The Callahan Dynasty

What to do next

Jason

"I can't believe you made him do that."
Isabella's sharp voice came from the other end of the line.

"I didn't make him do anything." I spoke as I got into the SUV, nodding at Greg who held the door open for me. "I gave him a choice. One that he made."

I couldn't see Isabella's face but I knew her well enough to know that she must have been giving me a murderous glare.

"That wasn't much of a choice. You practically told him to either admit his deepest and darkest secret to her or to lose her forever. Ironically, even though he chose the former, it still ended in the same way the latter would."

"Bella, you know just as well as I do that you don't keep secrets from the ones you love. That's why I never kept secrets from you." I told her.

She was silent for a little while before she spoke again. "No offence, Jason, but you have a twisted idea of love." Her voice wasn't bitter or angry. It was calm and sympathetic and I knew that she meant every word.

"You're saying I should lie to you more often?" I growled. I was now getting angry.

"I'm saying regardless of how right it is, the truth does hurt, it hurts a lot. Alex lied to Kate because he knew the truth would destroy her."

"No he lied to her because it was the easiest thing to do. He forgot all our training. Callahan men are not afraid to endure a little pain if it's the right thing to do for our family."

I heard her let out a humourless laugh. "And here I was thinking that maybe... just maybe you had changed."

"You know me, Bella. You know what type of person I am and you fell in love with that person. Why are you trying to change me all of a sudden?"

I heard her let out a sigh. "I did fall in love with you and I am still in love with you. I just don't know if... If I can deal with this anymore Jason, what we had, our relationship, it wasn't healthy. I didn't see it before but all that time away from home made me realise that love goes way deeper than just tolerating each other."

"Is that what you think our relationship was? Nothing but tolerance?" I asked in disbelief. All the time we spent together, all those moments we had.

"No." Her exasperated voice came from the other end. "I don't know how you don't see it Jason. We grew up together and we were always taught that the family comes first. That's why we have arranged marriages. That's why we don't bring outsiders into our inner circle. And that's why you and I were such a perfect match."

I rubbed my temple in frustration. "I don't know where all of this is coming from, Bella but I know and you know deep down inside that what we had was real."

"No it wasn't!" She snapped. "Jason, we're both Callahan's. I might not carry the family name but I was raised the exact same way. We were so comfortable with lying and using deceitful means to get our way. For goodness sake, we even flirted with other people to get our way!"

"Those girls meant nothing, it was just business and you know that."

"Arg! Jason, the fact that you can actually justify what you just said proves my point."

"Where is all this even coming from?"

Isabella enjoyed our relationship from what I remembered. We had fun leading other people on to make each other jealous. We enjoyed our little games, that's what kept our relationship fresh. Then it hit me. Neither Alex nor Isabella had been the same since they got back.

"It's because of her, isn't it?" I growled.
Isabella sighed once again.

"Jason another thing you have to understand is that not all those outsiders are the enemy. Especially not Kate, I know that you've been trying to get rid of her. I've known it since the first time I saw the way you looked at her. But I'm telling you, Kate is amazing, she loves Harry so much and if you got to know her, I'm sure you'd see how kind and funny and fiercely loyal she really is."