“DONA!” I almost fell over when I tried to stop turning. One of the men dressed in all back came up right behind her and took her.
“Let go!” I rushed to him and bit his arm.
“You stupid little fuck!” I put my hand over my head to stop him from hitting me but he never did.
BANG!
It was a loud shot. It echoed in the alley. The man dropped down onto the ground and then fell to his knees. When Dona and I looked up, it was Ethan. He had the gun the man had dropped and he had shot it at him. He walked over to him.
“Leave my brother and sister alone,” he said, and he fired again. The blood hit his face and it was like everything went quiet again.
“WE GOT THEM!” We all turned to see three guys at the end of the alley. Ethan held the gun up to them and they lifted their hands in the air.
“LEAVE US ALONE!” he screamed, standing in front of us.
“Ethan,” the first big guy said. He was bald but had writing on the sides of his head, and a big beard. “Your father sent us. We are Irish. We’re here—”
“I don’t believe you. Stay back or I will shoot!” Ethan said, holding the gun up again.
One of the other guys moved his hand to his waist.
“I SAID DON’T MOVE!” Ethan screamed.
“We just want to prove it okay?” another one said, lifting his shirt. I saw a giant C on the side of his stomach.
“You know what this is, right? I work for the Callahans, and that means we also work for you.”
Ethan didn’t put down the gun. “If you work for me, put down your guns.”
“Huh?”
“Your guns, put them down,” he said again.
“Fine, kid.” They slowly put them down.
“Wyatt, go get it.” Before I could, Dona went and got the guns and picked them up, handing them back to the men.
“DONA!” Ethan yelled.
“I saw them shoot the guys that took us. They aren’t lying,” she replied before turning back to them. “Right?”
They smiled. “No, ma’am, we aren’t. Now come. We need to get you all somewhere safe.”
Ethan still didn’t want to move so I pulled on his shirt. “Ethan come on…we don’t know where we are or where we can go. Dona is sure.”
He nodded, putting down the gun. He looked over his shoulder at the man behind us but didn’t say anything as we followed them out of the alley and toward the cars.
When the doors closed, we all sat close together. One of them reached for my arm but Ethan grabbed his first.
“What are you doing?”
The man held up a few bandages. “You, Wyatt, have one hell of a protective brother. I know the feeling. I’m Max.”
I wasn’t sure what to say so I just held out my hand.
“How is Uncle Neal?” Dona asked.
No one answered.
It was scary when people didn’t answer. It meant they couldn’t even lie, and that was bad.
LIAM
Fifteen minutes.
That’s how long it took for us to get to the airfield and for them to get the jet ready for us. We were just about to board when my phone went off.
“It’s them.” Mel turned to me, her face so close to mine I could see her breathing.
Nodding, I answered, holding the phone out between us and putting it on speaker.
“Boss. We got them.”
She exhaled, reaching out to grab my arm, her nails digging into my skin.
“They are fine. Wyatt has a cut on his arm but he’s all right. Ethan…”
“Ethan what?” Mel yelled.
“He shot down one of the men who chased after them. I think he’s shaken up a bit. He won’t let go of the gun or relax. He probably won’t until someone he knows comes.”
“Put him on the line,” I said, knowing what was going on in his head.
“Dad?”
“Son,” I smirked. “You did well. I’m proud of you.”
“Where are you?”
“I’m still in Chicago, but I’ll be there soon. The family you’re with, you can trust them—”
“Dad…” He cut in, but then his voice trailed off. Mel bit her lip and dropped her head.
“Ethan, I want you to sit with your brother and sister. Watch TV or play some games. I don’t even care if you all argue. Just remember while you are with your siblings, if you hadn’t done what you did, they wouldn’t be there. You did not only the right thing, but the best thing: you protected your family.”
“It wasn’t just me, Wyatt got us out of the trunk,” he said, a little more upbeat. I saw Melody grin so wide and so proud, it was hard not to grin back.
