Ruthless People (34 page)

“Where to sis?” Neal yelled from the steering wheel. Olivia hugged him as he moved
us further and further away from the home.

“The city,” Liam and I said together. Everyone broke off into their own private conversations
giving me time to turn to Liam.

“It’s later.”

He rolled his eyes. “There was a little hiccup in the bathroom. It got messy, I killed
two . . . three men and had to change. Nothing major.”

“You need to control your temper.” I leaned in to kiss him.

“One of these days I will . . . maybe.” He kissed me back.

Motherfucking day made.

TWENTY-FIVE

“My husband and I have never considered divorce.
Murder sometimes, but never divorce.”

~ Joyce Brothers

OLIVIA

“So you’re okay with what just happened?” I wasn’t even sure where to begin. Neal
didn’t respond but started to change out of his tuxedo.

“Neal!”

“What Olivia,
what
!” he yelled, throwing his tie onto the bed.

“Don’t you ‘what’ me! We just set a mansion on fire—”

“You didn’t do shit. Melody and Liam did,” he interrupted me as he walked into the
closet.

“Exactly, and it was wrong! How many people just died?” He was acting like he didn’t
care. But this had to have bothered him. I was so angry that I wanted to kill them
all.

He looked at me like I was insane. “It’s the job, Olivia. I don’t give a shit about
who died. I’m not paid to give a shit. This family is all I care about, and you know
that, so save me your bull about the innocent.”

Crossing my arms across my chest, I glared at him and bit my tongue to stop myself
from saying what it was I really wanted to say.

“They are reckless and callous, which isn’t a good combination! They have no idea
what they are doing! You sell drugs! You are not murderers! How old is Melody? Twenty-four,
twenty-five? She walks around like she owns the goddamn world!” I hated her the fucking
most.

“Because she does!” he snapped, stomping out of the closet and into my face.

“No, she doesn’t, and neither does Liam. He shouldn’t even be
Ceann na Conairte
! You should be. This is all fucked up! They treat you as if you’re a fucking dog.
They treat us all like we are their fucking pets. She shot you twice! And each time
you defend them! You are the oldest. You are the strongest. You should be
Ceann na Conairte
!” There, I fucking said it.

He shook his head at me and sighed before taking a seat on the bed. I fell to my knees
in front of him and kissed his hands.

“You have always allowed Liam to hold the past over you. Now his wife is doing the
same, and she isn’t even—”

“Enough, Olivia,” he replied so coldly I flinched. “Do you want to get a divorce?”

My jaw dropped open as I stared at him. “Neal you can’t . . . What? No, I don’t want
a fucking divorce.”

I got to my feet as he stared at me. He stood up, walking to my closet and started
to pull out my things.

“Neal, what in seven hells are you doing? I don’t want a divorce!” I yelled again
trying to stop him.

“That’s the only way I know how to protect you. We could get divorced, you would have
to get a new identity, and I would leave you enough money that you wouldn’t have to
worry. Once Melody and Liam found out they would most likely have you killed. You
speak French right? France could be good for you, the shopping, the—”

“Shut up you asshole! We have vows. I’m not divorcing you. I would rather have them
kill me.” His words stung, and I tried to fight the tears that were building up in
my eyes as he pulled me in and kissed me hard, but it was only when he broke away
from my lips did he finally truly look at me.

He kissed my forehead and I stayed in his embrace. I loved his arms. I felt protected,
and loved, and special.

“I love you, Olivia, I truly do,” he whispered. “But I love my family more. If it
came down to Melody and Liam and this family, I have to choose them. It’s in my blood
to choose them. I want you at my side, but you need to understand that we are family
and we are pawns. Melody and Liam rule, which means when they call, you answer. They
tell you to jump and you try to reach the sky.”

“Neal—”

He pulled back so I could stare into his eyes “No. Listen to me Olivia. Just because
I am firstborn does not give me any right to be
Ceann na Conairte
. I don’t want to be
Ceann na Conairte
. Melody and Liam were born on the dark side of the moon. They enjoy this life. They
watch people burn in their beds. When they aren’t doing that, they are making sure
needles stay in people’s arms and coke in their noses. That is all they do all the
time. It’s what you do when you’re the
Ceann na Conairte
. I watched our father go half-mad because of what he was forced to do. I’ve watched
my mother dip herself in cement just so she could stand beside him and not break.
She wasn’t always so tough. This life changes us. It forces us to become cold-blooded
and not to care for anyone but the family. I handle being a sidekick, because I don’t
want to walk so deeply in the dark. I do not want
us
to walk so deeply in the dark.”

“So what am I supposed to do?” I hissed, breaking out of his hands. “Bow down to them
as though they are King and Queen.”

He looked at the clothes on the ground and then at me. “You have three options—bow,
hide, or die, Olivia. So yes, you will bow down and kiss the ring like we all do.
You will jump when they ask, come when they call, and anything else. Or, you can be
packed by the time I get back.”

He walked past me and toward the door before turning again. “I knew when you married
me that you loved the idea of power just as much as you did me. I knew you wanted
all the things that came with being a Callahan. I’ve tried to give it all to you,
but you need to understand Olivia, you are not the queen, you are the princess. You
will always be the princess. You may wear a tiara, but it will never be as big or
as shiny as Melody’s. Hopefully you love me enough to be just Princess.”

“Neal—” He slammed the door.

“I do love you,” I whispered to myself. Falling to my knees, I gathered my things
and put them back into the closet.

