by J. J. McAvoy
“What color eyes do you think he’ll have?” Mel asked me. Right now they were the standard blue that apparently most babies were born with.
Before I could answer, everyone else took it upon themselves to do it for me: “Green.”
“Can the father get a word in please?” I mocked them, turning to my wife and child once more. I stared in awe at the new person that was half of me; my heart stuttered at the thought. Brushing his hair back, I answered my wife. “Before the peanut gallery can interrupt again, I think…I really don’t care, as long as he’s healthy.”
“That’s why I’m here.” An overly preppy red-headed doctor walked in with a single nurse at her side. “Hello, everyone. I’m Dr. Yang and I just need to run a few more tests on him, and if—”
“Don’t say if.” Mel frowned, her eyes glaring into her. “He’s fine, and you’re just making sure he’s still fine, got it?”
My father laughed at how wide the woman’s eyes opened. “Of course, Mrs. Callahan. We’re going to take him for an hour or two and then we will be right back with him. I’m sure he’s fine.”
Mel’s body tensed and I knew she was going to ask to accompany him, but she really needed to rest.
“I’ll go with him,” I said. “I’ll feel better if you get at least two hours of sleep.”
Sighing, she kissed his forehead before slowly handing him over to me. He smelled like fresh flowers, and rain, and just baby, an indescribable scent that seemed to permeate his skin. Kissing her quickly, I walked over to the doctor.
Don’t drop him. Keep his head up. Don’t hold him too tightly. Is he breathing? Don’t wake him! Those were some of the thoughts that ran through my mind; it was like my whole being was now wrapped around him.
Holy shit, I was a father.
MELODY
“Don’t worry, you’re going to close your eyes and before you even know it, they will both be back demanding your attention.” Evelyn laughed, kissing my forehead. It was odd. I wasn’t used to anyone other than Liam doing that, and even so, it had taken me a while to adjust to him. But I guess seeing me with a baby tucked into my arms made her forget who I was.
“We’re going to head out and let you have some space.” Sedric smiled at me. He looked as if he were holding back a hug or something. The best I could do right now was squeeze his hand.
I was pleased that I still felt like myself, only now I had a greater priority and that was my son. He was the person I now lived, and would die, for and I would do everything in my power to make sure he was safe. Which meant I had to be stronger, maybe even harsher with those around me. I would be anything, do anything, to protect him.
“Bye, Mel. Oh, I got Ethan some cute new clothes for him to come home in.” Coraline grinned, leaving the baby blue bag on the chair Sedric had previously occupied.
“That reminds me, the press will be tripping over themselves for pictures…” Olivia started, but I cut her off quickly.
“Neal, make sure any and all press around our house is taken care of immediately. Also, I want a new car, something that isn’t too flashy, with tinted windows. A Volvo, maybe?” I’d heard all this shit about them being safe, so I might as well.
“I’ll get right on it, boss.” He grinned, but I still didn’t trust him. He made way too many fucking mistakes, and if he weren’t family, I would have already killed him. Olivia bit her tongue—as she should—before taking a deep breath and playing with the pearls at her neck.
“Declan, stay a moment?” I turned to him. None of them waited or even looked back. Evelyn wheeled Coraline out, giving us the privacy my statement insinuated.
“What do you need?” he asked, rolling up his sleeves.
“The house swept, I want every last one of our security cameras firewalled and impossible to be hacked. Then get a profile of all of our employees. Make sure they know their lives depend on what they don’t see or hear, and who they let into my house. We brought a little boy over the border to keep his mother quiet. The police want to use her as an informant. Focus more on her.” Saying it all out loud made me relax, just a little bit.
“I’ll get working on everything, but Neal told me that Liam is having the house swept again as we speak. He has fifteen men walking the property here and roaming the surrounding areas.” Of course he was. He and I were too much alike; sometimes it was crazy.
“I’ll leave you to get some res—”
“How’s Coraline?”
