by J. J. McAvoy
“So what if I get fat? I have cake.” She shrugged and happily walked off.
That did it, I laughed outright; I couldn’t help it. Not only did she seem so proud of herself, but Ethan was so thoroughly confused and upset his ears were turning red.
“She’s a weirdo!” he yelled up at me.
“But she’s a weirdo with cake…” Wyatt finally spoke up and I was dying at that point. Oh God. Ethan scowled at his brother but Wyatt didn’t seem to mind, stepping on his tiptoes to hand the next person their piece.
For the rest of the afternoon, Ethan stewed in rage, every once in a while shooting glares at the girl sitting with her family by the windows.
“What was up with all the laughing?” Mel came over as I pulled my gloves off.
“Ethan lost a fight to a girl about cake.” Wyatt ratted him out in a flash, causing Ethan to take one of the towels and throw it right at his head. “What? It’s true!”
“Which girl?” Dona frowned, peeking around the corner of the table.
Ethan ignored her. “You are a blabber mouth, I don’t tell Mom everything about you!”
“I don’t have any secrets!” he said proudly.
Ethan’s eyebrow rose just like Mel’s did when she went in for the kill. “Really? Is that why you can’t say a word around Giu—”
Wyatt rushed him and put his hand over his mouth, then looked over his shoulder at us, smiling brightly.
“Wyatt. Ethan. Is this how we behave in public?” Mel questioned them. Wyatt let go of his brother’s mouth, both of them standing straighter.
“Sorry,” they both grumbled.
“You guys go play with your cousins or, Ethan, you can go offer that girl another piece of cake,” I teased him.
“Why would I do that?” He grabbed his siblings’ arms, pulling them toward my mother’s table. She sat with a bunch of the older women, all of them playing cards and drinking iced tea I was sure was spiked.
“Who’s the girl?” Melody eyes narrowed, looking over every girl in the center.
“Why, are you jealous?” I pitied the girl either of our sons ever dared to bring home. “Sorry, but you’ll have to get Wyatt to spill the beans.”
“Fine, I will, but later. I need to go into work for a little bit.”
Work, huh? She never lied to me, but she wasn’t being forthcoming.
“Governor work or boss work?” I asked, wiping my hand.
“Two birds one stone.”
“Melody.”
“Liam.” She kissed my cheek then whispered in my ear, “I’m not asking. I’m telling my husband I’m going to work.”
This was starting to work on my nerve.
“Are you taking Fedel?”
“He’s your guy now remember—”
“There are ‘your’ and ‘my’ guys now? I thought we shared everything, sweetheart.”
She grinned. “Good answer. Fedel knows everything; I told him to fill you in.”
“Be safe,” I said before kissing her again and watching as Mina left with her. Neal’s eyes met mine. Nodding my head toward one of the free tables, I called Fedel over. I took an apple and a knife. Declan kissed both Coraline and his daughter’s heads before walking over.
“What’s going on, Liam?” Neal questioned when we stood in the farthest corner of the room.
“Good question. Fedel.” I waited, peeling the apple in my hands.
“There is a new gang growing in Bella Vista.”
“All of the gang leaders in the city know to keep their presence to a minimum. We let them know the consequence of not doing so years ago. Bella Vista is managed by the Royals and I personally let him know,” Declan stated.
“The man you dealt with is dead, and the rest of the gang apparently has short memories because it is getting worse. This new leader is trying to build a name for himself. He wants to be feared, and his followers are loyal—not to mention he’s starting to get much bolder. From what I can tell he’s simply ignorant of the way things work around here.”
“Why are we just hearing about this now?” Neal shouted at him.
“Calm down,” I muttered, sliding a slice into my mouth. “I was already informed about what’s happening in Bella Vista.”
“And you let it go?”
My eyes narrowed on Neal. “Do I look like the let-it-go type of person to you, brother?”
