A Bloody Kingdom (Ruthless People Book 4) (23 page)

“L…iam…” I finally managed to get out, ignoring the pain in my throat.

“Yeah—”

“Ge…ge…t…him…a…way.”

He laughed again, kissing my forehead.

“Bear with him, okay? He’s fought to bring you back from the brink of hell more than once in the last twenty-four hours.”

Is that why I feel like shit?

Closing my eyes, I tried to remember what happened…

BANG!

“Melody! Melody!”

“Shot…”
I was shot. I was fucking shot!

“Can you feel this?”

He asked rubbing something cool under my feet; I jerked away. “Yes.”

“That’s good. There seems to be no initial long- or short-term brain damage.”
Dr. Hotdog—Fortmen,
he saved my life, I should, at least, call him by his name.
“However, she’s going to be here for another two weeks and will need at least three more months of monitoring once she goes home, just to make sure there aren’t any complications with the transplant.”

My eyes widened, and beside me, the machine connected to my heart rate spiked as well. Liam squeezed my hand. “Mel relax, breathe, you’re okay…wife, you’re okay.”

“Trans…transplant?” I winced and I didn’t know what from: the pain in my chest, the pain in my throat, or the raging headache now forming.

“I’ll give you two some time,” the doctor said, and for the first time, I noticed the team of doctors behind him clearing out one by one until it was only Liam and me. He sat on the edge of the bed, his hand on mine, the corners of his lips turned up in a small smirk—but it didn’t make it to his eyes. His tie—the green tie I’d gotten him because it brought out his eyes—hung loosely off his neck. The collar of his shirt was rumpled, the sleeves rolled up to his wrists. He looked like someone had run him over and he had barely made it out alive.

“Liam?” I squeezed his hand.

“I almost lost you,” he whispered, biting the corner of his lip. Dropping his head, he just brought my hand up to his lips and kissed it not once or twice, but three times. “I thought I lost you, Mel. I couldn’t feel you. You were hurt badly and we had to find you a new heart. Thankfully Cora came through, but until then you just lay there. You stopped breathing twice and both times I was ready to join you. I died, too… Damn it, Mel. Every time I let you out of my sight, I swear it’s like you try to leave me.”

When he finally looked me in the eye, all I saw was pain and tears he wouldn’t let fall. Instead, the tears fell out of my eyes.

“I came back.” I smiled, and I was far too tired to do anything else but squeeze his hand back. “I always come back to you, don’t I?”

He smiled too, shaking his head. “Yeah…you always come back. I just prefer you not leaving to begin with.”

“Duly noted.” I nodded, relaxing into the pillows. “Who did this?”

“Our newly inducted mayor, Emilio Esteban Cortés, and his wife Liling Tàiyáng.” He sneered.

“Fucking cunts.” I hissed through my teeth, the heart rate machine beside me going off again. Two more doctors ran in.

“You need to take it easy, Mrs. Callahan. You can’t put any unnecessary stress on yourself,” a woman said as she checked the machines and looked me over once again.

Unnecessary stress?
Being stressed about some fucktard and his bitch of a wife nearly killing me and ruining everything our family has built in this city seems pretty fucking necessary to me.

“Wife,” Liam sternly whispered beside me, drawing my attention from her back to him. He placed his forehead on mine so I could look nowhere but his eyes. “There is no expiration date on vengeance. It doesn’t just last a lifetime, it spans generations. So let us rest tonight; it is not us who will die tomorrow.”

Slowly a smile spread across my lips. “Shakespeare’s got nothin’ on you.”

He said something but I didn’t hear it. I was far too tired to keep my eyes open anymore and falling back asleep was the one single thought that ran through my mind.

When I get out of this bed I’m coming for every fucking one who thought they could take me. I am Melody Nicci Giovanni Callahan. I won’t die so easily, you stupid motherfuckers.

LIAM

I waited an hour after she fell asleep before finally leaving her side. For the first time in twenty-four hours, I was finally able to think straight, think beyond her and what would or could or might happen. Glancing back at her, her chest rising and falling as she slept comfortably, I closed the door behind me and stepped out into the hall where Fedel and Declan stood in wait for me.

