by J. J. McAvoy
COPYRIGHT
This ebook is licensed to you for your personal enjoyment only.
This ebook may not be sold, shared, or given away.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either products of the writer’s imagination or are used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, organizations, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
The Untouchables
Copyright © 2014 by Judy Onyegbado
Ebook ISBN: 9781625177001
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
No part of this work may be used, reproduced, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, without prior permission in writing from the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews.
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
TABLE OF CONTENTS
COPYRIGHT
DEDICATION
PROLOGUE
MELODY
ONE
LIAM
MELODY
LIAM
TWO
OLIVIA
THREE
MELODY
FOUR
LIAM
MELODY
LIAM
FIVE
MELODY
LIAM
MELODY
LIAM
SIX
DECLAN
CORALINE
SEVEN
LIAM
MELODY
LIAM
MELODY
EIGHT
EVELYN
SEDRIC
NINE
LIAM
TEN
FEDEL
MELODY
LIAM
ELEVEN
LIAM
MELODY
LIAM
TWELVE
NEAL
SEDRIC
DECLAN
THIRTEEN
LIAM
MELODY
LIAM
FOURTEEN
LIAM
MELODY
LIAM
MELODY
FIFTEEN
NEAL
OLIVIA
SIXTEEN
LIAM
MELODY
LIAM
SEVENTEEN
NEAL
EIGHTEEN
JINX
MELODY
LIAM
NINETEEN
MELODY
LIAM
TWENTY
DECLAN
TWENTY-ONE
MELODY
LIAM
MELODY
TWENTY-TWO
MELODY
LIAM
TWENTY-THREE
CORALINE
OLIVIA
DECLAN
TWENTY-FOUR
LIAM
BEAU
MELODY
TWENTY-FIVE
NEAL
TWENTY-SIX
MELODY
LIAM
TWENTY-SEVEN
DECLAN
TWENTY-EIGHT
LIAM
MELODY
LIAM
TWENTY-NINE
MELODY
LIAM
THIRTY
NEAL
DECLAN
THIRTY-ONE
MELODY
LIAM
MELODY
THIRTY-TWO
LIAM
MELODY
LIAM
THIRTY-THREE
SEDRIC
DECLAN
THIRTY-FOUR
LIAM
MELODY
THIRTY-FIVE
MELODY
LIAM
MELODY
LIAM
THIRTY-SIX
OLIVIA
THIRTY-SEVEN
SCOOTER
THIRTY-EIGHT
LIAM
MELODY
LIAM
EPILOGUE
OLIVIA
AMERICAN SAVAGES
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
DEDICATION
Dedicated to those who aren’t so polite in their minds.
I understand.
PROLOGUE
“If only these walls could talk…the world would know just how hard it is to tell the truth in a story in which everyone’s a liar.”
—Gregg Olsen
MELODY
“You will all be queued in the moment we come back from commercial break. All you have to do is yell, ‘Good Morning, Chicago!’ You all look prefect,” the producer for Good Morning Chicago said to all of us, as she and the rest of the camera crew moved to their places.
“Whose bloody idea was this again?” Liam muttered right beside me, placing his hand on my back and working downward.
“Liam.”
He sighed, his hand stopping on my ass, as we all stood, waiting like one big happy family in the middle of the newly renovated park we had spent millions on for the “community.”
To mark the grand opening, we were having a large neighborhood picnic. I found myself eyeing the crowd, as more and more people gathered with their stupid fanny packs and grubby hands all reaching for something free to stick in their mouths. The worst were the clowns who were walking around us handing out balloon hats.
“Don’t you dare,” I muttered to myself, as I watched the freak march its fat feet towards me. He pulled out a white balloon, twisting it until it was some sort of hat. Bowing comically, he handed it to me.
“A crown fit for a queen,” he said.
Liam snickered beside me, and I fought the urge to snap at them both. Taking it, I smiled and placed it on my head.
“Thank you.” You stupid fuck.
“And we’re on in ten…” The producer pointed to us, pulling us back into focus.
We squashed up beside each other, as if we all loved each other so much that we were glued together. Normally Liam and I would be in the center of the family for these things, but not today. Instead, Olivia and her family stood in the center, while we were pushed off to the side.
It was Senator Colemen who was running for President after all, and since today was the day of the primary elections, good press couldn’t hurt. Elections are just popularity contests. How much do you give? How much do you take? How put together is your family? Can you throw a football? Do you like The Beatles? That’s all that mattered to them—no matter how much they pretended to care about the “issues.” And all of that could be faked. We were all fakers; lying to people who were lying to themselves.
Three.
Two.
One.
“Good morning, Chicago!”
ONE
“Every unpunished murder takes away something from the security of every man’s life.”