“Your mom and I love you guys, now give the phone back to Max,” I said.
“Okay.”
There was static on the phone before he came back.
“Sir?”
“My mother and Neal?”
His voice was sad when he answered. “Neal was taken into surgery at Boston General. I don’t know much more other than the state he was in; he’s most definitely lost his left leg. Your mother is with him now. We have people with her.”
“I’ll be there—”
“Sir, with all due respect…”
“What?”
“We don’t really need you here right now.”
“Excuse me?”
“What I’m saying is kill this cockfucker you got in Chicago. Boston is fine, and loyal to you. There is no way anyone is getting through the army we got here. It’s been peaceful for so long here we got our grandparents strappin, happy that finally Chicago isn’t the only city getting action. Show them what happens when they mess with us, boss. Damn Italians ain’t good for shit.”
Melody just rolled her eyes.
“I want updates on my children every goddamn hour,” I replied, hanging up before he could say another word.
When he did, I leaned back against the car and Melody stood in front of me. It had stopped raining, but the sky was still turbulent.
“You think he’s still in the city?” I asked her.
“He wants to run us out, to say he made the Callahans leave their kingdom. It’s just another ego trip for the son of the bitch.” She cracked her jaw to the side. “He got us on this one, Liam. If something happened to them…if I lost them…”
“Shh.” I kissed the side of her head. “They are safe now. Everyone else’s children, not so much.”
I lifted a full magazine of bullets for her.
“Let’s flush out the rats.”
TWENTY-TWO
“On that same night I will pass through Egypt and strike down every firstborn of both man and beast; I will bring judgment on all the gods of Egypt. I am the LORD.”
~ Exodus 12:12
MELODY
“Honey, I’m back. The storm is really picking up,” he said as he closed the door behind him and hung up his jacket.
“Honey?”
His wet shoes squeaked upon the floorboards as he came farther into the house. I heard him reach into the drawer and pull out what was most likely the revolver my father had gifted him years ago.
When he finally came around the corner he saw her, slumped over the couch. “Violet!” He rushed toward her.
“She didn’t suffer,” I said to him, and his head snapped up to me as I drank the wine. “In fact, we had a perfectly nice chat. I brought the wine, of course, Uncle Vinnie. A 1961 Barolo Riserva. You told Fedel you loved it, did you not?”
Reaching over for the bottle on the coffee table, I poured him some in the empty glass I had left out for him before refilling my own.
“It truly is magnificent. You can tell they put effort into every one of the grapes. My father took me to his vineyard home in Tuscany; it was beautiful. The rolling hills, the smell…I loved it, far more than I loved Bosa. The town was so boring, but my father told me he could never escape the place he was from. The people there were the most loyal and true he’d ever met. I believed him too; after all, he had friends like
you, Uncle Vinnie. You swore never to betray my family and yet here I sit, across from your dead wife, drinking wine, talking about Tuscany and my father, when all I want to do is put a bullet in your skull.” I savored the taste of the wine on my lips.
“I never betrayed the Giovanni's…Emilio is—”
“Don’t you dare!” I hissed, my grip on the glass tightening. “You point to some mutt on the street and think he compares to me? That he is better than me because what, he has a penis? You know nothing about him or what he believes or if he even gives a damn at all. My father chose me, and you disrespected that choice.”
He stood taller, stepping away from his wife and facing me directly. “If you are going to kill me, do it now. I’m sure you’ve taken the bullets out of this anyway.”
He threw the revolver my feet. Reaching down, I grabbed it and held it back up, handing it to him.
“I’m not going to kill you, Uncle Vinnie—”
“Well, you’re a damn fool if you think I’m going to tell you anything.”
I fucking hated it when people interrupted me; it drove me in-fucking-sane! Taking a deep breath once again, I held the gun up at him.
He took the gun and I told him, “You are going to kill yourself.”
“Why would I do that?”
