by J. J. McAvoy
Liam shook his head. “You broke his nose—something I’m starting to see you’re good at—and damn well choked the life out of him, then tasered him.”
“Are you defending him? I did worse to Declan, and he didn’t even shoot you.” He was too calm about this, and it pissed me the fuck off.
“I second that,” Declan muttered just loud enough so we could hear him.
Liam rolled his eyes. “We’re going to war, remember. After tomorrow, hell is going to break loose. We are family, and we need to make sure our personal shit is together. Besides, you stabbed Declan with a knife the size of a dagger.”
“Are we seriously discussing the type of weapon used to stab me in the chest?” Declan asked, and it was my turn to roll my eyes.
“It wasn’t even really your chest. It was much closer to your shoulder-blade. The worse you needed was stitches, you big baby,” I added, and Neal snickered until I glared at him again.
“I have a much bigger knife waiting for you,” I snapped.
“If Neal ever shoots anything near me again, I will take off his head and mount it on the fucking wall.” He seemed to mean it, but I wasn’t sure.
“I still hate him,” I replied, drinking.
“Looks like I’m not the only romantic one.” He grinned, however, it was interrupted by a cellphone. Neal answered it quickly before handing it to Liam.
“Father.” Sighing, Liam placed it on speaker before setting it on the table. “To what do I owe the pleasure?” Liam asked, sitting up straighter. I didn’t understand why men always felt the need to prove something to their fathers.
“Liam, Melody, I’m sure you both took time out of your busy schedules to watch the news. The police commissioner is becoming a problem.” Sedric’s voice sounded hard, like he was trying to control his anger.
“Yes—”
“We are handling it, Sedric. Is that the only reason you called?” I asked before Liam could make a fool out of himself. He looked me dead in the eye, as if I’d lost my mind.
There wasn’t a reply at first, just a deep breath. Did I tick off Sedric? Too fucking bad.
“Evelyn just received an invitation to a wedding being held here in Chicago for a Saige Rozhkov and Amory Valero.”
Liam’s eyes narrowed as we looked at each other. Nodding, he took a deep breath.
“We will be attending. If that is all, Father, we must be going,” Liam replied, ending the call before he could get another word in.
Rising from our seats, we both walked into our private cabin at the back of the jet. The second the door closed, I began to speak.
“You are the head of this family, not your fucking father. You do not sit up straighter for him. You do not even give him all your fucking attention. And you sure as hell do not answer his questions like you are still second-in-command. The only person who gets that amount of respect is me. You are a leader, so lead. You share with him when you motherfucking feel like it. Not when he calls and barks. You may be his son, but you are not his child. You are Ceann na Conairte, and I am the Boss, even to our fathers. If you embarrass me or yourself like that again, I will rip out your throat.”
LIAM
She’s right. That was the very first thing that went through my mind after she left. I was the Ceann na Conairte, not my father. I had seen him as such for so long that it was almost second nature to show him that same respect. Stepping off the plane, Mel stood before none other than Coraline.
“What in Jesus fuck happened to my wife?” Declan asked from behind me.
“What happened to her hair?” Neal asked, staring at the shorthaired girl standing in front of Mel.
Without answering either of them, I walked to my wife only to be met with another shock.
Is that the ugly duckling? Adriana stood beside Coraline, her nest of a hair tamed, her glasses gone, and her face covered in light makeup. She wasn’t drop-dead gorgeous, but she didn’t deserve the ugly duckling title anymore.
“Adriana, ride with us,” was all Mel said when I reached her. “Cora we will talk later.”
Once we reached the car, the driver opened the door for us while Adriana took a seat up front.
“I’m guessing you had something to do with this?” I asked Mel once we were on our way home.
“She came to me. I had Adriana do what she could,” she replied, not in the least bit worried about how this might turn out. Declan . . . well Declan really couldn’t do shit, and that’s probably why she wasn’t bothered.
