Ruthless People (35 page)

“I am so sorry, Mr. Callahan, please . . .”

“It’s not a problem. Please, just keep that man away from our family,” Liam said before
taking a seat back down. He waited for the room to return to order before staring
at me with hard eyes.

“You were the one who ordered it?” he asked me in Irish.

“Yes,” I replied back, unsure about why he looked like I was the one he wanted to
kill.

He pinched the bridge of his nose. “You let the girl live.”

Sitting up straighter, I glared back. “She wasn’t home, and I wasn’t going to hunt
her down. She is six fucking years old.”

“Then you should have waited until she was home,” he hissed, moving to the edge of
his chair. “I don’t care if she was six or twenty-six. She is his family and therefore
should be dead—” 

“You make it seem like that one girl has any power,” I snapped back at him. He needed
to calm the fuck down before I stabbed him here and now.

He stared at me as if I had lost my mind. “She is the daughter of a cop, a blue blood.
She isn’t a threat now, but what about in twenty years when she is out of the academy?
She will be like a bloodhound looking for revenge. Children grow up, and unless you
know something I don’t, we are going to be around in twenty years. I will not have
the past bite us in the ass. After all, look at you. You were six once, and what happened
to you then changed your life forever. You are the last person I thought I would ever
have to explain who we are or what we do.”

He stood up and kissed me on the side of the check harshly for those who might still
be watching, before whispering in Irish, “Stay here, my mother has arrived. I will
take care of it.”

He fucking sounded disappointed in me. Who does this motherfucking bitch think he
is? Did he just sit me? I was the fucking Boss, and I sure as hell didn’t take orders.
Coraline, Olivia, and Evelyn walked in with a whole group of other charity woman before
I could beat his head in. Each one of them smiled and laughed as though they were
breathing a different sort of air.

“Ladies, isn’t my youngest, handsome?” Evelyn said, giving Liam a big hug.

Liam laughed but it was his fake laugh, the one he did for crowds. “The most handsome,
some say.”

They all laughed at him while I eyed his skin, wondering where would be the best place
to impale him.

“The cockiest as well.” Evelyn grinned.

“I shall take that compliment.” He winked at a few of the older ladies, forcing me
to act like an embarrassed wife and smack him in the chest. I was not in the mood
to play this stupid game.

“We’ve had our breakfast. Honey, don’t you have business to take care off?” I dug
my nails into his skin but the bitch didn’t even flinch.

“You all had breakfast already?” Coraline asked us, looking to our table as waiters
cleared it and added a new table to make room.

“Sorry, ladies, only God knows when I would see her again after she disappears with
you all. I had to at least start my morning with her.” Liam charmed is way into the
cougars’ arms. They eyed him like he was a god himself. Both their facial expressions
and his words made me want to puke.

“Young love.” Olivia laughed, causing me to glare at her.

“Goodbye, Liam.”

“It’s already begun.” Liam laughed, kissing my hand. “I know when I’m not wanted.”

The women aww-ed as he left, and I tried my best to actually look flattered, but my
face just wouldn’t have it. Evelyn, Olivia, and Coraline all seemed to notice. Smiling
at them, I took a seat as the other women all took theirs.

“Ladies, welcome to the Seventeenth Annual W.E.W.—Women Empowering Women,” a peppy
blonde announced once the ladies were seated. “I would like to thank Mrs. Coraline
Callahan for once again hosting us all here. Thank you so much for everything you
do.”

I glanced at her, but she didn’t meet my gaze.
Two steps forward, six steps back, for Cora.

“How often do they hold these meetings?” I whispered to Evelyn as everyone clapped.

“First Saturday of every month. You’ve missed quite a few,” Olivia replied before
Evelyn could speak, and right on cue the peppy blonde turned to me.

“Please give a W.E.W. welcome to the newest member, Mrs. Melody Callahan. We all know
how that first year of marriage is.” They turned to me, and I forced myself to smile
and blush at the plastic army in front of me.

“Be happy you missed so many,” Evelyn whispered, causing Olivia and Coraline to snicker.

It took a while, but finally, all the women were so caught up in their conversations
that I no longer had to force myself pay attention. They had to be the saddest and
most desperate women I had ever met. None of them cared about the charity. They only
cared about upstaging each other in who had more money to give, just to prove how
rich they are. None of them could hold a candle to any wife of a Callahan. However,
they all wanted to come in second place. So if they had to feed the starving villages
to be thought highly of, they would do it.