He frowned. “She’s doing better, but I don’t think she’s up to do anything right now.”
“I’m not asking as your boss.”
“Oh.” He nodded slowly. This was one of the hassles when dealing with family. “She has her dark days, but she’s been doing better. It’s a slow process but she’s getting there. It’s been a few weeks since she’s been off the chemo, and she starts therapy soon.”
“Good. I’m glad.” I yawned. My entire body felt so heavy.
He said something before stepping out the door, leaving only silence and the muted whirring of the machines in his wake. Finally, I could rest and allow my eyes to close.
“Hi, sweetheart,” someone whispered over me.
I felt like I had only just closed my eyes, but now they felt harder to open. “Wh…I…wha…” I couldn’t form words. What the hell was going on?
“Don’t worry, this will be over very soon.” I knew that voice. With all the might I had, I forced my eyelids open, blinking quickly at the stream of light pouring into my eyes.
“Avi..Avi...” I hissed through my teeth.
“Not here.” She grinned, looking at the name on her lab coat. “Here, I’m Doctor Yang.”
She was pushing my bed down the hall. I tried to move, but my body felt like it was encased in lead. Nurses, doctors, patients, and walls passed me by without my control. All I could see were her damn blue scrubs and bad red wig hovering over me. Clenching my teeth, I tried my best to speak but the muscles in my jaw were useless. Whatever she fucking drugged me with, I wasn’t used to it.
“Liam…kill…”
“My doctor friend will keep him and little Ethan so busy he won’t notice until it’s too late. Now sleep, sweetheart.” I didn’t have time to brace myself before she stabbed me in the fucking neck. I no longer had any control over my body. That’s when the tears started to fall. I refused to believe that I may never see my family again.
Fuck her. If she thought she could end me like this, she didn’t know who she was fucking with.
LIAM
Something was wrong. I could fucking feel it in the pit of my stomach. The fucking doctor was taking her sweet time looking him over, but that wasn’t my problem. Something was off and I couldn’t put my finger on it.
“Liam.” Declan stepped in next to me, staring at Ethan through the window. He was blissful as he gurgled in his little incubator.
Declan was stiff, his jaw was clenched so tightly that it looked like stone, he breathed through his nose slowly, watching the doctor’s hands carefully. Hearing the door slide open, I watched as my father walked in without even bothering to look at me. He stepped up to my son, blocking my view of the doctor.
“You have five seconds to start speaking, Declan.” My hands twitched, more than ready to bash someone’s head in.
“Don’t make a scen—”
“I asked you a motherfucking question, you work for me, now answer. What fuck is going on Declan?”
He was silent.
“If I have to ask you again…”
“Mel.” He paused. “She’s gone.”
Taking a deep breath, I tried to ignore how quickly my heart was pounding. “Did you check with the—”
“She’s gone. Evelyn went back to check on her and noticed. No one has seen her in the last two hours. I hacked the hospital cameras…” He handed me his cell phone, but I didn’t need to fucking see it.
“Aviela.”
The bitch! I’m going to fucking kill her!
“Liam, breat
he.”
“I want this whole fucking hospital on lockdown! Every fucking exit, shut! How the hell did she get to my wife?” Right under my nose.
Every head in the vicinity turned towards me, but I didn’t give a fuck. I would slit each one of their fucking throats.
“She got in using Dr. Yang’s badge and a wig. Liam, don’t…”
I started towards the door before he could even finish, but he jumped in front of me, halting my steps. “We have eyes everywhere. There are cops all over this place.”
“Bring me Dr. Yang! Take her out back. Block out the damn cameras.”
“Okay. I know you’re panicking, but brother, breathe,” he replied.
Running my hands through my hair, I took a step back, and breathed through my nose before nodding.
“Get her the fuck away from my son. I want men around him at all times.”
When he left me, I tried not to think about her. I couldn’t think about her not being in her room waiting for me. I just couldn’t handle that. Fuck. How did she fucking get her? Fuck.
