“It is surely easier to confess a murder over a cup of coffee
than in front of a jury.”
~ Friedrich Dürrenmatt
LIAM
“That’s right, you little shit, come closer,” she said as she eyed the deer standing a few dozen feet away.
“Relax your arm and breathe,” I told her, resting my head right beside hers.
“My arm is relaxed, and you’re doing enough breathing for the both of us,” she replied like the smartass she was.
Backing away from her, I rolled my eyes. “Well then, go ahead, kill Bambi.”
She released the arrow and just like I figured, it went right past the deer’s head, causing it to run away in fear. She watched it disappear into the forest in silent rage before turning back to me. Handing me the bow and arrows, she pulled out a gun, and I tried not to laugh.
“I could kill it so much better with this!” she yelled, and it was cute, especially since I knew I wasn’t the source of her rage.
“That’s not the point.” I lifted the bow to the sky, pulling it back and releasing the arrow. It went straight through a bird’s heart. Mel simply rolled her eyes, pointing to the sky and shot three times.
“Three birds for me, one for you. What’s the point again?” She smiled, looking down at the . . . fuck.
“We just killed Mockingbirds.” I frowned, kneeling down to stare at the four birds now half-blown to pieces on the ground.
“Please, tell me you’re joking.”
Smiling at her once more, I stood and released another arrow into the tree, watching another one of the beautiful birds fall to its death.
“Show off.”
“I found the one weapon my wife can’t use.” I grinned as she glared at me. “I think I’ll show it off as much as possible.”
“I’m a people hunter! Who hunts people with arrows?” she snapped, and I opened my mouth to speak but she glared.
“If you say the Green Arrow I will shoot you in the other thigh,” she added, and all I could do was smirk at her.
“All people are animals, love. They freeze when they are afraid. They cry out in pain as they die. A hunter is a hunter, and if you can kill a deer, you can kill a person. It’s that simple,” I replied. “Plus, I wasn’t going to say the Green Arrow, maybe Hawkeye or Katniss Everdeen, but definitely not the Green Arrow.”
Her eyes became wide, and she turned away from me, heading back to camp. It wasn’t hard catching up to her.
“You are such a child,” she said, but I could see the smallest grin on her lips.
“Yeah, yeah,” I said, taking her hand and pulling her to me. She looked at her hands and then to me. I knew she was somewhat uncomfortable, but she didn’t pull away.
“What? Aren’t you going to ask me to go steady first?”
“Maybe if we were in the nineteen fifties.”
“Have you ever been on a date?” I asked her, causing us to stop.
“I don’t date, and you better not try any of that romantic shit on me either,” she said.
“Girls like romantic shit.” I smiled. She always made me smile, and I wasn’t sure if I could bring myself to hide it from her or the world.
“I’m not ‘girls.’ I’m Melody.”
“We can compromise,” I said, leaning against one of the tress.
She crossed her arms and stood straighter. “Or I could shoot you.”
“Violence is not the answer, love. Well violence against me isn’t the answer,” I replied, thinking quickly. “We can have private dates. You and I in our bedroom, where only I can see you being kind.”
Before she could speak, I pulled her toward me and pressed her up against the tree, kissing her ruthlessly, only to break away.
“On special occasions, we can kill the cops or anyone else who gets in our way in our pajamas again. We can watch as they bleed out and burn, drink wine and have each other over and over again. After all, we are both people hunters,” I whispered into the distance between our lips.
She kissed me, pressing her whole body against mine and broke away with a grin. “You sure know how to charm a woman.”
Her words made me so hard I lifted her up and pinned her against the bark. God, I loved my wife.
“Sir, ma’am,” a voice called out from behind us, and right then and there, I wanted to snap his neck. The darkness in Mel’s eyes told me she wanted him dead as well.
Breaking away from me, she turned to Fedel who stood with his back turned. “What!”
He didn’t turnaround. “The jet has been fueled and will be ready to depart. Neither of your phones were working, but your father, sir, has tried to reach you. The police commissioner is giving a statement to the press about the fire in an hour. They also came by the house this morning.”