I shrugged. “Because you know you aren’t getting out alive either way, so why bother? At least, you can say you left on your own choice.”
He paused for a moment, holding the gun to himself. “You are evil.”
“Says the man who killed dozens of men alongside my father,” I replied, and before I could blink, he turned the gun to me, but another gun went off first, the bullets striking his chest.
BANG.
BANG. BANG.
Three shots total, and he fell down as I sipped more wine and Liam stepped up right behind me. Holding the glass up to him, he handed me the gun so he could take a drink.
“I don’t see what all the fuss is about,” he said, even though he had finished the glass off. “In fact, I think it could be stronger.”
“You have a horrible taste for wine.” I took the glass back. “The last of that was completely wasted on you.”
“However will you live?” he replied, rolling his eyes at me when I moved over to Uncle Vinnie. His body convulsed on the ground, blood pooling in his mouth as he stared up at me.
“It didn’t have to be this way…you all made me do this,” I whispered, Liam already waiting by the door. The main street of what I liked to call New Italy was eerily silent. In rows across the street, all the houses looked exactly the same. Inside I could see families in living rooms, watching television, others in their kitchens or upstairs in their bedrooms. I had built this community for them, my money, my sacrifice…I had taken a rundown cul-de-sac and built a new urban neighborhood.
What I give, I can take away.
“Melody,” Liam stated when the car pulled up.
I nodded and he dialed as Lucian held open the door for me. When the door shut, Liam hung up and we pulled out. As we passed by, I couldn’t help but look over the homes whose red flags weren’t up on their mailboxes…the people against me.
“They have an hour,” Liam told me, adjusting his suit vest and leaning back.
Carbon monoxide: tasteless, colorless, odorless, and highly toxic…each breath they took was killing them slowly.
“Are you all right?”
I looked over at him, eyebrow raised. “And why wouldn’t I be? It was my plan wasn’t it?”
“No, your plan was to blow them up…you’re a pyromaniac.” He smirked.
I felt my eyes narrow at that. It sounded like I was the one who was more likely to blow shit up when I had actually learned that from him. “Coming from the man whose first choice is always to ‘light these motherfuckers up’…funny. Let’s just say it was a team effort.”
“Let’s not fight over credit, it’s beneath us—”
“Beneath you maybe, but I’m a greedy wife; it’s one of my many sins.” I couldn’t help the grin spreading across my lips. He leaned over, lifted my chin up, and held it in front of him.
His lips hovered over mine. “I’m very acquainted with your sins, wife, they are what make you uniquely qualified to be mine.”
He didn’t kiss me, but he didn’t back away. The more he stared me down, the more I wanted him. Finally, his lips brushed up against mine.
“Say it,” he demanded, his free hand gripping my breast. I moaned into him as he began to trail kisses down my neck, pulling down the top of my blouse.
“Stop the car and get out!” I managed to say as I grabbed a fistful of his hair; Liam didn’t seem to give a fuck. I bit my finger, turning my head away from him as he kissed up and down my neck, grabbing a handful of my breast before taking my nipple into his mouth, the buttons of my shirt popping off.
“Liam…” I moaned when I heard the car doors open and close. Slowly I fell onto my back.
“You still haven’t said it.” He grinned above me, pulling off his tie. I laid there, my tits exposed, nipples hardening at the tension growing in the air. His green eyes bored holes into me, demanding I give into him…to beg him to fuck me.
Raising my hand, I reached up and placed my finger on his lips.
“You have to earn it, baby.” I traced his lips and he took my finger into his mouth, biting it softly.
“And how do I do that, Mrs. Callahan?” he questioned.
Smiling to myself, I spread my legs for him. “I’m sure you will figure it out.”
Like a lion, he hovered over me, his body directly over mine. Again he kissed me, his tongue brushing over mine over and over again…I was so distracted that when his hand slipped between my legs I jumped slightly, moaning into his mouth.
“As you wish,” he replied, going down on me.