“Is he here?” I asked, adjusting my jacket and tie. I rolled my shoulders to crack my back and groaned, aching far more than I’d expected. I was going to need them to put better chairs in her room; Jesus, it was like resting on bricks.

“Liam, I don’t know what is going on here, but this could be a trap,” Declan said, his whole body tense. “When he cornered me, he swore that he and his family had been set up. Next thing we know his son-in-law is the fucking mayor.”

“Is he here?” I asked again, focusing on Fedel.

“He just arrived and is now waiting for you in the cafeteria,” he answered, stepping aside.

“Perfect. I’m in the mood for Jell-O.” I only made it a few steps before realizing Declan was following me. “You stay—”

“Liam, you can’t go alone.”

“Why?”

He stared at me as if he wasn’t sure what the hell was wrong with me, and I wondered what the hell could make him so fearful to begin with.

“Liam—”

Standing right beside him, I spoke low, only for him to hear. “Declan, I’m not an idiot. I also don’t know what is going on right now. All I do know is my wife, the most important person to me, is resting behind that door, and the only person I completely and fully trust to protect her when I cannot is you. So as I said, you will stay here at her door like Cerberus, the guard dog of hell, am I clear?”

He cracked his jaw to the side but nodded.

“Brilliant. To the cafeteria, then.” I turned back around, Fedel shadowing me.

As we got onto the elevator, I thought about a dozen ways this ‘meeting’ could end, and each way all I saw was death. I didn’t care if he was being framed, I didn’t care if this was some misunderstanding. I knew two things: his daughter shot my wife, and his son-in-law was now the mayor of my city. They had gone against my rules. They had broken our unspoken treaty and they would die.

Ding.
“Cafeteria floor,” the automatic voice stated as the doors opened. Fedel tensed and I knew he already had his hand on the trigger.

A shootout in a hospital? I doubt it.

“He’s not breathing! I need an AED!”

“You’ve got to be fucking kidding me,” I muttered to myself, watching as doctors rushed to the care of none other than Ju-long. He lay on the ground, his cane and hat tossed to the side, the tea he had been drinking pouring off the top of the square table onto the floor beside his head. One doctor was above him, pumping his chest, and another held a pump to his mouth.

He’s gone.
It was a simple statement and yet the ramifications of his death were endless. I was more than positive a man like Ju-long Tàiyáng didn’t just keel over and die the moment he was supposed to have a meeting with me, which meant two things.

First, he had told Declan the truth and in no way had anything to do with the attacks on my family.

Second, this was probably one of the smoothest coup d'états I had ever witnessed. His daughter and her husband had not only managed to get a foothold in Chicago overnight but also get rid of the head of the Chinese triad, making it look it was something I did out of retaliation.

“Time of death, 10:14 AM.” They finally said what had been clear from the start.

Well played, you fuckers. Well played.

SEVENTEEN

“To the ancient Greeks the word dikaiosini, justice, was often synonymous with ekdikisis, vengeance.”

~ Sidney Sheldon

MELODY

Today, Mayor Cortés, the city’s first mayor of Hispanic descent, announced that the manhunt for Luke Charlton, the shooter behind the murder of nine children at Pennington Academy and four more young lives at Lincoln Elementary just two weeks ago has come to an end. Charlton, who died via suicide, confessed to the murders to a family friend, who tipped off police. The Chicago PD have confiscated his rifles along with bullets they say all match the scenes of the crimes. However, the chief detective on the case says the investigation on what led up to these tragic days may take weeks. At this time, Charlton has not been linked to or ruled out of the attempted assassination of Governor Callahan, whom doctors say is recovering well and is due to go home today. This—

“Hey!” I snapped at Liam when he turned the television off and moved to make himself comfortable in the tiniest spot on the bed beside me. Resting his hand over his eyes, he yawned. “It’s all lies, forget it and rest.”

“I’ve been resting for almost two weeks now, Liam—”

“Rest more.”

I wanted to push him off the bed so damn badly, but instead I just lay back next to him. “Liam if I stay in this goddamn hospital for one more day I’m going to lose my mind. Every second I’m in here is a second they are fucking with our city!”

He didn’t open his eyes, just took a deep breath and said, “Breathe in through the nose and out through the mouth and you—ouch! Fuck, Mel.”

