“He pulls a knife,
you pull a gun,
he sends one of yours to the hospital,
you send one of his to the morgue . . .”
~ Al Capone
LIAM
“What’s a five letter word for mortality?” I asked the man in the hospital cast in front of me.
He said nothing, but that had to be due to all the morphine. Smirking, I snapped my fingers and filled in the spaces of the newspaper crossword.
“That’s right, death,” I said to him. “It seems even God is mocking you Commissioner . . . ex-Commissioner now, right? People don’t like suicidal cops.”
He just glared as I continued with my game.
“Seven letter word for ineffective. Don’t tell me, failure. Seriously, this is today’s crossword. Can you believe it? It’s like they made it about your life.”
“Is that why you’re here, Callahan, to kick a man when he is down? I’m not shocked,” he hissed out, but I wasn’t sure if that was due to the pain or because he was ticked off.
“I don’t kick a man when he is down. I put a bullet in his skull. You should know that.” I sighed, placing the paper down.
“Then kill me already,” he yelled, making me want to roll my eyes.
“Not until you answer a few of my questions,” I replied, rising to my feet. I reached over and grabbed his oxygen mask.
Taking it off his bruised face, he took a deep breath before it turned into short gasps for air. He reached over for the nurse call button so I pushed it for him. Once, then twice, and then a few more times for the heck of it.
“This side of the hospital has been cleared, so let’s chat.” I grinned, giving him a few seconds of air before pulling the mask from his face again.
“Go to hell,” he breathed out.
“My wife is a raging homicidal hormonal pregnant woman. I sleep with hell.” I sighed, giving him air again.
“Give me a second to shit bricks of sadness.”
And I laughed, too, before grabbing the pillow from behind his head, pressing it against his face.
“I’m not in the mood for a smartass,” I snapped at him. When I took the pillow off his face, he coughed like a dying chain smoker.
He held on to my hand as I fed him his air. “Let’s start with something simple. Why did you jump out of your hotel room? That could kill, you know.”
He tried to hold on to the air but I simply ripped it from him.
“You burned down my house.”
“I wasn’t charged, tried, or arrested for anything.”
“I know it was you! You Callahans destroy everything.” His voice broke, and again, I rolled my eyes. “But you warned me and I should have . . . you warned me and so it’s my fault they died. That little girl, you sick mother! I told you about her! It was me. I-I—”
“Please don’t get emotional, that was only my first question.” I needed him alive right now.
“No games, what do you want from me? You have taken everything.” He coughed, leaning back on his bed.
“I want to know everything you have on the Valero.” He laughed liked a mad man, and when he did, I held the pillow to his face again. He struggled until he was too weak, and it was then that I let him go.
“Let’s do this again.” I held on to his face. “Tell me about Amory, Saige, and Vance or so help me God, I will make you wish you had died. I will make sure you are alive and well, trapped in your own fucking body like a jail cell. Each day, I will make sure someone personally gives me a patch of your skin until you are nothing but an open wound. What . . . do . . . you . . . know?”
He smiled. “They want you dead, your wife, your child, and every last Callahan. They tried bringing you down the legal way, but I’m a failure remember? They are just as ruthless as you are. Word on the street is that your wife’s personal doctor was tortured and then dismembered.”
“Word on the street? Did you hear that when your body collided with it?” I wanted to rip the smiled from his lips.
“Doesn’t change the fact that they are coming for you,” he said, and when he did, I pulled away, grabbed the morphine drip and replaced the liquid.
“This is adrenaline in small doses. It blocks out pain. In large doses, it does the opposite. You feel everything.” I tapped the bag. “You’re not going to ride to the afterlife in sweet painless bliss. You’re going to feel it all, and right as your heart gives out, think about how big of an idiot you were to step into my house. The very day this city was born, people like me have run Chicago. You thought you were the next somebody who did shit. But all you will be remembered as will be the motherfucker who failed at his marriage, failed at his job, and failed to even kill himself.”
Grabbing my newspaper, I walked back to the door.
“This isn’t over Callahan. It doesn’t just end with me. You won’t always be untouchable. You’re only human!” he yelled at me.
“All men are touchable, Andrew, those who touch me simply lose their hands. So let them come. I’m only just beginning. What I’ve done to you is not even the beginning.” A second later the adrenaline must have kicked in because he shook and screamed like a fish out of water . . . much to my ears’ enjoyment.
Stepping out into the hall, Declan, Neal, Monte, and Fedel all stood waiting for me. Declan walked over, handing me a phone as we walked out of the hospital.
“Hello, sweetheart.” I smirked.
“You no good motherfucking bitch!” she yelled at me.
“Sweetheart, we don’t want our kid coming out swearing like a sailor.” I laughed as Fedel opened the car door for me.
