by J. J. McAvoy
“That was her nature. She hated showing how much she loved anything,” he said, unsurprised.
I turned to see him in the middle of the staircase, entirely at ease as his green eyes stayed focused on me.
“Of course, you took it apart and noticed, too.” He wouldn’t admit it, either, because that was in his nature.
“The gun is less interesting than the letter,” he replied.
I lifted the envelope. “Is it a love letter between them? I honestly don’t think that it is more interesting.”
Love letters were easy enough to understand. But the gun was just further proof of how much Melody had tortured herself. Leaving her children behind must have been the hardest. Normally when people tore themselves from the ones they loved, they at least took one thing—a reminder. Something they could hold on to. However, from what I could tell, she’d left everything. Well, everything except her husband. But still, that was impressive.
“My mother wrote the letter to whoever was to be my wife.”
I paused, much more curious. Spinning on my toes, I held the paper closer. “Are you sure that’s me?”
“Do you need me to pinch you?” he said drily, taking all the fun out of it.
“Maybe.” I shrugged. “On the day of my brother and sister’s birthday, your mother told me I wasn’t good enough. Her children were so damn precious to her, so of course, back then someone like me didn’t impress her much. I didn’t even impress you.”
He made a face.
“Yes, I’m still mad about that mouse comment. Snob.”
“You will never let me forget that, will you?” He sighed, leaning against the wall opposite me, and I shook my head.
“Nope. I’m petty, deal with it.”
“I’ve noticed; however, there is something I wanted to ask you about that day.”
“Yes?”
“You told me you’d be an elephant when we were kids. What the hell were you talking about?” He frowned, and I would have laughed if he weren’t so serious. After all these years, he was still trying to figure out what I meant. Sometimes he could be unexpectedly cute.
“Of course, you’d be the one to remember that, Ethan. I was a kid. I misspoke; it happens,” I answered a little amused by my own childishness back then. “Since you called me a mouse, I thought of the strongest animal I could become. I thought that would be an elephant. Back then, I never understood why they called lions the king of the jungle. Elephants were so big they could crush them.”
“Did you figure it out?” he asked, the corners of his lips turned up as he came closer now that he understood.
“Elephants are not kings because they are not predators. After all, is strength really strength if no one fears it?” I replied as I looked back at the letter in my hands. “I’ve come a long way, don’t you think?”
“Maybe that was her plan all along.” He smirked, reaching up and brushing my hair from my face. “She lit a fire under you, and now look at you.”
“Maybe, but it doesn’t matter because she wins either way. I proved her wrong that I could make it here…to this position. But in the end, in doing so, I gave her son all the support he needs. I win, and I lose. She wins either way.”
“Don’t take it personally,” he countered. “My mother always got her way. Everyone always chooses my fucking mother. Even my father faked his death to be with her. My sister left to become a queen in another country because she wanted to be more than my mother. My brother is here because my mother trained him to be here. Now you are the one thing I can say was because of me, but it’s truthfully because of her, too.”
“The further you try to get out of the web, the more you get tangled in it. Smart,” I replied, moving to take a seat in the chair behind the desk in the corner.
“Doesn’t that annoy you?” he asked me.
“No,” I replied, lifting my legs up and under me.
“Why?”
“Because there is no spider in that web; she’s a fly that’s stuck, too,” I stated, opening the letter.
ETHAN
I watched her sit with her head held high in her throne-like chair, reading the letter. Since I knew my mother was alive, I was sure the reason the letters she had left for me always felt so relevant was that she was most likely close by, watching and writing them when she thought I needed them. My mother could watch over me all the time, but that didn’t mean she could predict what I was going to do. I knew she’d written this letter before I’d even thought of using Ivy because I’d seen this letter with my grandmother in the past. Knowing my mother, she at least wanted to get that one done with. The letter itself was short and simple. No words were wasted, and if she asked for something, there was a reason.
“I need a lighter,” she said, looking around her desk.
Getting up, I moved to her, and lifted one of the fountain pens from my suit jacket, twisting the top to show her the lighter. “So fancy. All my pens do is change colors,” she mocked me.
“I’ll order you some,” I replied, leaning against the desk.
“Brilliant, have them engraved with my name, too,” she ordered, and that was the difference.
It was what attracted me to her in Bogotá—she spoke to me as if I were her equal, sometimes actually lower. Her innocent act, that was reserved for people she didn’t think were on her level. Basically, she spoke down to them, and they didn’t even realize it. She even spoke to Giovanna in a cold voice. Those she did not respect, she was very polite to.
I watched as she put the paper in the silver tray she’d gotten from the counter and set it on fire like my mother had asked…like Ivy had failed to do.
“Your mother should have been a spy,” she said and lifted the paper. With the old ink gone, a new letter formed in its place. “I’m guessing since she, who shall not be named, did not burn this, you haven’t read it, either?”
“It’s not addressed to me.”
She sat back in the chair, and because she was also a drama queen, she coughed, clearing her throat. “Your mother says… Good, you listened. I’m glad to know my son hasn’t chosen an idiot.” She paused, frowning as she met my eyes. “For a second, I almost forgot how condescending she could be.”