That bitch came to my motherfucking house again? He was just asking to fucking die!
“Are the men ready?” Mel asked, adjusting her clothing, but she didn’t need to—she always looked the same—beautiful, deadly, and fuckable.
“Yes, ma’am. Monte and all the others who drove left last night,” he answered quickly. He was definitely more afraid of Mel than he was of me. I was going to have to balance that scale as well.
“Leave us,” I demanded, and he was gone. Turning to my wife, I tried to breathe calmly, however I wanted the cop fucker dead.
“I’m going to kill him,” I told her. “I’ll find out—”
“It won’t work. You have to break him.” She sighed, stepping in front of me. “Killing him is only half the battle. He is becoming a model for the rest of the force. He is becoming a hero. He is going to give some uplifting speech and try and reinstate a hope for better future. It’s time we do what we promised to do if he didn’t back down.”
“We make Chicago bleed,” I said, and she nodded.
“When the crime is in the ghettos, no one gives a shit. When the crime makes its way to the suburbs, people demand better from their police officers.”
“They begin to distrust them. When they do, we will step forward and remind them why they love the Callahans.”
“I will have Declan and Monte hack the records and find all the police officers who have families.” She smiled, but it wasn’t enough. I wanted the city and the state to cry out in agony.
“Not just the police,” I added as we headed back to camp. “I want the names of every judge, politician, and businessman who does not support our family. You step in front of us, we blow a hole through you and every last person who ever knew you.”
There would be blood, and lots of it.
MELODY
“People of Chicago, I come to you now because I know you are afraid. I’m from Chicago. I know this city like the back of my hand, and I know that we can get back to the glory days. It’s why the Chicago PD is working overtime to make our cities safe. If you see anything, we will protect you if you come forward. It’s time we take our city back from those who believe we have given up. From those who think we are just going to allow them to keep—”
“His voice makes me want to shoot myself.” I groaned muting the computer in front us. “Maybe we should kill him now. Don’t we have snipers in the area?”
Liam drank my wine as he relaxed as well. “You and I both know that would be a bad idea. Tomorrow begins the reign of terror, just hold off another twelve hours.”
Sighing, I looked to the computer screen where the idiot was still speaking.
“Does he really believe anyone is going to talk?”
“They would have to be pure idiots,” Liam said. However, Fedel stood up and placed another file in front us.
“What is this?” I asked, but the moment I opened it, a grin spread across my face as I handed it to Liam, waiting to see how he would react.
“Jesus Christ, you did this in church?” He laughed, lifting up the hospital photo of Natasha. I should have just killed her.
“I was told you saw her for breakfast,” I stated, and he looked up to me, eyes wide, before turning to Fedel.
His jaw set as he threw the photo back on the table. “You had me followed?” he hissed.
“The morning you were being an ass,” I paused and, grabbing the brandy, added, “the morning you were being a giant ass, I had you followed and your ex-girlf—”
“She was a bitch I fucked in the past, not my ex-girlfriend,” he snapped.
Leaning in, I made sure he could see my eyes. “I’m not sorry, not even a little bit, and I don’t care who she was. She wanted to be a part of your future, and I made sure she knew what would happen if she crossed that line again.”
His nose flared but he simply glared at Fedel. “Why are you showing this to us?”
“Ms. Briar filed a police report to Sam, claiming, ma’am, that you were the one who attacked her. Brooks is waiting for your directions,” Fedel replied.
“Kill her,” he demanded. “I warned her when she ambushed me before.”
“That would look bad.” I sighed because I really did want the bitch dead. “If she were to be killed, it would be too obvious. She has family. They would realize it, and that is just too many loose ends for one whore.”
I just wasn’t sure what to do with her.
Liam pinched the bridge of his nose before lifting up the photo again. “A broken nose and jaw, large abrasions across the forehead, with trace amount of bleach in her throat.
“Bleach in her throat?”
