Ruthless People (30 page)

“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.