“Sorry,” He grumbled. “We have peace, Liam. Real peace. Please, I don’t—”
“I understand that, which is why I’ve been waiting to see how far this new idiot would go. If he had settled himself and followed the rules, I wouldn’t have to step in, but apparently something happened in the last twenty-four hours I was not aware of?”
“Yes sir,” Fedel answered. “Last night there were multiple drive-bys, but the most notable one that is gaining media attention was a seventeen-year-old football player and honor student that died shielding his younger sisters, one nine, the other twelve. The shooter hasn’t been caught.”
“So Mel went to bring order herself? With no men?” Declan pressed as if I would tell him more; even if I did know, I wouldn’t tell him, but it bothered me that I didn’t know. “Does she have an inside man?”
“Not that I am aware of,” Fedel replied.
Neal shook his head. “I thought your setup was to keep her looking clean for when she ran for president. If anyone sees her…”
“Has my wife ever been careless?” I asked, sliding another piece of apple in my mouth.
“No, but—”
“But what about your wife?” I finished for him. “I’m happy Mina brings you so much joy Neal, and I understand your need to protect her, but remember she came into this family eyes wide open. She chose to work for my wife. She is loyal. Mel protects those who are loyal to her. You shouldn’t be worried. I say that knowing full well you won’t listen, but it needs to be said. The Callahan women are not just fashion icons and charity heads. They get their hands just as dirty as we do. If that is all, you both can go.”
Neither of them said anything more before going back to their tables. I could tell Neal was annoyed, but he was just going to have to get the fuck over it.
“Fedel, when did she tell you she was leaving?”
“This morning before mass.”
“And you didn’t fill me in then because…?”
“She directed me to wait.”
Melody…God damn it, woman…must you drive me to gray hair before I even turn forty?
“Boss?”
“What!”
He moved to stand in front of me. “I would never dare pretend I know the boss more than you.”
“But?” I could feel it coming.
“But…as you remember, she did not grow up like you did. You had a family. No matter what you all went through as a family, you were a family. The boss was alone for most of her life and when she was with her father, he was doing everything in his power to make her into a bloody soldier. The boss, Melody Nicci Giovanni Callahan, is a soldier, and like all soldiers, she is at her best when she is fighting. She doesn’t understand peace. She tries to for the sake of you and your children, but at the end of the day, she will always feel the need to fight. It has nothing to do with you or anyone else; it is her own personal curse.”
I didn’t reply. Instead, I kept eating, watching my children as they tried to learn poker from my mother. He hadn’t told me anything about my wife I didn’t already realize myself. She’d been playing the role of Governor Callahan for so long, Bloody Melody was losing her mind. If she needed to smash a few skulls to get focused again, I’d happily serve them up to her; that was the twisted way we loved each other.
MELODY
It must have been some person’s idea of a sick joke to call this place Bella Vista.
Over the years, I had put in a lot of time trying to repair the ghettos. However, Southbend and Bella Vista were still holding out against all my efforts. The crime rates had dropped, but it was hard to rebuild a com
munity the rest of the state didn’t want to invest in. It was even harder when those in that same community tried to do everything in their power to get in my way.
“Governor, are you sure about this?” Murphy said to me when I stepped out in front of the old diner. He was going to learn to never ask me that question.
“Please make this quick,” Mina said behind me as one other guard walked in front. The place smelled like stale coffee, pancakes, and beef. Every booth was filled with members of the Royals. Their heads all snapped back to me, their eyes wandering down my face to my heels.
“Lady, you lost or somethin’?”
It was always easy to spot the leader in a group. He was always the one who sat at the table farthest from the door, his back to the wall. His table always had, at least, one female and a cigarette or drink in his hand. In this case, it was two light-skinned women and a cigar.
Walking over to his table, I saw them all tense up.
“You’re in my seat,” I said to the man sitting across from him. He looked to his boss, grinning like a fool as he blew smoke from his lips.