—Daniel Webster
LIAM
I simply wanted to close my eyes. We had spent all damn day at that goddamned park, and now we had to spend the evening smiling for more political cameras. But that wasn’t even the least of my problems. I wasn’t sure what was coming, but I knew it was coming straight from hell.
I didn’t want to deal with this. I didn’t want spend my days and nights trying to uncover the mystery of Mel’s mother. I didn’t want this photo I held in my hands to be real, because now I would have to tell my wife why I’d been hiding the truth from her. She had searched for answers only to come up empty handed. This was another thing that I’d have to apologize for; I had Declan delete everything he’d found so that she couldn’t get her hands on it. She thought she was working with him, but instead, he was do
ing everything he could to hide information from her.
She’s going to fucking kill me. I sighed.
Eventually, she came to the conclusion that Vance had been lying to her. Sadly, he wasn’t. I hated when liars started telling the truth; it was bad for business. Mel’s mother was alive, very much so, in fact. We’d discovered that she was in the South of France right before she entered the US.
“So, I have to tell her,” I said, as I pinched the bridge of my nose. The question was how. She was going to kill my sorry ass.
“Remind her that I was simply following orders. I’d prefer not to die tonight,” Declan said as he frowned and adjusted his tie for this night’s gala.
“Even that won’t save you.” Not that I let him around Melody alone anyway. She could take him, and he wouldn’t try anything, but I enjoyed threatening him whenever he came too close to my wife. The only feelings he should have had for her were fear and respect.
We both stood silently in the security room. This was the calm before the storm, the break before the final wave.
“Have Anna meet me at the gala,” I told him walking out of the room and into the study.
Fixing my cufflinks as I walked, I made sure to nod at the help as I walked past. Rule Thirty-Three: Respect the help, they know more than they let on.
None of them would say anything, but it was still a rule to live by. Entering the living room, I found my beautiful wife, her dark hair in perfectly curled waves, and brown eyes glued to the letter she finished up writing before handing it to Fedel, who stood in the corner of the room, almost as her shadow.
The rest of the family sat around the television like figures waiting to be painted. The only ones who looked out of place were Olivia’s parents, and our new political strategist, Mina Sung. She and the Senator remained standing, as if they were afraid our furniture would eat them alive, while Mrs. Colemen sat by her daughter and squeezed her hand.
Why were they so worried? We would win by a landslide.
Melody nodded to Fedel as she rose gracefully from her chair and moved over to me. Declan, with his shady brown hair brushed, and black suit pressed, entered and made his way to Cora. He kissed her brown cheek before leaning on the arm of the couch beside her.
My eyes focused on Melody and the way her sliver dress clung to every inch of her body. Her olive skin begged for me to kiss it, and I longed to slowly peel her dress off of her…before she cut off my hands.
“You look beyond the realm of beautiful.”
“Thank you,” she said. “Now, what are you hiding from me, Liam? You’ve been acting odd for weeks. I’ve done the wife thing and I’ve given you time, but you’re starting to piss me off,” she finished fixing the bracelets on her arm.
“What do you think I’m hiding, wife?”
“Now you’re avoiding my question.” She frowned as she looked me over. Then she reached out and adjusted my bowtie. She was either going to try to strangle me with it, or she was simply annoyed at how I had tied it…it was more likely the former.
“Whatever you think I’m hiding, you’re wrong.”
“But you are hiding something.”
Lucky for me, my mother turned up the volume on the screen.
“There you have it, America! It is official. Senator Daniel Colemen is this year’s Republican Candidate and our contender for future president. As the primary favorite, this news shouldn’t come to as a surprise to anyone. Tonight, he will be giving his victory speech at a Charity Gala hosted by the Callahans. His only child, Olivia-Ann, married Neal Callahan five years ago. Tonight, they celebrate, tomorrow, he has his work cut for him if he wants to defeat current president, Franklin Monroe.”
“Your work cut out for you indeed,” Mina said, as she muted the television, and turned back to face us.
“What? They all love me,” Senator Colemen responded, grinning at the television from his seat, “I won by a landslide.”
Told you.
My father shook his head as he poured himself a glass of brandy. “That’s because every other candidate was an idiot.”
“Or not rich enough to out-campaign you,” Declan added.
“All of that is true, yes,” Mina, said as she walked around the couch, and stopped right behind Olivia’s chair. “The people do love you, the problem is her royal highness here.”
“I haven’t done anything.” Olivia glared at her.
Melody and I had been trying our best to stay out of this. The less we were involved during the election, the less likely people would question any favors that came our way. Sadly, the Colemens were a bunch of political morons who had no idea how to work the system. I would have been surprised if they even knew where the goddamn White House was. It was the reason why I had personally hired Mina Sung; a second generation Korean-American, with an IQ almost as high as mine. I fought her for the top of the class while at Dartmouth. She was a political animal who would do anything to win. She was short, with thick-rimmed glasses, and silky black hair that was always pulled into a bun. I couldn’t dismiss anyone who knew how to get their job done. For the last six months, she had all but sold her soul to destroy any candidate that stood in her way. Melody and I called her our little pit bull.