I shrugged. “They must have used bleach in the toilet bowl I stuck her head in.”
He tried not to smile, but I could see his lips twitch up. Shaking his head, he placed the file back down.
“Ninety percent of those wounds could have been self-inflicted. After all she is a very unstable woman with a history of stalking and violent acts in a fit of jealously,” he said, seriously, looking over to Declan, who looked much better than he did earlier in the week. He was lucky I had only used my small knife.
“Declan, make sure all records of Natasha Briar list her as mentally unbalanced. Fedel, have Brooks flag her as mentally ill as well by whatever doctor she visited—pay him well enough to make sure he stresses the need to get her ‘help’—and by the end of the week, make sure she should be in West Ridge.”
“West Ridge is the worst mental hospital in the state, if not the country.” I smiled. If Natasha wasn’t crazy now, she would be.
“I know. We can kill her after the dust settles.” He smiled back.
“How romantic. I hate blondes.” I laughed along with him. However, I stopped when I heard a snicker.
“Poor Olivia.” Liam turned to Neal. I didn’t bother giving him a glance.
“I don’t give a shit,” I replied, looking out the window. “She should be happy I took it easy on him.”
Liam shook his head. “You broke his nose—something I’m starting to see you’re good at—and damn well choked the life out of him, then tasered him.”
“Are you defending him? I did worse to Declan, and he didn’t even shoot you.” He was too calm about this, and it pissed me the fuck off.
“I second that,” Declan muttered just loud enough so we could hear him.
Liam rolled his eyes. “We’re going to war, remember. After tomorrow, hell is going to break loose. We are family, and we need to make sure our personal shit is together. Besides, you stabbed Declan with a knife the size of a dagger.”
“Are we seriously discussing the type of weapon used to stab me in the chest?” Declan asked, and it was my turn to roll my eyes.
“It wasn’t even really your chest. It was much closer to your shoulder-blade. The worse you needed was stitches, you big baby,” I added, and Neal snickered until I glared at him again.
“I have a much bigger knife waiting for you,” I snapped.
“If Neal ever shoots anything near me again, I will take off his head and mount it on the fucking wall.” He seemed to mean it, but I wasn’t sure.
“I still hate him,” I replied, drinking.
“Looks like I’m not the only romantic one.” He grinned, however, it was interrupted by a cellphone. Neal answered it quickly before handing it to Liam.
“Father.” Sighing, Liam placed it on speaker before setting it on the table. “To what do I owe the pleasure?” Liam asked, sitting up straighter. I didn’t understand why men always felt the need to prove something to their fathers.
“Liam, Melody, I’m sure you both took time out of your busy schedules to watch the news. The police commissioner is becoming a problem.” Sedric’s voice sounded hard, like he was trying to control his anger.
“Yes—”
“We are handling it, Sedric. Is that the only reason you called?” I asked before Liam could make a fool out of himself. He looked me dead in the eye, as if I’d lost my mind.
There wasn’t a reply at first, just a deep breath. Did I tick off Sedric? Too fucking bad.
“Evelyn just received an invitation to a wedding being held here in Chicago for a Saige Rozhkov and Amory Valero.”
Liam’s eyes narrowed as we looked at each other. Nodding, he took a deep breath.
“We will be attending. If that is all, Father, we must be going,” Liam replied, ending the call before he could get another word in.
Rising from our seats, we both walked into our private cabin at the back of the jet. The second the door closed, I began to speak.
“You are the head of this family, not your fucking father. You do not sit up straighter for him. You do not even give him all your fucking attention. And you sure as hell do not answer his questions like you are still second-in-command. The only person who gets that amount of respect is me. You are a leader, so lead. You share with him when you motherfucking feel like it. Not when he calls and barks. You may be his son, but you are not his child. You are Ceann na Conairte, and I am the Boss, even to our fathers. If you embarrass me or yourself like that again, I will rip out your throat.”