“Let the good ol’ white lady sit down.”
They laughed and when he moved, I put my purse down beside me, crossing my legs when I sat.
“First off, I’m not white.”
“You got skin like a white woman, eyes like a white woman, and your nose so far up you gotta be a white woman.” The girl on his right laughed.
The girl on the left replied. “Nah, maybe she thinks she black like that lady…what her name again?”
“Rachel Dolezal,” I answered.
“Yeah, that her.” They laughed. “Where you from home girl? Cuz you lookin’ hella white to me right now.”
“I’m Italian, which means I got a whole different certification to beat your ass. Now get back to the pole or street corner; he and I have business to discuss.”
She reached for her glass of orange juice.
“Do it. I just came from church and I swear to God, I will end you.”
She hesitated, her eyes going to Murphy, who stood beside me. The next instant, she made up her mind and flung the glass of orange juice at me. I didn’t even move; Murphy’s body hovered over mine, the glass connecting with his shoulder and the juice splashing back on the table.
He didn’t say anything, only stood straighter beside me. Reaching for a few napkins, I cleaned off the table.
“Are you going to keep them beside you or are you going to speak?” I asked him.
“Y’all go, this will only take a second.”
“I’m still here, bitch. When my ending at?” She sneered at me, swinging her waist as she left. Ignoring her, I focused on cleaning.
“So you’re the governor?”
“So you do know who I am,” I said, not bothering to look up at him.
This table is fucking disgusting.
“Yeah, yeah. Everybody knows the famous Melody Callahan, plus I saw your picture in the paper. Your husband looks like he has one hell of a time with you. I wonder how it feels to grope one of them.” He nodded at my breasts.
“It feels like two .38 Special bullets in the spine.” I smiled. “Or at least, that’s what my husband would say, but I know you wouldn’t even make it close enough in your dreams, so you shouldn’t bother asking.”
“You’re a spicy one, Governor, it must be that Italian—”
“I’m tired of wasting words with you, so I’m going to cut to the chase. The drive-bys and shootouts, those end today. You will also give me the person responsible for the drive-by on 42nd. Then you will crawl back to whatever hole you came out of and stay there until my husband or I say otherwise.”
“Can you believe this bitch?” He laughed outright along with the rest of his crew. “Come into my diner and you gonna boss me around, sweetheart? Go back to your ivory fuckhole and fuck yourself. Ain’t no fucking way me, Big John Matty, gonna be listening to any Italian bitch, governor or no—”
Grabbing the fork on the table, I rammed it down into his hand. The scream that came from his lips was so pathetic I almost laughed…almost.
“You must be new around here,” I said, taking the knife and once again stabbing through his skin. “Which is why I’m taking this time to educate you…nicely.”
“KILL HER!”
They all got up with their guns, but before they could pull the trigger, their phones started ringing one by one.
“If I was you all, I would answer that. God only knows when you’ll hear from your mom, your brother, your daughter, or son or girl again…hell, a few you even got guys waiting on the end for you. I mean one minute they’re right there and the next BOOM, the government should have done something about to those faulty wires sooner huh?” I said calmly, reaching for a spoon.
“Ma! Ma! What’s going on? What happened?”
“Willow?”
“Zoe!”
“What?”
One by one, they all answered their phones. I smiled, spinning the spoon around my fingers as Big John stared in confusion. “Like I said, you must be new around here. Now, you could kill me, but that’s going to get messy. My husband will burn Bella Vista to the ground, kill all of you one by one and you all will turn on each other because…well, that’s what weak bitches like you do and then it’s just one bloody fucking mess. Meanwhile, I asked you nicely. Would you like me to repeat my demands?”
“His name is Tyrone Williams. He did the hit on 42nd.”
“And you ordered it?”
He swallowed and nodded.
“Big mistake.” I rose from the table. “I better hear nothing out of Bella Vista. So much as a broken window without my family’s approval and today will seem like a good day for you.”