“The life-form who is fucking with my emotions, draining my energy, and stealing half of all my food is certainly in a sac of fluid and can’t hear a word I’m saying. You went to see the commissioner without me!” she screeched as I flipped through the files in front of me.
“Love, you were knocked out cold this morning . . .”
“Then use your motherfucking hands and wake me the fuck up. You benched me!” Little did she know, I tried to wake her up but she was no longer in the land of the living then.
“Love—”
“You left me here with your mother, who is now calling every motherfucking asshole with a drop of Irish in their veins to the house. I will kill someone, cut off their head and put it on the dashboard of your car if you do not fix this shit. I’m eleven and a half weeks and barely showing!” Her hormones were going to cost me my life . . . or a relative.
“Mel, sweetheart . . .”
“Call me ‘love’ or ‘sweetheart’ one more time, sweetheart, and I will bust your teeth in,” she said sweetly.
“I got nothing from him. Antonio and Eric told me they caught one of the Valero men, Cross, in Mexico. They should be in the house, and you can handle that when I get back.” There was silence on the line, which I prayed meant she was okay.
“I hate this,” she whispered into the phone. “I hate how I have no control of how I’m feeling. I feel like a ticking time bomb, Liam. It’s pissing me off.”
“I’m good at defusing bombs, lov—” I stopped. I could almost feel her rolling her eyes. “I get it. One step at a time, and I will try my best to help to not tick you off. Would you like a smoothie?”
“That ticks me off!” she snapped. “Since when could you bribe me with treats like a fucking child.”
I groaned, pinching the bridge of my nose. “So no smoothie, then?”
“Mango, banana, orange and extra kiwi,” she replied before hanging up, and I fought back a laugh.
“Take me to Smoothie Hut,” I told the driver up front. Neither he nor Fedel said a word. But what could they really say? I had a pregnant and dangerous wife waiting for me back home.
MELODY
Taking a deep breath, I rolled into a ball on my bed.
“How are you feeling?” Evelyn said, literally sounding like a bird from a Disney movie, before taking a seat beside me.
I’m tired, hungry, or annoyed every ten minutes. I spent the first weeks puking in Adriana’s bathroom just to hide it from Liam, and now you’re treating me like I’m an infant.
“I’m fine, Evelyn,” I said coldly, sitting up.
“Cut the bullshit, Mel. I’m serious, I get that you want to remain ‘Boss,’ but you’re also about to be a mother. That supersedes anything else. So drop the act and speak to me as if I were Liam.” If I spoke to her like I spoke to Liam, I would lose it.
“I shouldn’t be pregnant, Evelyn. I did everything but take my uterus out not to become pregnant. Yet here I am. This kid is taking all my energy, and I’m tired all the damn time,” I said, leaning against the pillows.
Damn him and his Irish swimmers.
“You’re still in your first trimester. Fatigue is normal. Give it three more weeks, and it will fade.” She smiled, taking my hand into hers. “Mel, you don’t understand how happy this makes me. How happy this has made our whole family. I’m going to be a grandmamma.”
“Yeah,” I said with no emotion, because I wasn’t excited.
“You don’t want a child?” I could tell she was trying not to judge me, but I could see the worry in her eyes.
“I kill people, Evelyn. It’s part of the job, and have no regrets about it because I’m good. I’m one of the best there ever was. History will put me right up there with Al Capone and Charles “Lucky” Luciano. I’ll be the second woman on that list next to Xie Caiping. That was my baby. That’s the kid I’ve been taking care of for the last seven and a half years. I don’t know how to take care of that child, while taking care of this one.”
There, I said it. I took a deep breath as Evelyn processed.
“You do know the reason for family right?” She smiled. “You are good at delegating everything but your power.”
“That’s because power shouldn’t be delegated.” It’s what made me stronger. Why share that? I was already splitting half of it with Liam.
“Maybe not. Maybe you could do it all by yourself. The only downside would be losing your mind, Liam’s heart, or your child.” I don’t know why my hand went to my stomach but the smirk on her face annoyed me. I had Saige and Amory already aiming for its life.
“I don’t have to tell you to be yourself. But do use us if needed. Liam realizes he needs you, and I doubt he would side-step you. Do less, but when you do something, make it lasting. Leave a mark. Your men and the rest of the world will see you as you are—Bloody Melody.” She winked at me as Liam walked in. He looked confused and slightly worried. I guess he thought if I was talking to his mother, something had to be wrong.
“I will leave you and the Mad Hatter alone, for now.” She gave me a small hug, which I didn’t return. I was not a hugger, but I patted her on the back.
“Darling.” Evelyn hugged him and smirked at the smoothie in his hands. “That’s a small cup.”
“What?” Liam replied, looking at it. Evelyn winked at me before leaving, even though I had no idea what it meant.