“That’s the problem.” I sighed. I did not have time for this stupidity. “The people think you’re cold and heartless, with a rich husband, and a powerful daddy. They dislike you and will continue to dislike you until you stop showing them who you really are and start being who they want you to be.”
“I couldn’t have said it any better myself,” Mina said as she adjusted her glasses, “The people aren’t just picking a President, they’re picking a first family. They like your father, they like your mother, but you’re the black sheep who needs to be dyed white.”
“Fine,” Melody said, speaking up. “I will handle Olivia. Just keep working on everyone else.”
“You?” Neal questioned worriedly, but with a hint of amusement.
“Yes, me,” she snapped as she sat up. “The woman the public loves. The woman who bats her eyelashes at the cameras, who accepts stupid balloon crowns from annoying-ass clowns, and donates shitloads of money to so many kids that they want to name a fucking school library after me. I know how to act in public. Your wife, on the other hand, needs a few lessons. You should be glad I haven’t thrown her off the bridge for the pity vote.”
“You wouldn’t.” Mrs. Colemen’s blue eyes widened as she stood up quickly. Standing next to her daughter they looked eerie similar, the only difference being Mrs. Colemen’s wrinkled skin and shoulder length gray-blonde hair.
“She would,” my mother replied. She hated when we fought. But you’d think she would be used to it by now. When didn’t we fight?
“She would enjoy it too.” Coraline grinned. Melody had “fixed” Cora, as she liked to say. In other words, Coraline now lived on the dark side of the moon with us.
Mrs. Colemen stood. “We’re all family here…”
“No, we’re family.” I pointed at myself and my immediate family. “You are a chess piece, a stepping stone to our goals, Mrs. Colemen. Harsh, I know. But it’s the truth, and it’s better you hear it now just so we don’t have a misunderstanding in the future. You hold no value other than arm candy to your husband. I thought we made that clear when we asked you to get remarried for the sake of this campaign. That’s the deal you made. So save your life and sit back down, before you don’t have legs to stand on. There are plenty of pretty blondes in the sea to replace you.”
Shocked, she sat back down.
Welcome to the family.
Maybe now what she signed up for was finally hitting her. She wanted to be the first lady so that she could be the face for environmental and educational change. That was the deal. Melody and I were the hands that fed her, and if she bit us, we would pull out every one of her teeth.
“Well then, Senator, we should go over your speech once more,” Mina told Mr. Colemen as she typed away on her tablet.
“They are my parents, could you please refrain from threatening them?” Olivia hissed through her teeth, causing Neal to grab her hand.
“Why? We threaten you, and you’re married to the family,” Melody said, and I smiled.
Olivia looked over to Evelyn and Sedric, who seemed to be having their own private conversation, and stomped her foot like the brat she was. My parents couldn’t do shit, nor would they. Evelyn…well, my mother was happy when my father was happy, and as long as she could throw as many parties as she wanted, she was fine as well. My father was out of this “business;” he was keeping his hands clean and instead focused on our more legitimate affairs. The Callahan family didn’t just control the drug trade. Hotels, restaurants, spas, clubs…we owned so many of them that I’ve honestly lost count. Not to mention the amount of shares we now owned in some of the world’s biggest corporations due to the Giovanni family, which now really consisted of just Mel. The Callahans hid our secret behind small business ventures over the generations, but since Melody had all but rebuilt the Giovanni by herself, she needed a quicker way to hide her blood money. Between us both, we truly did own this city…this state, and Olivia, after all this time, still didn’t seem to understand that.
“This family is fucked in the head and so dysfunctional,” Olivia snapped, walking towards the door, “We’re supposed to have each other’s backs and protect one another. Yet all you ever do is remind us that you wouldn’t hesitate to kill any of us.”
“Apparently we don’t remind you enough.” My eyes narrowed while I moved towards her. Her eyes widened, and Neal immediately stood between us.
“Step aside, brother,” I said softly. “I won’t hurt her.”
Neal’s jaw clenched, and he only took a slight step to the right, allowing me to step in front of Olivia.
“Every day, you bitch and whine at us, and everyday, you manage to wake up. That isn’t luck, it isn’t even the will of God; it’s because you’re family. That is the only reason your tongue hasn’t been ripped from your throat. You’re alive because my brother, whom I’ve come to care for, was stupid enough to fall in love with you. Over the years, you’ve been given the freedom of speech, but now I’m revoking that right.” I cupped the side of her face and could feel Neal flinch beside me. “Never again will you ever tell me what this family is supposed to be like. For if you do, Olivia Callahan, there won’t be enough love in the world to protect you from me.”