Ruthless People (33 page)

“Yes, and what do we do with liars?” I asked my hands on her hips. She smiled as well,
reaching into my tuxedo jacket to pull out my phone.

“Monte, two officers should be leaving the premises. Please make sure to escort them
back to the station. You and I both know how tricky those high bridges can be.” I
watched her mouth as she spoke, and I wanted nothing more than to kiss the breath
from her lips.

She noticed once she hung up and placed her finger on them.

“Candy store is still closed.” She glared. “After all, you want to see Vance’s face
instead.”

“Lov—” She didn’t even allow me to finish speaking before she walked away.
Damn it all to hell. Vance better fucking cry and piss in his fucking pants.

MELODY

“Shoot me, please.” I groaned as I watched Amory and Saige kiss. It was like they
were trying to suck the skin off each other’s faces.

“Not before you shoot me,” Liam whispered back. His eyebrows wouldn’t stop twitching,
and had it only been us, I would have laughed over it. However, it wasn’t just us.
We were surrounded by at least three hundred of Vance’s closest “family and friends.”
The wedding was so boring that Liam and I spent most of our time texting Declan and
Neal for updates.

But it was game time now. Taking our seat at table five, with the rest of the Callahans,
we waited for the text message signaling it was done. However, the true fireworks
didn’t start until Vance got the call. I was tempted to tell them myself. However,
Vance still thought I was some little lamb unaware of the world around me. He was
a fucking idiot. From Saige’s letters, he must have known I was the child who was
spared on the plane. However, he still didn’t see me as a threat.

“Black, Red, and White just doesn’t seem right for this time of year.” Coraline frowned
as she looked around the wedding hall.

“Yes,” I replied, looking Olivia up and down. “Adding red to the color scheme was
a bad choice.”

Olivia’s blue eyes narrowed on me. “So is wearing white to another woman’s wedding.”

“There are very few people I consider to be ‘women.’ Saige is a snake,” I said drinking
water. “Don’t ask what I consider you to be.”

Evelyn sighed while Liam snickered. Sedric was too busy checking his watch. He was
dying to see what was going to happen as well.

“There is no hope for you two is there?” Evelyn asked Olivia and me.

“Not if she keeps harming my husband and then forcing him on assignments when he should
be by my side,” Olivia said.

“Olivia, snap at me again and you won’t have a husband. In fact, I would just as soon
kill you and move on. You’re not worth anything anyway, so do us all a favor and sit
in the corner like a good little trophy.” I rolled my eyes at her as Liam’s phone
went off.

Tilting it to me, I watched as a very expensive looking house, along with one too
many cars went up in flames. The cameras caught every angle of the house, including
two women banging on the door trying to free themselves.

“And they are?”

“Apparently Vance and Amory shared two special friends.” Liam snickered, and I could
see the reflection of fire in his green eyes.

“That’s disgusting. Saige should be thanking me.” The thought made me want to puke
in my mouth.

“She’s calling someone,” Sedric said. Liam and I looked over at him and tried not
to laugh. He had switched seats with Evelyn just to see the fucking phone. Evelyn
looked to me and winked, drinking her wine.

“I think I know who,” Coraline said, causing us all to follow her gaze to Vance who
was in the middle of giving his son a speech. He glanced at his phone for a moment
before going on.

“. . . it is for this reason I would like to welcome my daughter Saige Valero to the
family. May she and my son make us all proud.”

Everyone but us applauded loudly. When Vance gave the microphone to Jane, I believe
her name was, Saige’s maid of honor, he went to answer his phone. Sadly, it was too
late, because Liam and I could see that the woman had passed out, probably due to
the smoke. Putting his phone away, Liam took my hand and kissed it as we watched Vance
listen to his messages. His back was turned to us but the moment he hung up after
placing another call, he turned to us, his eyes were wide and deadly. All the “emotion”
he had during the wedding was gone, and all that was left was this monster. It looked
like he’d squeezed the phone so hard the screen cracked. Liam smirked and gave him
a short nod as if they were friends.

“Do you think he is angry?”

“One can only hope, love.”

“Entertaining indeed.” Sedric smirked, leaning back into his chair.

“That was only the first course father.” Liam grinned, and I couldn’t wait for dessert.

LIAM

I didn’t make a habit of smoking. However, this damn wedding had gone on for far too
long. Amory was now fully aware, which had to mean his new wife was as well. The tension
between us, as we pretended to be nothing more than guests, was boiling under the
surface. Even the way Saige cut her steak, which was so rare it looked like it was
dripping blood, seem to antagonize us. She glared at Mel with so much hatred even
Olivia had to look away. My Mel smiled at her as if she hadn’t noticed. I knew she
had though. The clicking noise under the table as she loaded her gun with one hand
was proof enough.

So I took a small smoking break inside the bathroom stall like I was still in high
school. Neal and Declan had been my role models until the point my mother found them
and beat their asses so badly that they couldn’t sit. That was the last time either
of them smoked. I, on the other hand, had never been caught.

Maybe Mel could beat it out of me?

“Did you see Callahan’s bitch?” a voice called out from the other side of the stall.

“The Italian wench in white?” another replied, and I felt myself freeze.

“What I wouldn’t give to fuck the shit out of her tight pussy. I would ride the fuck
out of her until she broke down like a good little cunt whore. Then—” He didn’t get
to finish for the simple fact that I stepped out of the stall and put a bullet in
the back of his friend’s head.

The body fell onto the urinal he was pissing in. The man beside him—how dare he call
my wife a whore, cunt, and bitch—stood with his pants down in shock. I knew him. He
was Amory’s best man, Alex.

He turned to me, opening his mouth to speak, but I took the liberty of grabbing him
by his hair and smashing his head against the marble above the urinal.