LIAM
She’s right. That was the very first thing that went through my mind after she left. I was the Ceann na Conairte, not my father. I had seen him as such for so long that it was almost second nature to show him that same respect. Stepping off the plane, Mel stood before none other than Coraline.
“What in Jesus fuck happened to my wife?” Declan asked from behind me.
“What happened to her hair?” Neal asked, staring at the shorthaired girl standing in front of Mel.
Without answering either of them, I walked to my wife only to be met with another shock.
Is that the ugly duckling? Adriana stood beside Coraline, her nest of a hair tamed, her glasses gone, and her face covered in light makeup. She wasn’t drop-dead gorgeous, but she didn’t deserve the ugly duckling title anymore.
“Adriana, ride with us,” was all Mel said when I reached her. “Cora we will talk later.”
Once we reached the car, the driver opened the door for us while Adriana took a seat up front.
“I’m guessing you had something to do with this?” I asked Mel once we were on our way home.
“She came to me. I had Adriana do what she could,” she replied, not in the least bit worried about how this might turn out. Declan . . . well Declan really couldn’t do shit, and that’s probably why she wasn’t bothered.
Sighing, I turned to the woman up front. “Well, what can my sister-in-law do?”
“She was difficult the first day, frustrated with herself and the world on the second. The third day, she puked up half her weight, and then the rest of the week she got a lot of the basics down. She will need more practice, but she is getting used to carrying a knife. Mrs. Callahan was right about the gun. She tried it, and almost blew her hand off.” I could hear the amusement in her voice. However, my mind couldn’t picture Coraline doing any of those things.
“And her hair?” Mel asked.
“She got a little carried away with the whole becoming a warrior thing. She demanded to listen to Rocky during one of the morning sessions. Then at night, she wanted to listen to Eye of the Tiger on repeat. Eve—Mrs. Callahan found it fitting.”
Mel sat up. “I thought I told you to keep this discrete.”
“I tried, ma’am. The second and third days were the hardest for Coraline, and she was so sore she couldn’t hide it during dinner. Mr. and Mrs. Callahan believe it is just self-defense. Olivia Callahan tried to tell Neal, so I had her phone jammed, ma’am.”
Mel frowned but nodded, even though no one else would be able to see her but me.
“I see.” I frowned as well. Family dinner tonight was going to be interesting.
“It’s nothing to worry about. We have much bigger things on our plate like Saige and Amory,” Mel said, hissing out their names as if they were poison.
“Which is why I think we should plan a small trip to Italy.”
“Liam, we cannot take out Vance’s cars now. It’s probably at the bottom of our to-do list.” She wasn’t getting it though.
“We don’t have to go, our men could go. After all, what better time to destroy cars and maybe a home or two while everyone is celebrating a wedding?” They would be so blindsided.
She smirked. “Guerrilla warfare.”
“Exactly.”
“Adriana, when is the wedding?”
“Three weeks from today, ma’am,” she replied quickly, handing us a wedding invitation. Mel stared at it with just as much disgust as I did. Allowing it to drop to the floor, she turned back to me.
“Are you sure you don’t mind not being able to physically destroy Vance’s things?”
It was the only downside. “Yes, but seeing Vance’s face during the wedding when he gets that call will surely make up for it.” He wouldn’t even be able to publicly display his anger. Instead, he would have to take it up the ass and just smile at me.
She shook her head at me and stared out at the city. I watched her eyes storm over and I wished more than anything I could read her mind. She turned to me with a smirk that I wanted to kiss off her fucking face.
“My father told me once that the world wanted Kate Middleton or the first lady, someone to kiss babies and write big checks on your behalf.” She said it slowly, but I still didn’t understand.
“You want to write a check?” Why would that get her so excited?
“Yes.” She smirked, looking back outside. “To the men and women of the Chicago PD who were injured during those terrible fires. After all, how can they afford all those bills? I even think we should do it in person. I bet our favorite Superintendent and commissioner, Officer Patterson, will be there as well to console the families.”
Dear God, I loved my wife.