“Are you all right?” he asked, handing me the smoothie.
I rolled my eyes, slurping down the drink. “I can’t have alcohol. How would you feel? And this is a small cup.”
“Touché.” He laughed, falling next me. He had this annoying new habit of rubbing my stomach as if it were a fucking crystal ball. It seemed to make him happy, so I didn’t say a word. Someone should be excited for this kid.
“What did the commissioner have to say?” I asked, shaking my drink—stupid fruit kept getting stuck at the bottom.
“We ruined his life, we killed his men, we are evil . . . same old, same old.” He sighed. “I didn’t get anything new out of him.”
“Please tell me you ended him then. I’m done with the Chicago PD.” If not, I can always go back to the hospital myself.
“It’s done. He died painfully and slowly. Monte stayed behind to make sure.” He kissed my stomach before looking to me.
“This Cross person, how far up the chain is he?” The closer the guy was to the boss, the harder it was to make him talk.
“Personal guard to Vance’s favorite mistress, Hera.” He smirked, taking a sip of my smoothie. I glared but said nothing about it. He handed me his tablet and I flipped through some of the files.
“Have Declan look for this Hera. She has to have a money trail.” Being his favorite meant she was paid off well enough to keep her happy.
“I already have,” he told me, and I almost wanted to pout, stupid hormones. I was not a pouter.
“Why don’t you just get me caught up since you’re the reason why I’m behind,” I snapped at him. He was so cocky, and I was torn between jumping him and beating his face in.
“I killed Patterson. Antonio and Eric have Cross in the basement. Hera hasn’t left Vance’s side from what Declan could tell, and I wasn’t able to get the extra kiwi—”
“What the fuck do you mean you couldn’t get extra kiwi!” I yelled, opening the lid to my drink. “You can fucking destroy Chicago, make it rain blood, but you can’t get a fruit in my drink?”
“I was just joking.” He laughed at me, and I punched him right in his fucking nose.
“Fuck, Jesus Christ, Mel!”
“Jesus Christ wouldn’t mess with a pregnant woman, you idiot.”
He shook his head wiping off his nose. “One of these motherfucking days—”
“Careful, Liam, you don’t want your child to hear you threatening his mother.”
He glared at me before smirking. He always smirked, or smiled, or laughed when I mentioned I was carrying his kid. It was like he was on drugs. Leaving him on the bed, I walked into the closet and grabbed my white heels along with a new dress shirt.
“Your breasts are bigger,” Liam said from behind me. I could feel the lust rolling off him in waves.
“I know, it’s how I figured out I was pregnant to begin with.” All my bras were custom made for me and me alone. When they no longer fit correctly, I knew. I had been the same size since I was sixteen.
“I should have noticed,” he whispered, closing the distance between us.
“Liam, don’t. We have to go.” I wanted him, but I also wanted to get back to my job and his dick was the reason why I was in this situation.
His eyes were glazed over when he ripped open the shirt I just buttoned. He stared at my breasts for a moment before pulling me into his chest. With one hand, he lifted me up, holding my ass.
“He’s a prisoner, he isn’t going anywhere.”
Grabbing his hair, I bit his lip. “Cork your cock. Put me down, and you will live to have sex another day. I have a job to do.”
Forcing myself out of his arms, I picked a random shirt and walked out. But not before hearing him curse and it was my turn to smirk. Pregnant or not, I ran shit.
LIAM
She left me so hard I had to take a quick shower so I wouldn’t have to face our men with a hard-on. When I walked down the stairs to the basement, I was met with a crowd of our men waiting for something. In the interrogation room sat one of Valero’s men chained to his chair. However, my wife was nowhere to be found. It took me a total of eleven minutes to take a shower and dressed. She should have been here already.
He didn’t even need for me to ask, he nodded to second door in the room, where Eric stood in front of and he opened it upon my gaze. Stepping inside, I found my Mel sitting in front of a severed hand with a rod through its middle finger. Fedel and Neal stood beside her as she just stared at it.
“It’s Dr. Anderson’s hand,” she told me without looking away. “They left another note.”
Fedel handed me the letter.
We planned to send his whole body, however, we got a little carried away. All we could save was his hand. But that’s all a doctor needs right? So sad he won’t help you like he helped your mother when she was pregnant . . . you’re going to need all the help you can get.
XOXO
A&S
“When did this arrive?” I hissed to Fedel and Neal.
“The men at the gate checked it a few minutes before you got here,” Neal said.
Pinching the bridge of my nose, I took a deep breath. “Leave us.”
“Don’t,” she snapped at them, and they froze. “We’re done here. I’ve gotten all that I needed.”
She said nothing more before rising from her chair calmly. She was so calm it was eerie. The moment we stepped out, Declan handed her another smoothie.
