She glared up at me with a rage so deep, her brown eyes looked pure black. She struggled, trying to push me away, but despite her skills, she was still much smaller than I was.
Finally, I thought, when it looked like she had given up, but like a damn piranha, the bitch bit my bottom lip so hard I could taste blood. In that moment, I released her hands, and she took the opportunity to punch me in the throat before kicking me off of her.
“Swear to whatever God you want,” she hissed, right before stretching out her legs to kick me.
I grabbed one and slammed her into a wall. She reached for the lamp and threw it at my head. Reacting quickly, I ducked only to come back up to have her foot collide with my jaw.
Wiping the blood from my chin, I was done. When she tried to kick me again, I grabbed onto her arm and pulled her into me before ramming her body right into the mirror. It shattered on impact. Liked a damned snake, she wrapped her body around mine, squeezing tightly, making it almost impossible for me to shake her loose.
Spinning to another wall, I again rammed her back against it and her hold on me slipped just enough for me to push her back. Gripping onto her neck, I held my gun to her skull.
The look in her eyes haunted me; they were no longer dark, but full of a pain that was killing her anger, and chipping away at mine.
“Do it,” she demanded. “Pull the trigger, Liam.”
“You’re insane,” I told her before kissing her hard. She had to be insane to think I would ever want to kill her; that I would even consider pulling the trigger…that I would ever betray her. I wanted nothing more than to make her calm down, to let her know I loved her. She was just too damn hard-headed and emotional…just like I knew she would be.
Her dress at this point was all but ripped on both sides. However, I pulled from the top, ripping it open like a jacket. Snapping her bra off, I threw it right next to the dress. It looked better on the ground anyway.
“You really have a problem with my clothing,” she said, breaking our kiss as she wrapped her legs around me.
“I do.” There was no point in lying. “So stop wearing it around me.”
Before she could speak, I thrust myself inside of her and her back arched up against the wall as she pulled on my hair.
“Ahh—” Her mouth opened while her body shook in shock and pleasure.
As much as I loved her, I was still pissed that she shot me…again. I still wanted to beat the shit out of her, but I would’ve gladly fuck her senseless instead.
“Liam…”
“Remember what you asked me to do to you?” I squeezed her thighs, as I thrust forward again and again, so hard, in fact, anything still hanging on the wall fell to the ground. Her nails dug into my shoulders. “Fuck you until your legs go weak you said.”
Again, I slammed myself into her, enjoying how tightly her walls clenched on to me.
“Fuck you until you scream my name…you begged.” The faster I went, the louder her moans became.
“Liam…I…Ohh…” Her breasts bounced uncontrollably as she squeezed her eyes shut.
“If you could see the face you’re making baby,” I whispered as I licked her bottom lip and she opened her mouth for me. But I didn’t kiss her, instead, I bit her earlobe as I buried myself between her thighs.
“Liam I can’t—”
“You want to come baby?” I slowed down and she almost whimpered. My Melody whimpering. It was a sight. “Why should you get to get off after what you did to me tonight.”
Kissing her. I slowed down, until it was almost too painful to bear, pulling her out of the high she was reaching.
“No, Liam, I’m so close…” she moaned as my cock slowly slid in and out of her. She became wetter each time, dripping down her thighs and even onto my hands.
I pulled her hair back, forcing her to look me in the eyes. “You don’t control this. I do. And you’ve pissed me off, wife.”
She, of course, slapped me, and I smiled to myself as I pulled out completely and rubbed myself against her slick, wet folds. She shook with need, she was so close.
“Say it, Melody. I’m getting off just by watching you squirm.”
Just fucking say it, Jesus Christ this was killing me.
“I can’t, because I hate you right now,” she said through gritted teeth, just to piss me off.
I flipped her around and without a care in the world, I took hold of her ass. As I spread her cheeks apart, she braced herself against the wall and I smirked. “Don’t you dare move,” I commanded.
I gripped on to her breasts, her nipples hard in my palms I slid into pressing us both against the wall.
“This is all for me. My pleasure.” I grunted as I took her hard and rough, thrusting deeper and deeper into her ass.
One of my hand grabbed hers above her head holding on to it as I kissed the back of her neck.
“Melody!” I came inside her.
When I released her, her legs gave out, forcing her to rest against the wall. “Damn it, LIAM!”
She sat there, naked, frustrated and covered in sweat, blood and my seed…I’d never been prouder.
Adjusting myself, I took a few deep breaths before I glared down at her. “I have a bullet wound I need to attend to, along with a cousin I need to kill. You’re pissed, I understand, but all your anger isn’t for me. If I could do it all over again, I still wouldn’t tell you. If this is how you reacted because of me withholding information, imagine what you would have done before. We have too much riding on our public image right now for you to become a homicidal bitch.”
I was so infuriated with her, damn it! The pain in my thigh was only starting to sink in now, now that the adrenaline was wearing off from the haze of our fight and sex. When she was pissed, she should use her motherfucking words and not her gun, at least for me. Here we were, ten steps back, when we didn’t have the time to back pedal.