“Take us to St. John’s Medical Hospital.” I smiled alongside her, reaching into my jacket for my checkbook.
“Should I make it rich or obnoxiously rich?” I asked, wondering how many zeros to put in the space.
“Obnoxiously rich, of course. Something only a Callahan can do.” She grinned, looking toward Adriana. “Adriana, how fast can you leak it to the press?”
“Ten minutes. If you would like to change, I brought clothing. It’s in the back,” she answered, already dialing.
She had standby clothes?
Mel nodded, taking off her seatbelt as she climbed into trunk of the car.
“Seriously? How un-first-lady-like?” I grinned, looking back at her.
“Shut the fuck up, you Irish asshole and keep your eyes forward.”
“Why? I’ve seen it all before?” She smirked. “We wouldn’t want our driver peeking, would we?” My eyes narrowed at the man behind the steering wheel. At her words, he visibly tensed. She knew I would watch him like a hawk, which would stop me from staring at her.
I would have to make her pay later on tonight.
MELODY
“The Chicago Police Department is important to the wellbeing of this city. My husband and I do not want our men and women in uniform to worry about the medical bills or their livelihoods after protecting us. It is my great honor to present this check for nineteen million dollars to our commissioner and superintendent, Officer Patterson.” I smiled into the cameras that stood in the ER wing of St. John’s Hospital. Officer Patterson glared at me with a mixture of hate, anger, and disgust. But he took the money anyway.
“Thank you so much, Mrs. Callahan,” he said, practically sneering through his teeth. “I’m sure this will help the families who lost love ones and those injured, overwhelmingly so.”
Liam smirked beside me. “It was such a tragedy. Those old factories should be checked. Aren’t they also known for their crime? Are the police looking into this?”
Commissioner Patterson opened his mouth, but the reporters heard Liam’s questions and jumped on him.
“Commissioner Patterson, is this going to be one of the things you plan on fixing in Chicago?”
“Commissioner, is there going to be an investigation?”
“Is it true your house was also destroyed?”
“Rumor has it that this was a terrorist attack?”
“Did this have anything to do with your investigation of Flight 735?” That caught my attention, and Liam’s apparently because his jaw tightened.
“Ladies and gentlemen, this is a hospital, and we do not want to bother any of the patients that are here in need of medical attention,” Commissioner Patterson told them all as politely as he could.
A doctor stepped forward as the reporters fanned out. She looked almost star struck as she stared into Liam’s eyes.
Could she still be a doctor if I cut off her hands?
“Mr. Callahan, I’m Dr. Amy Lewis, thank you so much for the donation. Your family has been so kind to the patients of this hospital as well as the staff. It would be our honor to show you around. I’m sure the victims of this accident would love to meet you,” she gushed, while I tried not to vomit in my mouth.
“I don’t believe that would be a good idea,” Commissioner Patterson stated, causing the whole staff to look at him like he was crazy . . . most likely because he was.
“It’s been a difficult couple of days. They may need their rest.”
“I assure you, we are doing or best for every patient her,” Dr. Lewis replied, but only because she wanted to spend more time with my husband.
Stepping in front of Liam, I smiled like I was in a fucking Crest commercial. “Of course, I would love to meet them. Sweetheart, do you have time?”
Liam raised an eyebrow at me. “Anything you wish, my love.”
Dr. Amy Lewis looked like she came in her scrubs at the sound of his voice. I wonder if I can smash her head in?
“Where are we going first?”
She seemed startled by my voice, as if she had forgotten I was still here. I felt my hand slide to the back of my pants toward my knife when Liam grabbed me, pulling me into his arms.
“Control yourself, love,” he hissed into my ear.
Taking a deep breath, we followed the stupid bitch as she led us toward another part of the hospital.
“This is our burn unit where many of the officers are being treated,” she replied, moving down the hall as if she were putting the men on display.
I wasn’t sure what it was that made me stop in front of one of the officer’s rooms. Maybe it was all the flowers, cards, and balloons. Or maybe it was the small girl who sat in her mother’s lap, laughing with her burned father that did it. The side of his face was wrapped in bandages along with both of his arms, but he was still alert.