Tracing my tattoo on my wrist, I sighed. He was right. I did love the idea of power
when we got married. I was so excited to be marrying a Callahan, and Neal Callahan
at that. I thought all my pain would go away. But in the back of my mind, I could
still hear his voice sometimes. He was like this never-ending part of me that wouldn’t
go away. No matter how many times I tried to wash him off me, he was still there.
I married Neal for a lot of reasons. First because I really did love him, and second,
because I knew he wouldn’t dare come after me as a Callahan. I thought I could have
it all—the fame, the husband, and the protection. Neal thought it was his fault we
couldn’t have children, but the truth was it was mine. It was because of what that
monster and his friends did to me. They broke me.

Even after all this time, I still couldn’t speak about it. I felt disgusted with myself,
and at first I thought Neal would be, too. I knew better now. I knew he loved me,
which is why I knew he would hunt him down. I just didn’t know if I was ready to face
that darkness yet. Melody had taken the seat I wanted, but I had Neal. I still hated
her, but I had Neal and I wasn’t ready to lose him yet either. So I would bow and
kiss the fucking ring.

TWENTY-SIX

“Truth will come to sight;
murder cannot be hid long.”

~ William Shakespeare

MELODY

“I hate you,” I hissed again as I ate my French toast.

Liam rolled his eyes, flipping the files in front of him. “We’re in public, sweetheart.”

“They can all fuck themselves with these dull knives for all I bloody care.” I looked
around his favorite restaurant to find at least ten pairs of eyes staring at us as
if we were some kind of movie stars. Well, we
were
some kind of stars, but it was still annoying as fuck.

“Careful, they may stop seeing you as America’s darling.” He smirked, drinking his
coffee in disdain. I knew he would prefer brandy and right now, so would I.

“They can have their fake darling back after we dump Amory and Saige’s bodies in one
of the Great Lakes,” I said in Irish.

“Patience, love.”

Gripping the knife in my hands, I felt my nostrils flare. “To hell with patience.
It’s been four months since their wedding. Since then, they have burned half our fields
in Mexico, killed seven of our men in Italy, and cut off thirty percent of our weed
from the east. Which you should know costs us about a hundred million every week.
I want their heads on a stake, and I want it fucking yesterday. But somehow, you fucking
convinced me to wait. So fuck you and fuck them and fuck this goddamn hat I have to
fucking wear!”

I wanted to take off the giant yellow sun hat and throw it at him, but that would
bring too much attention to myself. Pinching the bridge of my nose, I tried to breathe.
The past four months had been an all-out war. The Valero were coming at us with everything
they had. We expected as much. However, with the cops now watching us more than ever,
our actions were limited. The Valero were most likely behind that as well, but right
now, I was ready to bomb the police station, kill the Valero, and move on. But instead,
I was in a stupid five star restaurant, waiting on the motherfucking real housewives
of Chicago for some charity shit.

“First, that is a lot of fucks. Second, your hat is nice.” He smirked as I glared.
“And we will find an opening soon. However, right now the plan we came up with last
night is the one we’re sticking with.”

“I was high off sex and couldn’t think straight,” I snapped, drinking the sorry excuse
for tea they offered me.

“But that is where all our master plans are created.”

“Really? Isn’t that where you came up with the plan to pump more heroin into Boston?
Now the mayor is involved.”

He leaned back in his chair with no care in the world. “That’s only because his idiot
daughter went and overdosed. He’s busy blaming dealers as if we held the needle to
her arm. His bad parenting is apparently our fault. Mayor or no mayor, it was a good
idea. The demand is growing.”

“Liam.” I sighed, pinching the bridge of my nose. “We keep going like this, we are
going to be stretched too thin. We can’t fight Chicago and Boston with Valero still
screwing us. The mayor is going to be doubling down his efforts to trace it.”

“Fine,” he hissed, leaning in. “We stay neutral for now. We have a shipment coming
in tonight that I will redirect and hold. But the moment the Valero are out of the
picture, we are pushing hard.”

“Deal. In the meantime, we can up the weed. The shit is almost legal anyway, and both
coasts are addicted.” Weed was as good as gold now. We sold to medical pharmacies
where it was legal, and small street gangs where it wasn’t.

“Then it’s settled . . .” He paused causing me to look over at the door where Commissioner
Andrew fucking Patterson made his way toward us.

“Who do you call when it’s the police who are stalking you?” I sighed, looking over
to Liam, who glared at the man approaching.

“Us.”

Commissioner Andrew fucking Patterson placed two sliver badges on the table, causing
Liam and me to share a quick glance.

“Shiny.” Liam snickered, taking a sip of his coffee. “Is there a reason why you are
putting that filth on my table?”

Patterson looked like he had aged at least ten years in the last four months. “The
officers your men killed today were fresh out of the academy.”

“You should be careful of what you accuse people of Commissioner,” I hissed, looking
around the room once more. No one could hear us, but he was being fucking stupid.

“You even had their families killed, didn’t you?” He laughed bitterly, ignoring me
completely.

“Commissioner—”

“A six year old girl now has no family, thanks to you! I know you’re the ones behind
Pope and Jeffery! You people are sick! You will burn in hell!”

“Commissioner! Have you lost your mind?” Liam yelled, standing up as two guards walked
toward us.

“Maybe I have!” the man yelled as the guards held him back. “But you won’t remain
untouchable forever! One day, someone is going to make you all pay for your crimes.”

“Get this man out of here, he is upsetting my wife!” Liam screamed as the guards pulled
him away.

Upsetting me? Fuck that, this shit was funny as hell but I could play the damsel in
distress. I guess.

“Fuckin’ Callahans wouldn’t be in power forever! Just wait, someone is gonna pay you
back tenfold, and I will laugh, you monsters!” he said, like the joker was on ʼshrooms.

“Get him
out
!” Liam roared again, while I placed my hand to my heart like a good damsel in distress.

When he was gone, the manager ran toward us, bowing so low you would think he was
trying to kiss Liam’s cock . . . jeez. Since when did we live in Japan?