“That Italian wench is my fucking wife!” I yelled, using his head as a hammer against
the wall.

“You don’t talk of her as you piss.”
Slam.

“You don’t talk of her, period. You don’t call her anything but fucking Mrs. Callahan.”
Slam.

“And you sure as fuck don’t talk of her with your fucking hand on your dick.”
Slam.
Slam. Slam.

Releasing his head, which was covered in blood and brain matter, I watched as his
body fell to the ground. He most likely died after the first two hits into the wall,
but all I could fucking see was red. I wanted his head to come off his fucking shoulders.
Sighing, I turned to the mirror to find my suit covered in blood.

With a groan, I reached into my jacket and pulled out my phone. “Eric, I need a new
suit as fast as possible,” I told him as I washed the blood from my hands. Looking
down, I noticed the blood spreading across the marble floor and onto my fucking shoes.

“Damn it. Get me new shoes as well.”

Hanging up, I dried my hands and stared at the bodies around me, just as another fool
stepped in. He froze, looking first at the blood and then to me.

“Anger issues,” I said to him reaching for my gun. “Step into my office.”

He tried to turn and run but I shot him right in the spine, and his legs gave out.

“Guess you won’t be stepping anywhere, huh?” I asked him before blowing a hole through
his face. Again, the blood splattered onto my hands, and I couldn’t help but groan
once more.

“See what you made me do?” I asked the dead man before locking the door and rewashing
my hands.

The worst things happened when you smoked. But thank God for silencers,
I thought to myself.

MELODY

When Liam sat back down, he kissed my cheek. I looked him over quickly and something
didn’t seem right.

“Did you change?” It looked like the same suit but only fresher, like he hadn’t been
wearing it all day.

“Why would I do that?” he asked me, but there was a glint in his eye.

“Don’t play coy with me.”

He smirked, kissing me once more and whispering, “Later, love.”

“So what’s next on the menu?” Sedric asked as he wiped the corners of his mouth.

Evelyn smacked on his chest. “Will you stop? You’re like a child at Disneyland.”

“Bloody Wonderland, actually.” Liam smirked. I wasn’t sure what that meant but Sedric
did, and I guess that was all that mattered.

“Liam and I have to say hello before any more excitement occurs.” I smiled as Liam
and I stood.

Saige and Amory must have had the same idea because they were walking right to us.

We met them in the middle of the dining hall.

“Mr. and Mrs. Valero, congratulations. You and this wedding were beautiful.” I smiled
reaching out for Saige’s hand.

“Thank you, Mrs. Callahan.” Saige smiled back, shaking my hand. “And kudos to you
for wearing white and not caring what people think of you.”

“My family’s opinion is all that matters to me.” Which was bullshit because only my
opinion, and sometimes Liam’s, mattered to me.

“Yes, our apologies about your father then.” Amory bit his lip at me with lust in
his eyes. He reached over to shake my hand, but Liam grabbed his wrist and forced
him to shake his.

“I’m quite possessive,” he told him. “I’m sorry about your best man.”

I looked to him confused for a quick moment before Amory and Saige scanned the room
quickly.

“What did you—?”

“Thank you so much for the lovely evening. However, Liam and I aren’t fireproof,”
I interrupted and Saige turned to me, confused once more.

“What?”

“Fire!” someone yelled behind us, and sure enough, flames were breaking out above
us.

“What a shame, you should try to save your gifts. The big one is usually a blender.”
Liam grinned.

The room broke out in panic. The people looked like animals trying to leave a watering
hole. They tripped, pushed, and pulled at one another to make it out the doors.

“You want war! I will fucking give your war!” Amory roared at us.

“It’s always been war. Don’t cry because you’re losing.” Liam grinned.

“I’m going to fucking kill you!” Saige yelled at us.

“We’re looking forward to seeing you try.” I smiled. “By the way I lied, your dress
is hideous and this wedding . . . well it sucked so badly even a blind man couldn’t
stand to look at it.”

“You little bitc—”

“Ma’am we have to go!” A guard of theirs yelled as she pulled them away. Liam and
I stared around as the fire spread.

“Have you both lost your minds?” Olivia screamed over the chaos of the room. So many
people, so few doors.

“Liam!” Evelyn and Coraline yelled while Sedric watched in glory. He knew we wouldn’t
be stupid enough to trap ourselves.

“Enough,” Liam snapped at them, and I saw the flames in his eyes again. It turned
me on. I couldn’t deny that.

Taking my hand, we nodded at them to follow us. Everyone was so busy trying to run
to the front door that they didn’t even notice us. Liam pushed opened a small part
of the wall we’d had installed after discovering the wedding location.

The moment it opened, Declan and Neal stepped through. Coraline and Olivia both ran
into their husband’s arms, and I felt tempted to roll my eyes. We had called them
back just in time to pull this off correctly.

“Save it, let’s go.”

The men being . . . Callahan men . . . made sure we
girls
went through the new tunnel first, however I waited at the door for Liam. He was
the last to exit, and as we closed the door, we met the eyes of Vance as his men tried
to pull him away. I smiled at him before giving him the middle finger just as Liam
shut it completely. Turning back to me, he grinned.

“So mature.”

“You’re jealous you didn’t do it.” I smirked as we walked through the underground
tunnel.

“Next time. I really hope he doesn’t die.” He pouted looking back as we reached the
lake. There was a boat waiting for us.

“No, he isn’t going to die. He’s too big of an ass to die so easily.” I smirked as
he helped me onto the boat.

“I swear you’re both pyromaniacs.” Declan laughed as he handed us a glass of champagne.

Looking back over at the mansion behind us, I couldn’t help but agree.