Sighing, I turned to the woman up front. “Well, what can my sister-in-law do?”
“She was difficult the first day, frustrated with herself and the world on the second. The third day, she puked up half her weight, and then the rest of the week she got a lot of the basics down. She will need more practice, but she is getting used to carrying a knife. Mrs. Callahan was right about the gun. She tried it, and almost blew her hand off.” I could hear the amusement in her voice. However, my mind couldn’t picture Coraline doing any of those things.
“And her hair?” Mel asked.
“She got a little carried away with the whole becoming a warrior thing. She demanded to listen to Rocky during one of the morning sessions. Then at night, she wanted to listen to Eye of the Tiger on repeat. Eve—Mrs. Callahan found it fitting.”
Mel sat up. “I thought I told you to keep this discrete.”
“I tried, ma’am. The second and third days were the hardest for Coraline, and she was so sore she couldn’t hide it during dinner. Mr. and Mrs. Callahan believe it is just self-defense. Olivia Callahan tried to tell Neal, so I had her phone jammed, ma’am.”
Mel frowned but nodded, even though no one else would be able to see her but me.
“I see.” I frowned as well. Family dinner tonight was going to be interesting.
“It’s nothing to worry about. We have much bigger things on our plate like Saige and Amory,” Mel said, hissing out their names as if they were poison.
“Which is why I think we should plan a small trip to Italy.”
“Liam, we cannot take out Vance’s cars now. It’s probably at the bottom of our to-do list.” She wasn’t getting it though.
“We don’t have to go, our men could go. After all, what better time to destroy cars and maybe a home or two while everyone is celebrating a wedding?” They would be so blindsided.
She smirked. “Guerrilla warfare.”
“Exactly.”
“Adriana, when is the wedding?”
“Three weeks from today, ma’am,” she replied quickly, handing us a wedding invitation. Mel stared at it with just as much disgust as I did. Allowing it to drop to the floor, she turned back to me.
“Are you sure you don’t mind not being able to physically destroy Vance’s things?”
It was the only downside. “Yes, but seeing Vance’s face during the wedding when he gets that call will surely make up for it.” He wouldn’t even be able to publicly display his anger. Instead, he would have to take it up the ass and just smile at me.
She shook her head at me and stared out at the city. I watched her eyes storm over and I wished more than anything I could read her mind. She turned to me with a smirk that I wanted to kiss off her fucking face.
“My father told me once that the world wanted Kate Middleton or the first lady, someone to kiss babies and write big checks on your behalf.” She said it slowly, but I still didn’t understand.
“You want to write a check?” Why would that get her so excited?
“Yes.” She smirked, looking back outside. “To the men and women of the Chicago PD who were injured during those terrible fires. After all, how can they afford all those bills? I even think we should do it in person. I bet our favorite Superintendent and commissioner, Officer Patterson, will be there as well to console the families.”
Dear God, I loved my wife.
“Take us to St. John’s Medical Hospital.” I smiled alongside her, reaching into my jacket for my checkbook.
&nb
sp; “Should I make it rich or obnoxiously rich?” I asked, wondering how many zeros to put in the space.
“Obnoxiously rich, of course. Something only a Callahan can do.” She grinned, looking toward Adriana. “Adriana, how fast can you leak it to the press?”
“Ten minutes. If you would like to change, I brought clothing. It’s in the back,” she answered, already dialing.
She had standby clothes?
Mel nodded, taking off her seatbelt as she climbed into trunk of the car.
“Seriously? How un-first-lady-like?” I grinned, looking back at her.
“Shut the fuck up, you Irish asshole and keep your eyes forward.”
“Why? I’ve seen it all before?” She smirked. “We wouldn’t want our driver peeking, would we?” My eyes narrowed at the man behind the steering wheel. At her words, he visibly tensed. She knew I would watch him like a hawk, which would stop me from staring at her.
I would have to make her pay later on tonight.
