3. Chapter 3
Chapter 3
Fleur
D ad was upset with me.
"You can't tolerate your boyfriend having friends? Is that it? Or is this about your lifelong jealousy of Sabine?" he demanded when he came to see me at home.
I'd almost not opened the door, wondering if I could pretend I wasn't home. But my family so seldom visited me that I couldn't resist the need to be accepted so I'd let him in. It was a dumb thing to do, especially in the light of the conversation we were having.
"He left dinner as soon as she called, Dad. It was my birthday dinner." I sat on an armchair across from him, my hands clenching and unclenching on my lap. My family always made me feel like I was a sad little teenager, afraid of her own shadow, scared of being kicked out of the Landry household for saying or doing the wrong thing.
"So? Sabine was upset. She met someone who reminded her of Seamus and—"
"And then I heard him tell her that our relationship was just sex," I continued. My face heated because I was uncomfortable talking with my father about something so intimate.
"He asked you to move in with him," my father growled.
I kept my eyes lowered. "He also told her that it was temporary." Which was not how he'd sold it to me.
Dad scoffed. "He just said that to make her feel better. You have to understand that she lost her husband and her baby. She's feeling vulnerable seeing her sister move on. Where is your compassion, Fleur?"
My compassion? God! If only they knew how damned compassionate I was to Seamus's memory. How I wasn't telling them the truth. But I'd made Seamus a promise. I wouldn't tell anyone, and I wasn't going to betray that man, dead or alive, after what he'd been through right before his accident.
"You never approved of Callum and me dating, so I don't understand why you're here complaining about that relationship ending," I finally said, feeling exhausted.
I'd moved my stuff back and had spent the weekend unpacking. It had been three days and eighteen hours now since I saw Callum last, and I felt like breaking into a Sinead O'Connor classic song.
"He's upset. Sabine is upset. I don't like that."
I looked my father in the eye. "I'm upset too, Daddy."
"As you should be since you caused this. First, you should've stayed away from Callum, which you didn't do, and now you're trying to cause trouble between him and Sabine. She's his family. He has every right to take care of her," Dad thundered.
"As he should." I stood and walked to the front door. Enough was enough—it was time to let them all go. Callum. Dad. Mom. Sabine. None of them were good for me.
“I have a meeting in five minutes, Dad. So….” I held the door open.
My father looked shocked. I always just sat and took it, but I was tired of being beaten down by the people who were supposed to love me.
"We're not done talking." He made no effort to move, and I knew he was pulling the Alpha male move that Callum liked so much as well. He wanted to show me he was in control, and he'd decide when he'd leave.
"We are done." I kept my voice low and clear. "Now, leave. And don't come back."
That did get his back up, and he rose, his face a mask of rage. "What did you say?" He stalked up to me, his height, his demeanor, all of it threatening.
Daddy was a bully. He was famous for being that in court and with his adversaries. He never hit me—but he raised his voice plenty, and as a child, I'd been afraid of him. Now, I was out of fucks.
"I said, leave and don't come back," I repeated, not bothering to look away from his contorted face.
"Young lady, if you think you can treat your father—"
"Get. Out." I looked at my watch to let him know that this conversation was indeed over.
"You're not my daughter any longer," he shouted.
"I never was, Daddy," I murmured.
He sneered. "You think you can survive without us?"
How dare he!
"I've been living my life without y'all for years now," I snapped. "I don't need you at all. None of you. So, maybe it's time we stay the fuck away from each other."
Dad took a step toward me, his hand raised, and I held my ground. If this was the first time he'd hit me, it was the last he'd ever lay his eyes on me.
"Brian," Callum's calm voice filtered through.
Dad lowered his hand and stared at the man he thought of as a son, confusion in his eyes. He couldn’t believe he’d let himself be goaded; oh yes , he’d blame me for his behavior.
"Fleur is no longer my daughter," he spat out and stormed away.
Callum looked at me and then at my father's retreating figure.
"Are you okay?" he asked, his face expressionless.
My heart was still pounding in my chest. "Yes."
No, I'm not fine. But I'm going to be without y'all. I think my life will be better once y'all stop eroding my confidence and heart with your callousness.
"I better check on Brian."
I scoffed and slammed the door shut. My father almost struck me, and the man I loved wanted to make sure my almost-abuser was alright.
I wasn't surprised. Callum would always choose everyone else but me. My family would do the same. Unfortunately, I had also been doing that—choosing others over myself. It was time to stop. It was time to start prioritizing me.
I locked my office door behind me, used my thumbprint, and did a retina scan to get into my computer.
I was working on a project for the DOD, and it was proving to be a right bastard. It was hard work, but my team and I had done more complicated projects. Since we were spread out around the world, my company, brT Systems, had helped to create secure home offices for us.
My team came together once a month in our offices in DC for three to four days so we could go through project plans and connect; otherwise, we worked from home.
Our secure offices were no joke. Mine could not be opened without a thumbprint, retina scan, and a code that changed constantly and which I received on my secure phone. The same was true for my computer.
I had a Creole cottage and the entire second floor had been converted into my office. I didn't allow anyone to go up there, not that I had many people visiting me. My bedroom and bath were downstairs, as was the open-plan kitchen, dining, and living area. I wasn't much of a cook, and it suited me fine to have a small kitchen. If I could heat food and make coffee, I was set.
"Sorry it's over, Wraith. Your beau looks fucking hot," Viper said. She was, as always, eating yogurt with her feet up on the table.
I'd told my team about Callum, and they'd done a thorough background check on him. We did that for each other. Viper worked out of her ranch in Texas, where she lived with her husband, a former Navy SEAL, and two kids. She was the best-adjusted of all of us, what with kids and all.
"So, is he fuckin' your sister now?" Orion wondered.
He was ex-military and was handy when we had to deploy and test the systems we created in a real-world conflict area.
"I don't think so." But fuck if I knew. From all I could see, they were close, and when she said jump , he asked how high . "She's his brother's wife…so…."
"Brother's dead, ain't he?" This was from Rune, who slept around a lot but was still a dedicated father to his twin girls.
He always encouraged me to get my freak on. A fat lot of good it did me. My first one-night stand turned into an eight-month stand and gave me a broken heart.
"If I was him, I'd fucking hate the bitch for what she did to my brother," Viper remarked.
The thing with working with people like Viper, Rune, and Orion was that there were no secrets between us. They knew exactly what my parents were worth, what Seamus had been doing, and what and who Sabine did. They knew everything.
"He doesn't know what she did to his brother," Orion pointed out. "Wraith, why won’t you just tell him?"
"Because she promised the dead guy," Viper snapped. "And when you make promises to dead people, you keep them. Sorry, Wraith, but your sister is a right-on bitch."
I sighed. "Can we get back to Iron Veil?"
Everyone grunted assent. We were tasked with developing a cutting-edge, autonomous security system designed to protect critical infrastructure in battle. The first one we were working on would be tested in an active war zone.
The project was cumbersome, difficult, and time-consuming. We worked all hours of the day and night, and my team had been nice enough to give me some time off to move and be in a relationship, but I was glad to be back with them. Active war zones of the real kind were so much safer than the emotional ones I'd been in lately.
"Alright, boss," Orion said, "we've got some code here that's completely screwed. I think it needs a little Wraith Voodoo."
I grinned and let my fingers fly over the keyboard, leaving behind heartache and Callum Gallagher and did my patriotic duty.