“Don’t go,” she said when I opened the door to leave.
“Maybe you forgot, but you shot me, I have a wound—”
“Liam—”
She looked to me and I could see she was finally calm…hurt and calm.
“I’m going to need stitches.” I muttered, as I moved back over to where she was and took a seat on the ground again. Pain flared up my body and I winced.
“I’ll call Coraline for a med kit and clothes,” she whispered as she took off my pants and used the torn part of her dress to wrap the wound.
She didn’t look up at me and I didn’t push her. I closed my eyes.
“The first time I kissed you, I was shot in the thigh. The first time we had sex, I was shot in arm. You seem to like me bloody, Mrs. Callahan.”
“I just like you,” she stated, and I opened my eyes to find her kneeling between my legs, still naked, her hair tousled, eyes wild, and she was covered in cuts and scrapes from our fight. She was beautifully savage in this moment. “I still think you were wrong for keeping this from me.”
“And I do not. So we’re at an impasse then. I do believe you and I have a special system for dealing with our issues.”
“We’ve already fucked it out, Liam.”
“Just because I’m sitting here doesn’t mean I’m not still annoyed with you, wife…believe me, there is plenty left for us to fuck out.” I winked at her.
With both of us naked in each other’s arms, there was nothing we couldn’t get through.
MELODY
The moment I got out of the hotel bathroom, I came face to face with a very ticked off Coraline in the ruins of the room. I sighed, closing the door for Liam to finish up.
“I brought you a change of clothes and there’s a car in the back, waiting to take you home to avoid the press. The gala is winding down, but some people are still lingering.” She pointed to the bag hanging on what was left of the mirror fame.
I didn’t say a word, I simply stepped over the shards of glass.
“One more thing,” she said.
When I turned back to her, she slapped
me right across the face. My head snapped back, and the side of my face burned like hell, but I said not a word as I regarded her.
“You’ve messed with my husband long enough. You could have killed him, but you were so blinded…”
Grabbing hold of her neck, I pulled her to my face.
“I’m going to let the slap go, because I was a little temperamental. Remember, Coraline, I made you. I gave you the balls you’re so willing to put on display, try to lecture me again, and I will rip them right out from under you, and then I’ll go after Declan. Are we clear?” I asked, squeezing just a little bit tighter before letting go.
So, I flipped out. I didn’t want a lecture from Liam, and I sure as hell didn’t want one from Coraline.
She coughed holding onto her neck before speaking again. “I’m sorry. I’m sorry your mother is a…”
“You’re pushing me, Coraline,” I said as I dropped the towel.
“So be it then. I’m still going to speak my mind, balls or no balls. We are family; you are my sister, okay? I’m on your side, Melody, I promise. Just please, be on mine.” With that, she left me alone to finish getting dressed.
Those who got high occasionally should know that the come down was horrible, especially if you aren’t ready for it. Life was fine for Liam and I; everything we wanted was slowly falling into our laps, and then this.
My mother…was dead. She died when I was young…she was murdered when I was little…but that was a lie. It was like my brain didn’t—couldn’t—wrap itself around that thought.
When I was younger, I had come to terms with the fact that I was motherless. The first Mother’s Day after her death, I cried until Orlando sat me down and told me we don’t cry. No matter how bad our lives got, Giovannis did not cry. I was a child, crying was one of the things children did, but after that moment, the tears went away. I found the deepest part of my soul and buried my sorrow there.
The only time I truly remember giving in to the tears and the pain was last year, right after I lost our child. That was the first time in years I had truly felt pain like that. When Liam was hurt, from what I now know was his own plan, I felt fear. That’s why I needed my revenge and killed Saige. It still gave me satisfaction to think about her and the twelve mile drive before her screams stopped.
That night, I made Liam scream in a different sort of way. I wasn’t a huge fan of bondage, but tying him up as I sexually tortured him for hours was fun. At the end, he all but begged to be free. When he was, the room looked sort of like the hotel room looked now…like two wild animals had been set loose.
In one year, I had felt fear and pain. Now, it seemed I’d moved on to hurt and anger. All the reasons I tired to come up with to explain Aviela DeRosa’s existence didn’t hold any water. Nothing could explain how she could be alive…how she could have just left. How she could be nothing like I thought she would be. The white shoes were a lie…the white gloves were a lie. She didn’t have clean hands; they were dipped in as much blood as mine were. She’d literally left me in the middle of the ocean as a child, clinging to life. The chances of anyone living through that were slim to none, and yet she took that chance and I was her child.
Kneeling down, I reached for the flash drive that Liam must have dropped during our fight; I knew that if I opened its contents, there would be more questions than answers. The biggest ones being—why did my own mother hate me so much that she had people trying to kill me and my family? If I saw her today, would I be able to kill her as well? From the very day you are born, you’re told family is everything. Even if you had to hurt them every once in a while, family still came first. Would I be able to kill her? I hoped so. I hoped I would be able to show her why we didn’t let anyone live.
When I turned around, I found Liam leaning against the bathroom door looking like Satan himself, his dark brown hair dripping wet and disheveled, and his green eyes focused only on me.