MELODY
“The Chicago Police Department is important to the wellbeing of this city. My husband and I do not want our men and women in uniform to worry about the medical bills or their livelihoods after protecting us. It is my great honor to present this check for nineteen million dollars to our commissioner and superintendent, Officer Patterson.” I smiled into the cameras that stood in the ER wing of St. John’s Hospital. Officer Patterson glared at me with a mixture of hate, anger, and disgust. But he took the money anyway.
“Thank you so much, Mrs. Callahan,” he said, practically sneering through his teeth. “I’m sure this will help the families who lost love ones and those injured, overwhelmingly so.”
Liam smirked beside me. “It was such a tragedy. Those old factories should be checked. Aren’t they also known for their crime? Are the police looking into this?”
Commissioner Patterson opened his mouth, but the reporters heard Liam’s questions and jumped on him.
“Commissioner Patterson, is this going to be one of the things you plan on fixing in Chicago?”
“Commissioner, is there going to be an investigation?”
“Is it true your house was also destroyed?”
“Rumor has it that this was a terrorist attack?”
“Did this have anything to do with your investigation of Flight 735?” That caught my attention, and Liam’s apparently because his jaw tightened.
“Ladies and gentlemen, this is a hospital, and we do not want to bother any of the patients that are here in need of medical attention,” Commissioner Patterson told them all as politely as he could.
A doctor stepped forward as the reporters fanned out. She looked almost star struck as she stared into Liam’s eyes.
Could she still be a doctor if I cut off her hands?
“Mr. Callahan, I’m Dr. Amy Lewis, thank you so much for the donation. Your family has been so kind to the patients of this hospital as well as the staff. It would be our honor to show you around. I’m sure the victims of this accident would love to meet you,” she gushed, while I tried not to vomit in my mouth.
“I don’t believe that would be a good idea,” Commissioner Patterson stated, causing the whole staff to look at him like he was crazy . . . most likely because he was.
“It’s been a difficult couple of days. They may need their rest.”
“I assure you, we are doing or best for every patient her,” Dr. Lewis replied, but only because she wanted to spend more time with my husband.
Stepping in front of Liam, I smiled like I was in a fucking Crest commercial. “Of course, I would love to meet them. Sweetheart, do you have time?”
Liam raised an eyebrow at me. “Anything you wish, my love.”
Dr. Amy Lewis looked like she came in her scrubs at the sound of his voice. I wonder if I can smash her head in?
“Where are we going first?”
She seemed startled by my voice, as if she had forgotten I was still here. I felt my hand slide to the back of my pants toward my knife when Liam grabbed me, pulling me into his arms.
“Control yourself, love,” he hissed into my ear.
Taking a deep breath, we followed the stupid bitch as she led us toward another part of the hospital.
“This is our burn unit where many of the officers are being treated,” she replied, moving down the hall as if she were putting the men on display.
I wasn’t sure what it was that made me stop in front of one of the officer’s rooms. Maybe it was all the flowers, cards, and balloons. Or maybe it was the small girl who sat in her mother’s lap, laughing with her burned father that did it. The side of his face was wrapped in bandages along with both of his arms, but he was still alert.
Stepping in, the family froze and looked to us.
“Officer Pope, this is Mr. and Mrs. Callahan. As of a few moments ago, they have paid off all your bills,” Dr. Amy-what’s-her-face stated, joyfully.
The woman in the chair broke out into sobs before running up and giving me a hug. I was not a hugger. However, I couldn’t be myself.
“Thank you so very much. You have no idea how much this means to my family,” she cried, stepping back to adjust herself and pick up her daughter.
“Anything to help. I can’t imagine the life you live,” I said softly. “Always worrying if your husband will get wounded, or even worse. It’s the least we can do.”
“Thank you. Really, thank you.” She wiped her face, turning to her daughter. “Tell Mrs. Callahan, thank you, sweetheart.”