“Again, don’t take it personally.”
“Again, I don’t. Now, where was I?” She went back to reading. “My wedding gift to you is this information. If your name is not Calliope Orsini…”
She paused with a frown on her lips, and her gray eyes shot to me, but I didn’t say a word and just stared back at her. She went on, “If your name is not Calliope Orsini, then know, she is going to come after you. I don’t know when, and I don’t know how. But if she wasn’t afraid of me at seven, she sure as hell won’t be afraid of you now. First test as the next Mrs. Callahan: can you defend your place?” She giggled to herself. “Ivy should have burned the letter; it wouldn’t have saved her, but at least she would have known why.”
She read on.
“And if this is you, Calliope, know that the crown you so desperately wanted, the power you so desperately craved, is now yours; however, it is only yours because of my son. You forget that, and you will find out in the worst ways imaginable, how ruthless, unforgiving, and cruel this world can be. This isn’t a fairytale. This is war, and it never ends. Sincerely, Melody... P.S. The code is 49-83-21-93-10.”
So that was the code for her personal safe. I’d never bothered to break into it.
Calliope looked up at me, tossing the burnt paper onto the gold tray. “How much you want to bet whatever door or safe this code unlocks has a real crown she put in just to fuck with me?”
“I wouldn’t put it past her.”
She tossed the letter onto the table and leaned back in her chair. “So?”
“So, what?”
“Is the letter all you wanted to show me?”
“Is the letter not important?”
She tilted her head to the side. “It is. And it also isn’t. I can’t read your mind,
Ethan, but I get close to it. Something is off.”
“Why do you say that?”
“You could have given me this letter to me at any time, why now?”
“You weren’t officially Mrs. Callahan until today.”
“Oh, okay.” If the tone in her voice hadn’t told me it wasn’t okay, the way in which she rose from her chair and slowly came over to me sure did.
“Yes?” I questioned when her face was directly in front of mine.
She reached up and placed her hand on my jaw and a warning light appeared in my mind instantly. She was up to something. I knew it, I could feel it, and yet as she came closer, her hand hovering over mine, I could feel myself caring less and less about whatever trap I was about to fall into.
“What am I going to do?” she whispered, squeezing herself between me and her desk. Her fingers gliding across my jaw. “I love the clean shave, but I miss the scruff, too. It made you look a little sinister.”
“You truly are never satisf—” I lost track of whatever it was she was going to say when she slowly licked my jaw.
“Sorry, I just couldn’t help myself. What were you saying?” she asked, trying to pull back, but I gripped her hips, glaring down at her, pinning her against me.
“Do not play with me, Calliope. I will take you right here, right now, and we do not have time for that,” I stated, letting go of her. But of course, she didn’t listen to me.
Instead, she sat back on the desk, lifted her skirt, and dropped her lace thong to the floor at my feet before she spread her legs. My cock instantly hardened. “If we skip the foreplay, I’m sure we can make the time.” She was using sex to get something from me.
This was a trap.
“Fine, I’ll entertain myself,” she stated, licking her fingers before reaching down stroking the lips of her pussy.
It was a trap.
I knew it, but my fucking cock didn’t give a shit, and it was so hard, so neither did I. Undoing my belt and tossing it to the side, I stepped up between her legs. My voice caught in my throat, my cock now throbbing, begging me to take it out. She moaned as she teased herself, and just before she could slide a finger into her pussy, I caught her hand, stopping her.
“Are you here to help me, Boss?” she whispered, and before I could reply, she reached into my pants, grabbing my cock. “Or how about we help each other?” she questioned, squeezing me.
Fuck.
Inhaling deeply only for a second, then taking out her hand, I freed myself completely. Grabbing her thighs, I spread her legs wider before grabbing my cock and pressing it against her pussy.
“How about I just fuck you, and you just scream?” I shot back, and when she opened her mouth to give whatever smartass comment she would, I rammed myself inside of her. Her mouth stayed open as I filled her. Not giving her a second to adjust, I pulled down slightly before thrusting back inside her.
“Ugh…Ethan—”
“It’s Boss, isn’t it?” I snapped, grabbing her throat.
Her eyes narrowed on me. “Yes.”
“Good, then take it,” I muttered and kissed her.
Her whole body wrapped around mine, her lips moving to the side of my neck as I held onto her hips, over and over again, ramming myself into her, each time I did, I felt like she would suck me in deeper.
I couldn’t think.
I couldn’t stop.
“More,” she moaned. “Oh…ahh…agh!”
The sweat stung as it slid down my face and into my eyes, but I shook it off. The sound of our skin slapping together, the smell of us, her moans—everything was clouding my mind. Soon, all I could feel was the pit of fire rising in my stomach when she grabbed onto the sides of my face to hold onto me. Her cheeks flushed, her dark hair sticking to face and neck. Her breath mixed with mine.
“Ethan.” She bit my lip gently. “When I say I can’t read your mind, that means tell me what the fuck you are thinking.”