“Coraline is still following in your footsteps it seems.” He dried his hair. “What happened to there being only one Bloody Melody?”
I snorted. “Coraline still has a ways to go. Either way, she’s family right?”
He looked to me and a soft smile grew on his face, as he wrapped his arms around me. “Let’s go home. I have something for you.”
I knew that look.
“Liam, once we get back, we have work to do. No sex of any kind,” I stated. But he didn’t seem to be listening.
LIAM
I drank from her, my tongue licking up everything she gave me as she rode my face. She bounced and rocked against my tongue, bracing herself against the bed, as I braced myself between her thighs.
“LIAM!” she screamed, as she came all over my face.
I reveled in her juices, enjoying each drop of her. Spent, she rolled herself off of me and came to rest beside me. I watched her chest rising and falling as she tried to catch her breath, and as I licked my fingers clean of her, she turned to watch me.
“No love making of any kind?” I mocked, sitting up against the headboard. “I guess that went out window the moment you sat on my face. You taste divine by the way.”
“Fuck you,” she said, as she pulled the sheets around her and reached for her laptop beside the bed.
“You already did, three times, and quite nicely I may add.” I laughed when she glared at me.
Neither of us had spoken on the car ride over. We didn’t even look at each other, yet there was still sexual tension between us, because there was always sexual tension between us. By the time we got home, both of us were horny and annoyed with one another. Sex seemed to be the only thing we could agree on.
I knew she was using me as a distraction. She didn’t want to focus on the shit in front of her. Neither of us did really, so instead we’d had our fill of brandy, wine, and sex.
All of the sex had calmed her down, and now she was ready…or at least I hoped she was ready. Two bullets from her were enough for a lifetime.
She sat next to me and placed the flash drive in as I leaned back to see the list. Hundreds of names, some of them I knew, some were before my time, others I had never even known existed. Each person had a name, photo, date of birth, and the day that they were murdered going back at least twenty-five years… Aviela DeRosa had been killing for a long time.
“Orlando,” Mel whispered softly, as she looked at the name and photo. It didn’t say Orlando but Iron Hands.
“She didn’t kill him,” I stated the obvious.
I tried to grab the laptop, but she slapped my hands away and did it herself.
“Iron Hands. Arsenic,” she read before freezing. Inside the file was a photo of what happened to be another list with dates and doses.
“She poisoned him,” Mel whispered. “For six years straight. She poisoned him slowly. Orlando never knew because he always figured he would get cancer. He had done everything to prevent it, but when it came, he just thought there was no fighting it. That it was too deep in our family line. She gave him cancer. She poisoned him and just waited.”
When I grabbed the mouse from her, she didn’t fight me; she was in too much shock to fight.
“What’s your grandfather’s name on your father’s side?” I asked her trying to sort through.
“Ignazio Giovanni, the second,” she said, still dazed.
When I hit enter, there he was. He died at sixty-one after being diagnosed with stage four colon cancer; he died in four months, his dosage of Arsenic were ten times higher than Orlando’s. They wanted him dead, fast, but without raising suspicion.
“Orlando had an older brother, Francesco Angelo Giovanni. He died at twenty-six.” She searched and he came up as well. He died a year before his father. Two months she spent killing him. It seemed the only person she tortured for so long was Orlando.
One by one, Melody typed up names of who I guessed were her family, and one by one they popped up.
“She’s been killing off your family for years,” I whispered. But why?
; “And now she’s coming after the last Giovanni.” Mel tensed.
“You’re a Callahan, not a Giovanni,” I said. “And she isn’t coming near you, or anyone in this family, unless it’s in a body bag.”
She looked back at me, her eyes blazing with fire.
“Everything I know is a lie. She’s the only one that knows the truth. When we get our hands on her, we can break her, but we’re not going to kill her until I know the truth,” She said before looking back at the screen.
But, as I went through the list, looking for any of my past family and finding none, I wondered if a woman like Aviela, who had killed the father of her child, and left that same child for dead, could be broken.
How could you break something that was obviously never whole to begin with?
FIVE
“All the motives for murder are covered by four Ls: Love, Lust, Lucre and Loathing.”
—P.D. James
MELODY
“Bless me Father, for I have sinned. It has been seven days since my last Confession, in that time I have…”
“You have lied,” Father Antony interrupted me.
“Yes, father and I…”
“You have killed, stolen, and much worse,” he cut me off again. Only a man of God could do that and still have his tongue.
“You’re going off script, father,” I whispered, leaning against my seat. He could neither see me, nor I him, but I felt more comfortable. Not because I felt ashamed, more because I liked the darkness here; it was the only place I wasn’t afraid of it. I liked the peace it gave me within the church.
“Yes, well I cannot offer you forgiveness.” He sighed. “You’ve come in here once a week for the last year asking for the same thing. Yet neither I, nor God, can forgive you for something you do not truly wish forgiveness for. It doesn’t work that way.”
“May I continue, Father?” I asked him.
“Very well,” he said.