“Let go of me!” The bitch hissed as Declan all but dragged her out of the Ethan’s room by the arm, lifting her tiny frame towards me.
“You better speak before I get down there or so help me God, your definition of pain will be obsolete by the time I’m through with you.” That’s all I said before walking into my son’s room. Seeing Ethan in my father’s arms burned deep down into my soul. She wasn’t just my fucking wife, she was his mother. He had a mother that loved him and I had to bring her back. He wasn’t even a fucking day old and he already had to deal with this shit. Kissing him, I stepped away, and watched him rest in my father’s arms.
“Dad…”
“Go. No one is getting near him. Your mother will be here in a few.”
I nodded. I couldn’t even breathe correctly anymore. I felt like Atlas, struggling to balance the weight of the world.
“Liam, if there is a man who can get her back, it’s you.”
I had no fucking choice. How could I live without her? I couldn’t even think. Rolling my sleeves up, I walked away. I told myself over and over again that I couldn’t kill the doctor. But the line between the living and the dead was a very thin one. I would see how far I could take it before she broke; I had no doubt that she would.
Neal was already waiting for me when I stepped out into the sterile hallway. His body was as rigid as mine. No words were needed, so we didn’t waste them. Aviela came after the family. She stole our family; my fucking wife. Someone was going to die, that went without being said.
Pushing open the door to the staircase, Neal handed me a gun, but I shook it off. Aviela chose this woman as a decoy; I doubted a gun was enough to scare her. I was going to beat it out of her.
My Mel is gone. How the fuck? She took my fucking wife. She took my motherfucking wife! My mind was in a loop as we went down the stairs.
I didn’t want to think, for when I did, I felt like a failure; I felt pain and anger.
Pushing open the door, I was hit with a harsh blast of cold dry air and snow. There, begging, as she was held against the wall next to the dumpster with rats at her feet was Dr. Yang. Her lips were busted and her eyes held tears. Declan shook his head, stepping back to let me through.
I didn’t have time for this. Marching forward, I grabbed a fist full of her fake red hair. I pulled her off the wall before slamming her face repeatedly into the dumpster before throwing her body aside. I was tempted to keep going, but surely if I continued I would permanently incapacitate her.
“AHH!” She groaned, spitting out what looked to be at least three of her teeth onto the white canvas of snow. It was sort of beautiful, the contrast of her red blood on the untainted ground. I relished in causing her distress, making her feel a fraction of the pain that was radiating through my entire being. Kneeling next to her, I pulled a switchblade out of my sock and held it to her hairline.
“I will scalp you alive and then let the rats eat your fucking face, do you understand? Now, tell me everything you fucking know!”
“Ahh…” She groaned.
“Do you think I’m fucking joking? MY WIFE IS GONE!” I slid the razor across the skin of her hairline. She tried to fight, but I pulled her hair back, exposing her newly torn flesh, as blood streamed down her face and stained the snow around us.
“Please! I’ll tell you everything,” she wailed.
“Start talking before I remove your entire face,” I snapped. Either way, I was going kill her.
“All she told me was that she wanted her daughter back. I gave her my badge; she was going to save her daughter. She said that if she stayed with you, she and her son were going to die—”
“Where are they?” I roared, slicing the blade behind her ear, almost detaching it. Her blood flowed, rolling down her face and neck. I doubted her ability to see as she opened her eyes, the normal whites were saturated with red.
“I don’t know, I swear all she said is that they were going home! That’s all I know, I swear. I’m so sorry, she told me I was saving her…”
“Police!” Fedel alerted, forcing me to momentarily let her go. Dr. Yang crawled into a little ball, sobbing in the dirt and snow as the rats sniffed her blood. Looking at her broken form, I still wasn’t satisfied. She wasn’t writhing in pain and that was unacceptable.
