Chapter 14 - Rachel Saw The Cost Of Power
Dating Ethan was not glamorous in the way strangers imagined.
Restaurants became complicated.
Security checks were constant.
People watched.
Some wanted favors.
Others wanted photographs.
A few were genuinely afraid.
Rachel hated that part.
One evening, a restaurant owner refused Ethan’s payment.
“Mr. Callahan, please.”
Ethan insisted.
The man still refused.
Outside, Rachel said:
“He wasn’t being generous.”
“I know.”
“He was scared to charge you.”
“I know.”
“Does that bother you?”
“Yes.”
“Then change it.”
Ethan looked at her.
The next week, his company issued policies preventing employees and
affiliated businesses from giving uncompensated services to Callahan
family members.
Rachel laughed when he told her.
“You wrote a policy because of dinner?”
“Apparently I need rules.”
“You do.”
Their relationship was not easy.
Rachel refused to move to Chicago.
Ethan could not casually relocate.
Sophie’s legal situation with Marcus remained under court supervision.
Rachel would not let Ethan use influence around the case.
He respected that.
Sometimes they argued.
Sometimes Rachel wondered whether a man raised around power could ever
fully understand how frightening power looked from the other side.
Sometimes Ethan wondered whether Rachel would always assume the worst
because of his surname.
They talked.
Not perfectly.
But directly.
One night Ethan said:
“You know I can make certain problems disappear.”
Rachel stared at him.
“Never say that to me again.”
He understood immediately.
“Okay.”
She needed problems solved lawfully.
May you like
Not disappeared.
Ethan never used the phrase again.