“FUCK!” I hissed out, grabbing the seat beside me when he spread the lips of my pussy with his tongue. Fuck!
Shamelessly I rocked against his lips, grabbing my own breast, my heart racing, my mouth ajar as my eyes rolled back. He didn’t stop sliding his fingers into me…I couldn’t breathe, sweat forming on my face and rolling down my neck, past the valley of my breasts.
“Liam!” I moaned out when he licked my clit, my body trembling “Ahh…”
He drank all of me, rising back up, wiping the corner of his mouth with a wicked smirk on his lips. “That was fast, baby.”
“It’s the wine,” I lied, grabbing the tie around his neck to pull him to me.
“Or I could be that good,” he whispered before kissing me, and I shivered at the taste of myself on his tongue. I wanted more of him. My hands moved around his neck then he grabbed them with one hand.
Breaking away from me, he yanked me forward until I sat up. He took a deep breath, his nose flared, and I could feel myself getting excited, my mouth going dry.
“Do it.” I provoked him, and he squeezed my hands harder. “I know you want me, baby, …don’t hold back on me now—”
He cut me off, pulling me into his lap. I could feel his huge cock throbbing against my stomach as he pulled up my skirt, exposing my bare ass.
“You push me too much, Melody.” His voice was low as he grabbed a handful of my ass.
“Not enough apparently—AH!” My hands closed into fists as he smacked me so hard my mouth dropped open. “Again.”
SMACK!
Fuck me…
SMACK!
I could feel myself getting wetter as I stared at my own reflection in the dark window of the glass. I loved when he brought this out of me…
SMACK!
“Jesus baby…”
SMACK!
My ass was on fire and yet I couldn’t bring myself to stop him.
SMACK!
SMACK!
SMACK!
SMACK!
“Liam I can’t—”
SMACK!
I want him.
SMACK!
I fucking need him.
SMACK!<
br />
“FUCK! Please…fuck me!” Goddamn it! I gave in. Those three words were my undoing. He rolled over and I stared up at him, the pride in his face more than clear.
“Then let’s fuck, baby,” he replied. When I sat up, his cock was already standing tall and proud for me.
I didn’t wait, positioning my legs over his lap, feeling the tip of him rubbing against me, making me moan. His hands went to my waist, sinfully, slowly lowering me onto him. Reaching out to him, I unbuttoned his shirt until I could see his abs. Feeling him throb in me drove me crazy.
“There’s my girl,” he whispered, lifting my chin up—which was exactly how I’d gotten myself into this fucking position to begin with.
He watched me, lust coating his eyes as I lifted myself up then lowered back down on him. My breathing was heavy, my whole body hot.
“You’re enjoying this, you bastard…” He was putting in no effort at all, just getting off on me riding him.
“Only a madman wouldn’t,” he replied, kissing the scar on my chest.
“Says the Mad Hatter?”
He didn’t reply, instead, he grabbed a fistful of my hair and lifted my neck up. Before he could speak, I kissed him, and when I did, he slid to the edge of the seat, his grip on me tightening.
He thrust forward so hard I had to wrap my arm around him, my other hand pressed up against the ceiling. He fucked me without mercy, the whole car shaking along with us, and it still wasn’t enough for him. He flipped me back onto my back and buried himself deeper into me, our skin slapping together, the sweat on him dropping onto me as he grunted. I bloody loved it…every fuck, every moan, his tight grip on my thigh; everything was my personal heaven.
“LIAM!” I cried out, my back arching up to him.
He took my hands and held them above my head as he sped up. I wasn’t sure what he was thinking, but the look on his face when he came…it was for my eyes only.
He didn’t say anything, just relaxed on top of me as I wrapped my arms around him.
“You’re one hell of screw, Mr. Callahan.”
“It’s a gift.”
This smug bastard. “That is your cue to tell me how amazing I am, husband.”
He lifted his head, staring at me lazily then mumbling, “You were all right.”