“From mother,” he said quickly. She glared at him, taking it from his hand before walking into the interrogation room.
When Fedel walked in, he placed a chair out for her. My mind went straight to the first time I ever laid eyes on her. She had changed so much since then and yet was alike in so many ways. We both had changed.
“So this is the Italian bitch who managed to piss off not only Vance, but also Amory and Saige,” Cross said, and I felt my hand twitch. I wanted to rip his motherfucking tongue out.
To make it worse, Mel did nothing. She didn’t even speak. She just sucked on that damn straw.
“What? Do you plan to strike me down with your eyes? Where is that big bad bitch who set fire to the bosses’ wedding? Or are you just an Irish bitch now? Did Callahan fuck all the fight out you?” he asked her, and my eyes were clouding over. I was going to rip his throat out of his neck.
“Speak, you bitch!” he yelled, fighting against the chains. “You think I will just talk? You think I’m afraid of you? I fucking ran all the prisoners for the Valero. I was the one who cut off your motherfucking doctor’s hands. He begged and begged for mercy. He didn’t talk until I started cutting. So call the motherfucker really in charge, bitch, so we can get this over with. I’m no rat.”
Before I knew it, I already had my gun in my hands. Had she not spoken, I would have gone in there my fucking self.
“Monte,” was all she said, and he came out of the fucking shadows of the room like he was a damn ninja with a sword in his hands.
“What the fuck?” Declan, Neal, and I all said at the same time.
Placing her cup on the ground, Mel stood up as calm as I had ever seen her.
“My father taught me a lot of things growing up,” she began as she circled him. “He had this weird thing for swords . . . iron swords, though. He told me I should get martial arts training and shipped me off to Japan, because they knew their swords. I thought I would come back a motherfucking ninja, but I got my ass kicked.”
“Is there a point to this trip down memory lane sweethea—”
Before he could finish, Mel’s sword came down, slicing through his wrist.
“Holy Shit,” Declan, Neal, and I said together once again as we stared at the hand on the ground.
They spoke out in shock while I was kind of turned on. My wife was fucking bold, beautiful, and deadly. She never failed to amaze me.
Cross screamed loudly, even though Fedel stuffed something in his mouth.
“The point is, I have a sword, motherfucker.” She grinned, only an inch from his face as he huffed and puffed, trying to fight the pain.
“You’re going to answer my questions or you lose limbs. That”—she pointed to his bloody hand—“was for your comments before. I’m so in charge I could be the fucking Energizer bunny.”
He muffled something that sound liked fuck you, and Mel’s grin widened.
“Do you know why we call people rats?” she asked him as Antonio walked in with a cage full of the beady-eyed creatures.
Mel, with no reservation, grabbed one of them.
Note to self—ask doctor about shots for her and the baby.
“Because they are self-preservation creatures. They have no honor, no loyalty. It’s all about doing what they can to save themselves. In fact”—she smirked throwing the rat into a small jar—“they will eat anything if it means their survival.”
“She wouldn’t,” Neal whispered.
“I’m done doubting Melody. It’s unhealthy to be proven wrong so many times,” Declan whispered back.
Cross struggled as Antonio fit the jar and the rat on the end of his decapitated wrist. But she wasn’t done. Despite her calm appearance, she was seething. Pulling out a lighter, she held it to the jar, and the rat ran toward his wrist to get away from the flame. Cross screamed against the sock.
“So many limbs, so many rats. You called me a bitch . . . twice, insulted not only my intelligence, but also my abilities, and then killed my doctor. How ticked do you think I am?” she asked him.
“First question and I’ll make it easy. What is the Valero’s next move?” He only screamed in pain.
“Take your time. I can wait for you to stop screaming,” she added, drinking her damn smoothie.
MELODY
“He’s unconscious,” Fedel informed me, putting his hand to Cross’s neck. I was surprised he was still alive, he lasted two hours.
Sighing, I stood up and rolled my neck. “Make sure he doesn’t die.”
Cross had only given bits and pieces of information, most of which didn’t make any sense. It had to be the blood loss. However, I would get an answer, and I would put an end to them all.
“It’s you who should be worried about dying.” Cross spoke out in a daze. His eyes were barely open, and he was so pale he could have been mistaken for a corpse.
“I still have my hands and foot.” Who the fuck did this idiot think he was?
He smiled and laughed like a mad man. Fedel punched the side of his face, but Cross only laughed harder. Then the house shook so violently I had to hold on to Antonio for a moment. It took me only a second later to realize what caused it.
Liam busted in. “The east wing was just bombed, we need to move.”
“See you all in hell motherfuckers. Tell the Boss I said hello.” Cross laughed and passed out.
There was another explosion and the look in Liam’s eyes as he pulled out not only one but two guns was the deadliest I had ever seen.
We were under attack.