Stepping in, the family froze and looked to us.
“Officer Pope, this is Mr. and Mrs. Callahan. As of a few moments ago, they have paid off all your bills,” Dr. Amy-what’s-her-face stated, joyfully.
The woman in the chair broke out into sobs before running up and giving me a hug. I was not a hugger. However, I couldn’t be myself.
“Thank you so very much. You have no idea how much this means to my family,” she cried, stepping back to adjust herself and pick up her daughter.
“Anything to help. I can’t imagine the life you live,” I said softly. “Always worrying if your husband will get wounded, or even worse. It’s the least we can do.”
“Thank you. Really, thank you.” She wiped her face, turning to her daughter. “Tell Mrs. Callahan, thank you, sweetheart.”
The small girl hid behind her hair. “Thanks.”
“Let’s go tell Grandpapa the good news,” she replied, looking back to her husband for a moment, who nodded slowly.
“There’s that first lady,” Liam whispered, kissing the back of my head and handing me a cup of coffee.
“Mr. and Mrs. Callahan,” Dr. Amy, the whore, called out.
“Liam, I will stay,” I told him. He gave me an odd look before exiting with the rest of them.
Officer Pope simply glared at me, and I knew he had an idea of who we really were underneath the public mask.
“I have no idea why people choose to become police officers.” I frowned, looking over his burnt skin, half of his face was basically melted off.
“Someone has to put people like you away,” he struggled to say.
Raising an eyebrow, I smiled. “That’s never going to happen, and if it were, it wouldn’t be you. I’ve seen better looking beef jerky.”
“I could have a wire,” he hissed out, and I rolled my eyes while reaching over to push on his wrapped skin. He cried out softly.
“You don’t have a wire, and even if you did, I have a frequency jammer. If that didn’t work, then I would kidnap your family until you confess to tampering evidence to falsely arrest me.” I wasn’t an idiot, and after all, we were in a hospital full of cops.
His eyes narrowed. “Aren’t you ashamed of yourself? Don’t you have guilt? Or are you all just heartless, cold-blooded snakes? Your drugs kill dozens of people in this city alone, just in one week. God knows how many people die in this country just so you can make a buck. You all are sick. How the hell do you sleep at night?”
“Who did you lose?” I asked him, taking a sip of my coffee. His words didn’t bother me.
“You don’t give a damn.”
“Nope, not at all.” I smiled. “You see, you’re blaming me for something that isn’t my fault. Do you blame a bartender for giving someone a drink? No, because he is supplying a demand. No one is forcing anyone to do or take anything. Whoever died, it was on them and their family. They should have gotten their shit together. Their family should have stood by them. Instead, you look for someone to blame.”
“You must be fucked up in the head to think like that. There ain’t any justification for what you people do,” he snapped, looking away. “You insult us more by pretending you’re good Catholic folk. You don’t care about God. I don’t think you even believe in Him.”
“I do. I care about God, and I do believe in Him.” I really did. “However, I know why I was created. God needs me. What would happen if there weren’t people like me? If the world were perfect, if everything was the way you wished it to be, then why would you pray? God needs me, because without us, you forget about Him. He is on my side, not yours.”
“We will see about that. The commissioner has his eye on you all. He won’t rest until you are all in jail!”
“Then I’ll rip out his eyes and put him six feet under. You should thank God you are in here, because after tomorrow, Chicago will never be the same. You can tell the commissioner I said that,” I replied, leaving the coffee cup with my lipstick imprint on the counter before turning to leave.
“By the way, I sleep perfectly fine at night. It’s all about the thread count.”
I smiled at him once more before leaving. Chicago would burn, and they would know it was their fault. Once the smoke cleared and the dust settled, we would rebuild. But we would own this motherfucking city.
Stepping into the corner, I placed a call.
“Put Officer Pope and his family on the list.”
“Yes, ma’am.”