Before I could even get a handle on what the fuck was happening, she bit the side of my neck.
“Are you a fucking vampire? Why do you always bite me?” I screamed as she bit.
She took a breath and hopped down off the desk, fixing her skirt. “Oh, don’t be a little bitch. It was just a little something to keep you still for a little bit. I just needed to get you off me.”
I gripped the fucking chair, breathing through my nose, trying to my best calm the fuck down. Goddammit! Ugh, my cock twitched angrily at losing the chance to get off when I was so fucking close. Closing my eyes, I tried to think of anything to calm down but could only remember the feeling of her pussy tightly squeezing against me.
Jesus!
“You evil little—”
Her lips were on mine, her tongue already in my mouth, and like an idiot, I fell back into the same trap. “I will get on my hands and knees right now and take you in my mouth. All you have to do is stop playing dumb with me,” she whispered.
She was such a fucking hypocrite.
“It wasn’t that serious, Calli,” I said, trying to ignore the mental image she just put in my head. “And yet, you went to an extreme.”
“Didn’t you hear, Boss?” she questioned, her hand teasing my side. “It’s my first official day as Mrs. Callahan, and I’ve read that the most important job for a new wife is to get her husband under her thumb.”
To prove herself, she put her thumb on the tip of me.
“You know I will get you back for this,” I sneered.
“And here I thought I was paying you back already.” She grinned, and it was only then that I remembered last year. When I fucked her, slapping her ass, the toy…she’d sworn she’d get me back.
“Are you fucking kidding me, Calli? It’s been a fucking year.” Everything else was just a pretext to get me back?
“I couldn’t sit for a week!” she said to me.
She’d waited a year. A damn year just to sexually frustrate and torture me like this.
“Calli,” I said, slowly taking in as much as I could. “Next time, you will need a goddamn new motherfucking ass when I get you…ahh!” I hissed when she squeezed me again.
“No need for threats.” She giggled and leaned in closer. “You’re learning a valuable lesson here, Boss.”
“And what is that? Never follow my wife into her weapons closet?”
“No,” she replied, leaning into me, “never think your wife will let you off the hook.”
I swallowed. It was one of the few things I could still move…my dick being the other, but that seemed to be getting harder despite how badly I was trying to keep calm, and she wasn’t helping by touching me.
“Beg for me?” she whispered, her face close to mine.
“At this point, I’d rather have my dick fall off.” It was because I was thinking with the wrong head that I had fallen into this in the beginning.
“Ethan,” she kissed my lips and put her forehead on mine, “falling into my traps is much more fun than anyone else’s. Give in.”
“It’s not in my nature.”
“Nature or nurture, I wonder which will win here,” she said, dropping to her knees, and I held my breath. I felt myself jerk forward when her tongue licked the side of me.
God help me with this woman.
I’d never be able to work at this rate.
She was like a drug; she clouded everything else.
7
“Know your place in people's lives and act accordingly
It’s not pride, it’s self-respect.”
~Panaito
NARI
It was an invasion.
Cartier.
Prada.
A'Marees.
Rolex.
Versace
Alexander McQueen.
Oscar de la Renta.
Christian Louboutin.
Everywhere I looked, I saw designer dresses, shoes, purses, and jewelry…so much jewelry that it could have been a vault. The pieces were so expensive they came with their own private sec
urity. They poured into the manor like…like an invasion of Fifth Avenue.
“What the hell is going on here?” I asked O’Phelan as I came down the stairs. I looked to see where they were walking into the family room. I didn’t bother waiting for him, moving across the foyer into the room by my damn self.
And there, sitting on the fireplace, with her mutts resting at her feet and her daughter on her lap, surrounded by millions of dollars’ worth of shit was none other than Calliope. One of the dealers held up a large case of diamonds for her to look over.
“What are you doing?”
She glanced up from the box and smiled at me. “Hi Nari, I hear you have an eye for diamonds. Come help me pick some out.”
“Some?”
She nodded, looking back at the case and lifting one of the rings. “It is pretty, isn’t Gigi?”
The girl in her lap nodded but then pointed to another one. “I like it, Mommy! Can I have one?”
“How about earrings?” she asked her, lifting a pink diamond to her daughter’s ear. She waved over another dealer who held up a mirror.
“I can have it, Mommy?” Giovanna grinned, looking into the mirror.
“Of course, just this once you can pick anything you like,” she said, and her daughter got up and moved to look over the piles of shopping bags.
“What exactly are you doing?”
“I’m picking out diamonds. What does it look like?” she replied without looking up from the cases. She placed three other rings on her fingers, tilting her head to the side as she looked them over. A frown appeared on her lips. “Are you sure these are the biggest you have in the store right now?”
“Yes, Mrs. Callahan, anything bigger would need to be ordered.”
Mrs. Callahan? What the fuck was going on? I’d only been gone for two days to finish some work and to drop off my daughter with her father. I came back to speak to Ethan…and instead, I was watching this…this crazy woman shopping for diamonds?