Chapter 7
Weston called his father from the hallway.
He thought we could not hear him.
Hospital doors are not as thick as arrogant men assume.
“This is ridiculous,” he hissed.
“She has some lawyer claiming Nadeir rights.”
A pause.
Then his voice changed.
“What do you mean, don’t sign anything?”
Odette looked at me.
Josephine looked at the folder.
I looked at Marlo.
There it was.
Weston’s father knew enough to be afraid.
He arrived forty minutes later with Weston’s mother and two Callaway attorneys.
I was still in the hospital bed, still aching, still holding my daughter.
That did not stop them from entering like a boardroom had accidentally been placed around me.
Weston’s mother looked at Marlo and said nothing.
Not congratulations.
Not she’s beautiful.
Nothing.
Josephine did not let them get far.
“This is a maternity recovery room.”
Weston’s father, Charles Callaway, tried to smile.
“We are family.”
Odette said, “Then act like it.”
He ignored her.
His eyes moved to me.
“Sable, there has clearly been a misunderstanding.”
I leaned back against the pillows.
“No.”
“Weston was emotional.”
“He was clear.”
“He will sign the necessary papers.”
“Too late.”
Weston snapped, “Too late for what?”
Josephine opened the legal folder again.
“Repudiation was witnessed by medical staff, family, and counsel.”
His mother scoffed.
“You cannot use one sentence in a hospital room to take a company.”
Josephine looked at her.
“I am not taking anything.”
“I am recognizing what already belongs to my client under the partnership agreement your husband has avoided disclosing for thirty-one years.”
Charles’s face went gray.
There.
The truth had touched him.
Weston turned toward his father.
“Dad?”
Charles did not answer.
I almost felt sorry for Weston then.
Almost.
He had been raised to believe power was his inheritance.
No one had told him it was borrowed.
Josephine continued.
“The emergency board notice is already filed.”
Weston’s mother stepped forward.
“You planned this.”
I looked at her.
“No.”
“You planned to erase my daughter.”
The nurse near the door crossed her arms.
A silent witness.
A perfect one.
Charles lowered his voice.
“Sable, think carefully.”
I looked at Marlo’s face.
“I am.”
May you like
“For the first time, I’m thinking about a Callaway daughter before a Callaway son.”
Read the full story 👉 Weston’s parents rushed to the hospital, but Charles’s fear revealed he had known about the Nadeir control agreement for decades.