As I grabbed my purse, they all parted for me as if I had the plague. I paused. “Also, about your girl….”
Turning to face the window, I saw her laughing outside the diner right up until a black Ford Escape accelerated into her. Her body flew up like a doll being thrown by a child before crashing back to the ground and rolling off the hood onto the ground.
“You’re going to need another one.”
The whole diner went quiet. One by one, they pressed up against the window.
Murphy held the door open for me and Mina, keeping silent like always during times like these. In the car, I waited for Murphy to put his seatbelt on.
“Well, soldier? Are you with me or are you against me and how I run things?”
His blue eyes met mine in the mirror. “I’m in, Governor.”
“Brilliant.”
“What happened to your Sunday role?” Mina questioned besides me.
No killing on Sundays...shit, I forgot.
Pulling out my phone, I dialed, and it only rang once before he answered, “Boss?”
“Don’t forget to call an ambulance,” I told him before hanging up and facing her again. “Happy?”
“Just looking out for you.” She smiled.
The women of this family are crazy and I’m the one that made them that way, so what does that make me?
SIX
“Everything depends on upbringing.”
~ Leo Tolstoy
LIAM
Now back to the developing story in Bella Vista, where last night gang members carried out multiple drive-by shootings, one of which killed seventeen-year-old Kendrick White, who used his body as a shield to protect his two younger sisters. Kendrick was a star athlete and honor roll student who was looking to go to Notre Dame after graduation. The Chicago PD has said not only do they have a suspect in custody, but they will also be increasing police presence in Bella Vista as well. In other news, the scandalous photo released by the Chicago Daily Chronicle of sitting Governor Melody Callahan and her husband Liam Callahan is apparently not so scandalous, according to the governor. In a statement released mere moments ago, she said, ‘I am unsure as to why people find this photo fascinating or shocking. My husband and I are in a loving relationship. Water is wet. The city
is windy. The Cubs are the best team in the country. What I am shocked about is the lack of reporting done by the Chicago Daily Chronicle. On a night where they could have focused on the men and women of valor being honored for their bravery, they thought it was a better idea to highlight the fact that a husband and wife kissed in public as if that is newsworthy. I truly hope we as a community learn to expect more from our journalists.
Muting the television, I kicked my feet onto my desk and leaned back in my chair. “Our wives have been busy.”
“I’m starting to wonder who rules this family, us or our wives?” Declan snickered, handing me a glass of brandy before taking a seat across from me.
“What did Father used to say? A man who thinks he rules his wife either doesn’t know his wife or is a fool,” Neal replied.
“To the old man, for knowing warning us would do no fucking good.” I raised my glass with them.
“Cheers,” they both said before knocking back the brandy along with me.
I stared at my glass and then back at Declan. “What is this piss?”
“Apparently it was a gift from the mayor?” He made a face. “Or some sick joke.”
Annoyed, I sat back up before walking over to the bar for a real fucking drink. “Now that Mel has taken care of our Bella Vista problem, have you come to a decision with the new drugs?”
“Why are people these days always obsessed with what’s new? Huh? What happened to the classics—meth, heroin, crystal? We got half-cocked wannabe scientists mixing shit they know nothing about and handing it out to people with a shiny sticker that says ‘new’ for idiots to gobble that shit up.” I hated stupid people who thought they were smart; there was no reasoning with them.
“Idiots or not, they are still buying Blphine by the handful. All the dealers are asking for it, and if they don’t get it from us, they’re going to get it from someone else,” Declan added when I sat down.
“No loyalty either,” I muttered before taking a drink.
Neal shook his head. “You want loyalty from junkies, gangbangers, and dealers?”
“A man can dream can’t he? You don’t see McDonald’s having to make new shit up to keep people in line. Everyone wants a classic Big Mac. It doesn’t matter if some new startup has some super deluxe shit, at the end of the day, the Big Mac is home.”