Betrayal

CALLIE

My heart raced as we burst through the hospital doors, my fiance, Ethan wrapped his arm around my shoulder, trying to steady me.

His voice was calm, but I could hear the tension behind his words. “Callie, slow down. He’s going to be okay,” he said softly, though I wasn’t sure if he was saying it for me or for himself.

I couldn’t stop the tears streaming down my face as I rushed past the reception, barely registering the confused look from the nurse.

My father… Dad.

The phone call from my brother, his voice shaking as he told me Dad was in critical condition due to food poisoning, kept replaying in my mind.

I could still hear the panic in his words, the way he struggled to hold himself together.

And now, all I could think about was getting to my father before it was too late.

“I should’ve been there,” I whispered, as we rushed toward the elevator.

Ethan tightened his grip on me, pulling me closer. “You couldn’t have known,” he said, but it did little to ease the ache I felt.

The elevator doors opened, and I didn’t wait…..I darted out, my legs carrying me as fast as they could down the hallway.

Room 312. The door was already in sight.

As I stepped into the room, my legs buckled beneath me.

The sight of my father, frail and motionless, an oxygen mask covering his face, knocked the breath right out of me.

I reached for the doorframe, trying to steady myself, but the overwhelming rush of fear and pain hit me like a wave.

“Dad…” I choked out.

My brother, Liam, stood beside his bed and he looked up at me, but didn't say a word….guilt and helplessness clear in his expression.

Ethan’s arm tightened around me, his presence was the only thing keeping me from collapsing entirely.

“What… what happened?” I stammered, my voice breaking. “How did this happen? Who poisoned him?”

Tears blurred my vision, streaming uncontrollably down my face as I stared at Liam, waiting….needing…answers.

The lump in my throat made it hard to breathe.

My father looked so small in that hospital bed, so vulnerable, and the thought of losing him was unbearable.

I collapsed into Ethan as he held me close, whispering soft reassurances that I could barely hear over the sound of my own heart breaking.

He stroked my hair, his lips brushing the top of my head as I clung to him, my entire world spinning out of control.

“How could this happen?” I cried. “Who would want to hurt him?”

To my shock, Liam’s lips curled into a smile….one so out of place it felt like the air had been sucked out of the room.

I blinked, my mind scrambling to make sense of what I was seeing.

My brother, standing beside our father’s fragile body, smiling?

“Liam…” I whispered. “What… what’s so funny?”

Ethan's arm was still around me, but his body stiffened as we both watched Liam.

“I’m the one responsible, Callie.”

For a moment, I couldn’t comprehend the words. They didn’t make sense.

My heart seemed to stop, and the room blurred around me.

“What? I… I don’t understand.”

Liam just stood there, still smiling. “It was me,” he repeated, more firmly this time. “I poisoned him.”

Stunned, I took a step back, my mind whirling.

I searched his face for any hint that he was joking, any sign of the brother I grew up with, but all I saw was the cold truth in his eyes.

“Why?!” The word tore from my throat, my chest tightening with both shock and anger.

“Why would you do this, Liam?! He's your father!”

He tilted his head slightly, his smile now fading into something darker, something that sent a chill through my spine.

“You wouldn’t understand,” he said quietly.

“He deserves it, Callie,”

“I’m tired. Tired of how he runs things. The business… our lives… everything. He’s too slow, too cautious, and I’ve waited long enough for him to step down or... die.”

I gasped, unable to believe what I was hearing. This couldn’t be real.

My brother, the person I thought I knew better than anyone, had turned into a monster right before my eyes.

“So, I did what needed to be done,” Liam continued, taking a step closer to our father’s bed. “Now I’ll take over, and things will finally be the way they should.”

I froze, horror gripping me as I watched him move toward our father.

His hand reached for the oxygen mask, and time seemed to slow.

My heart pounded in my ears as I realized what he was about to do.

“Liam, no!” I screamed, rushing forward to stop him.

But before I could reach him, Ethan grabbed me, pulling me back. “Callie, stop!” he shouted. “Let me handle this!”

Ethan’s body shielded me as he stepped between Liam and our father, his arm outstretched to block Liam’s path.

"You said I’d be the one to do it," he said, his eyes flicking to the oxygen mask.

What the hell is going on?

"What are you talking about?" I stammered, stepping back in confusion. "Ethan, what’s going on?"

He turned to face me, his expression shifting from protective to something else…something cold.

"Callie," he said softly, his tone suddenly detached, "I’m sorry you had to find out this way."

My heart dropped into my stomach, a strange numbness spreading through me.

"Find out what?" I whispered, barely able to form the words.

Ethan sighed, running a hand through his hair.

"I’ve been working with Liam for months," he confessed.

"At first, it was just about getting close to you, securing a stake in your father’s business."

My breath caught in my throat, disbelief crashing through me. "What are you saying? You... you’re with Liam?"

Ethan’s eyes flickered with guilt for only a second. "Yes. It was never about love, Callie. I’m sorry. But when Liam made me a better offer, I couldn’t turn it down."

The room spun, my legs buckling beneath me as I slumped to the cold floor.

I couldn’t breathe.

The betrayal was too sharp, too sudden. Everything I thought I knew about Ethan…

about us…shattered in an instant.

Tears blurred my vision as I looked up at him. "How could you do this to me?"

Ethan knelt down in front of me, his hand brushing my cheek in a sickeningly tender gesture.

"I didn’t want to hurt you, Callie," he murmured. "But business is business."

I flinched at his touch, the sting of his words cutting deeper than I ever thought possible.

Liam, watching the scene unfold with that same unsettling smile, took a step toward the bed. "Time’s running out, Ethan. Do it."

Ethan stood, turning away from me without a second glance.

My body felt frozen, my mind unable to catch up to the nightmare unfolding before me.

I watched in horror as Ethan walked over to my father’s bedside, his hand reaching for the oxygen mask.

"No!" I screamed, trying to push myself up from the floor, but my body wouldn’t move.

I was too weak, too devastated to stop him.