Sure enough, down the alleyway a cop car slowed, stepping out with a flashlight. Each one of them pulled out their guns. These fools wouldn’t be the first Chicago officers gunned down in a back alleyway, and I didn’t have time for this shit.
“Is there problem here?”
“Please! Help me!” Dr. Yang suddenly yelled from behind me. Their eyes went wide, running towards her until they saw my face clearly.
“Mr. Callahan.”
“Get in your car. Drive away. You didn’t see anything. You have two seconds.”
“NO!” Doctor Yang said from behind me. “PLEASE! PLEASE HELP!”
“One,” I stated and they both nodded, ignoring her.
“Sorry for bothering you, sir,” the older of the two men said before turning around and retreating; the doctor gave a defeated cry when his car drove off.
“Kill her, and I want a list of all the properties the Giovannis held.” Wiping the blood off my blade, I headed back to my son.
Mel, I will find you. By God, I will find you.
THIRTY-THREE
“The marks humans leave are too often scars.”
—John Green
SEDRIC
He was twelve hours old. Smaller than the distance between elbow and my wrist, and here he was, motherless. He was suffering like Liam suffered as an infant. It had taken Evelyn over a decade to finally hold him…to love him. And every second Mel that was gone, Ethan was forced to travel the same path his father had. Right now, he was oblivious to it all, as he slept in his bassinet, lost in his own little world.
“Sedric.” Evelyn burst into the hospital nursery. “A nurse went to look for Mel so she could feed Ethan.”
“Shit.” It was only a matter of time before the police would be brought in. With the police came the media, investigations, and people digging deeper into our lives.
“Does Liam know?” I asked, pulling out my phone.
“The nurse already went to his superiors. It’s only a matter of time.” No sooner had the words left her lips, a silent red siren went off around the room. We blinked at the brightly flashing lights that were supposed to catch a nurse’s attention without waking the children.
“What do we do?” she whispered, walking over to Ethan.
The only thing we could. “We tell the truth. We left Mel to get some rest and when we came back, she was gone.”
“The timeline won’t match up, Sedric. I went to check on her hours ago. Either we tell them we knew she was missing for hours or someone has to screw with the camera footage.” It was a lose-lose situation because in the end, it would kick up more questions than any of us were ready t
o handle.
I couldn’t leave her or Ethan alone to prep Liam for the questions that would most likely be hurled his way. All I could do was stand in the middle of Ethan’s personal nursery as the red lights above us flashed non-stop.
“He knows.” She sighed, allowing him to grab her finger. “He knows his mother is gone. Just like Liam did.”
“Evelyn…”
“Liam and I aren’t close. It’s my fault. I left him alone for years, and when I finally woke up, he wasn’t a baby anymore and he avoided me. Not once has he come to me for advice. I know he loves me, but it’s always been you. His anger, his pain, his loneliness, are all because I wasn’t there.” She trembled in my arms as her tears soaked my shirt.
“Liam loves you, and this is completely different. Mel didn’t…Mel was taken, but she’ll be back. We’re talking about the first woman to take over the Italian Mafia. The moment she can, she will get back to us and leave nothing but a wake of blood behind her. This will be over soon.” I hoped my words would be true. Every moment she wasn’t here, Liam would spiral. I knew this about my son; he couldn’t handle being abandoned again.
DECLAN
Nothing but a sea of blue was flooding the walls, drowning out the white coats that normally infested the hallways. Cops made me sick. They were nothing but self-persevering, opportunistic leeches hiding behind shiny badges. The nurse had set us back and now the hospital was on its own lockdown, forcing us to stay in a private wing instead of searching for Mel. Liam hadn’t said a word since we took out the doctor. He sat like a man made out of marble, his head permanently attached to his hands.
“Mr. Callahan,” a short balding man said. He was dripping in medals, which he undoubtedly wore for the cameras outside.
“May I ask who you are?” I asked. “My brother is both tired and devastated, as you can imagine.” I stepped beside my brother. He looked up at me, eyebrow raised.