He cried out when he rolled off the bed. He didn’t fall, but he did sit up and glare down at me. Taking his advice, I took a deep annoying breath through my nose and out through my mouth.

“Happy? Now spring me from this joint.”

He snorted before laughing, a grin plastered all over his face as he got up and kissed my forehead. “Are we going to drive off into the sunset like Bonnie and Clyde?”

“Bonnie and Clyde lost. We’re going to ride off like Melody and Liam—”

“Liam and Melody.”

“GO!”

Again he laughed at me but moved to the door as I reached for my phone. It rang once before Cora answered. Her hair was pulled up into a ponytail, and for the first time since she’d joined the family, she was wearing sweatpants in front of me.

“You look like shit,” she ironically said to me.

“I was shot; what’s your excuse?”

“I’m taking care of seven children.”
Touché
. “Three of which ask me every hour on the hour when their mom is coming back home.”

That I couldn’t help but smile at that. “Where are they?”

“Musketeers!” she yelled out while pacing.

“What are you calling my children?”

She looked back into the phone. “Don’t look at me like that; it was your daughter who came up with it. Ethan and Wyatt don’t like it but don’t want to get on her bad side.”

’
Atta girl.
Dona, no matter what, always had everyone wrapped around her fingers; it was a talent, really.

“Aunty Cora, stop calling us that,” I heard Wyatt say grumpily.

“Wyatt?” I called out.

“Mom!”

The phone twisted upside down and then back around as he held it right up to his face. “Mom! When are you coming back?”

“Today sweetheart and no one is stopping me, I promise.” Neither Liam nor I wanted them to leave the safe house until we could be with them, so over the last week, the best I could do was video call them. It was fine at first—I was too tired to actually move anyway—but now I missed them and the longer I was away, the less comfortable I felt.

“Wyatt, is that Mom?” Ethan’s voice came from the background.

“Yes—”

“Hi, Mommy.” Dona had somehow managed to grab the phone and was waving it at me. “Are you better now?”

“Yes, I’m all better. How are you?”

She frowned. “Aunty Cora keeps making me swim and run! Even though Uncle Declan said I didn’t have to. I’m so tired and Ethan and Wyatt keep fighting. Uncle Neal eats all my favorite snacks! He put six Oreos in his mouth Mommy, SIX! What else? Oh…Nana and Aunty Mina make us do all this school work every day! I—”

“Dona! That’s enough, share!” Wyatt took the phone, then Ethan took the phone, and it looked like he went into another room and closed the door behind him.

“HEY!” both Dona and Wyatt yelled on the other side.

“Hi, Mommy.” He smiled, pretending not to hear them. His eyes looked so green.

“
Mio bel leoncino
, how are you?”

He shrugged. “I’m okay, are you okay? I…I saw the video.”

“The video?”

He nodded. “The one where you got shot. It was all over the internet. Everyone’s been trying to hide it from us, though. Dona and Wyatt didn’t see, I made sure.”

“Thank you. I’m glad they didn’t see it. I don’t want any of you to worry, I’m perfectly fine. I’ll be home today, too.”

He didn’t speak for what felt like forever.

“Ethan, what’s wrong?”

“Who did it?” he questioned angrily, and for a spilt-second, he looked exactly like Liam. Not funny, carefree, and nerdy Liam, but willing to kill anyone at any time Liam.

“Some very stupid people,” I answered.

“You and Dad are going to do something right? They aren’t going to hurt you again right?” I could tell he was hurt. These weren’t conversations to be had over the phone. I needed to be there and hold him and tell him to his face this would never happen again.

“Mel?”

I glanced up as Liam came back into the room, a frown on his face as he looked to me and then back over to the phone. He came over and took it from me but relaxed when he saw Ethan.

“Mini-me, what are you and your mother talking about?” he asked, sitting back beside me.

“None of your business. Now give it back—”

“Oooh, now I really want to know. Son,” he said with a stern face.

“Nothing. I was just asking when Mom’s coming back.” He lied, and even I was shocked by that. He never ever lied to Liam. Liam’s eyes looked to me for a quick second; he’d caught it too, but he didn’t press.

“Well we will be back for dinner, so make sure your Uncle Neal is nowhere near the kitchen, all right?”