The small girl hid behind her hair. “Thanks.”
“Let’s go tell Grandpapa the good news,” she replied, looking back to her husband for a moment, who nodded slowly.
“There’s that first lady,” Liam whispered, kissing the back of my head and handing me a cup of coffee.
“Mr. and Mrs. Callahan,” Dr. Amy, the whore, called out.
“Liam, I will stay,” I told him. He gave me an odd look before exiting with the rest of them.
Officer Pope simply glared at me, and I knew he had an idea of who we really were underneath the public mask.
“I have no idea why people choose to become police officers.” I frowned, looking over his burnt skin, half of his face was basically melted off.
“Someone has to put people like you away,” he struggled to say.
Raising an eyebrow, I smiled. “That’s never going to happen, and if it were, it wouldn’t be you. I’ve seen better looking beef jerky.”
“I could have a wire,” he hissed out, and I rolled my eyes while reaching over to push on his wrapped skin. He cried out softly.
“You don’t have a wire, and even if you did, I have a frequency jammer. If that didn’t work, then I would kidnap your family until you confess to tampering evidence to falsely arrest me.” I wasn’t an idiot, and after all, we were in a hospital full of cops.
His eyes narrowed. “Aren’t you ashamed of yourself? Don’t you have guilt? Or are you all just heartless, cold-blooded snakes? Your drugs kill dozens of people in this city alone, just in one week. God knows how many people die in this country just so you can make a buck. You all are sick. How the hell do you sleep at night?”
“Who did you lose?” I asked him, taking a sip of my coffee. His words didn’t bother me.
“You don’t give a damn.”
“Nope, not at all.” I smiled. “You see, you’re blaming me for something that isn’t my fault. Do you blame a bartender for giving someone a drink? No, because he is supplying a demand. No one is forcing anyone to do or take anything. Whoever died, it was on them and their family. They should have gotten their shit together. Their family should have stood by them. Instead, you look for someone to blame.”
“You must be fucked up in the head to think like that. There ain’t any justification for what you people do,” he snapped, looking away. “You insult us more by pretending you’re good Catholic folk. You don’t care about God. I don’t think you even believe in Him.”
“I do. I care abo
ut God, and I do believe in Him.” I really did. “However, I know why I was created. God needs me. What would happen if there weren’t people like me? If the world were perfect, if everything was the way you wished it to be, then why would you pray? God needs me, because without us, you forget about Him. He is on my side, not yours.”
“We will see about that. The commissioner has his eye on you all. He won’t rest until you are all in jail!”
“Then I’ll rip out his eyes and put him six feet under. You should thank God you are in here, because after tomorrow, Chicago will never be the same. You can tell the commissioner I said that,” I replied, leaving the coffee cup with my lipstick imprint on the counter before turning to leave.
“By the way, I sleep perfectly fine at night. It’s all about the thread count.”
I smiled at him once more before leaving. Chicago would burn, and they would know it was their fault. Once the smoke cleared and the dust settled, we would rebuild. But we would own this motherfucking city.
Stepping into the corner, I placed a call.
“Put Officer Pope and his family on the list.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
TWENTY-THREE
“Courage is the power to let go of the familiar.”
~ Raymond Lindquist
SEDRIC
“I believe your son and his wife just dismissed me.” My nose flared as I clutched onto the phone in my hands.
“Why is it whenever they do something wrong, they magically become ‘mine’?” my wife asked as she dressed.
“Because . . .”
“Choose your words carefully, dear.”
Walking up behind her, I grabbed her waist pulling her to me. “I ruled once. I was king, and yet my own children are dismissing me as if I were a butler. When did I fall so far?”
She laughed, turning back to me. “My dear, you were king, and when you were, no one could speak a word to you. Your word was law, and those around you listened. Neither your sons nor I could talk you out of anything you wished. But you gave up your crown because it no longer fit. In doing so, you agreed to allow Liam and Mel to rule as they wished.”