her father was the only parent she had, and he was a disgusting human being. “Your mom had cancer, right?”

“Yeah.” She nodded.

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