Coraline shifted for the nineteenth time since she sat down, causing me to look her
over quickly. I could tell a lot had changed in her. Her arms and legs were more toned,
and she seemed much more alert and capable now. She had even cut her hair down some
more, but despite all that, she still looked beautiful, almost had a movie star kind
of beauty.

“Are you ready to be working with me next, Coraline?” I asked her softly. Her eyes
went wide and grinned.

“Are you serious?” she asked, because she obviously didn’t know who I was. I didn’t
joke around with things like that. I rarely joked at all, in fact.

“Adriana said you are getting too used to her. So, yes, I am serious.”

“Yeah, first I would have to talk to Declan—”

“What?”

“Declan,” she said again with a frown. “When I told him, he kind of laughed it off,
and we haven’t talked about it much. But I think that’s because he doesn’t see Adriana
as anything to worry about. You, on the other hand—”

“I’m something to worry about,” I added, placing Declan on my Callahan ass-kicking
list. “Have you tried making him listen?”

She looked at me like I was crazy.

“You do know you are a woman, correct?” I smirked. “Grab handcuffs, make him hard,
tell him what you want to tell him, and then leave him there to think about it.”

“I could never do that, Declan would be so—”

“Horny, which you can use to your advantage. You are a motherfucking Callahan woman.
You do what you want. If you want to train with me, you train with me, and if Declan
doesn’t like it, remind him of the days when all he had was his hand.” I was dead
serious, even though Olivia was laughing beside me. For all the improvement Coraline
was enjoying, I was shocked she was still hiding behind this shell.

“Mel, I’m not like you—”

“No one is like me, but that’s not the point,” I interrupted, and I would keep interrupting
until she found the balls to stop me.

“It’s just that I don’t know how to be this strong person. Declan means the world
to me, and I don’t want to hurt him or lose him,” she whispered, and I was tempted
to drown myself in my soup.

“If you keep focusing on how lucky you are to have Declan, then you’re going to forget
how lucky he is to have you. Imagine you’re a princess and then demand to be treated
like one,” Olivia replied, and I was a little confused. Since when did I get on the
same page as the blow-up doll?

“All my sons need to be knocked upside their heads every once in a while.” Evelyn
gave one of her motherly smiles.

“Or shot.” I smiled, causing Evelyn to glare at me, and I simply shrugged, it was
true. Bullets spoke louder than words.

“Melody, do you mind if we speak in private?” Olivia asked me, oddly polite. I glanced
over at Coraline and Evelyn who seemed just as shocked. Nodding, I stood, waiting
for her to follow as I headed to the women’s bathroom.

Taking off the stupid hat, I placed it on the counter before turning back to her.
“Speak.”

“I wanted to apologize for my hostility and for being—”

“A rude, immature bitch?” I asked, crossing my hands.

Her eyes narrowed at me, and it looked like she was trying her best to bite her tongue.
“Yeah, for that, too.”

“I won’t accept your apology until I know why you’re offering it.” I turned back to
the mirror trying to fix my hat hair.

“Because that is what grown people do? We apologize when we are wrong,” she snapped
before taking a deep breath.

“Well, I’m calling bullshit.” I smiled. “You see, when people apologize and mean it,
they don’t need privacy. So I’m guessing Neal put you up to this. What did he say
to make you try and humble yourself?”

“He—”

“Don’t lie to me, Olivia. I’m much better at it than you, and I have no problem breaking
your head against this mirror. You can take a little drive to West Ridge and ask Natasha
if you don’t believe me.” I couldn’t kill her, but I hated liars and would make that
clear.

She stared at me wide-eyed and nodded. “Fine. A few months ago, Neal and I talked
about it. I’ve been trying to stay out of your way, but I know we are going to have
to speak sometime. I just . . . Neal wants me to make peace. I love Neal, so I will
do it.”

“What is with you all and bending to what your husbands want?” They really were Stepford
wives.

“It’s called love, Melody,” she snapped at me once again. “When you love someone,
all you want is for them to be happy. That doesn’t make you weak, and that doesn’t
make you an idiot. Liam is head over heels in love with you, he would die for you,
and yet you cringe at the thought of it. Coraline and I are not G.I. Janes, and we
can’t walk on the dark side of the moon and come back okay. But at least neither of
us are scared of love. So I’m saying sorry once again. I have to go home to my husband,
have amazing sex, and see him smile.”

She said nothing else before walking out. When she did, I turned to the mirror and
stared at myself. I remembered a time when my life was so much easier.

LIAM

Most people—a lot of people—would be disgusted with what I did tonight. They would
call me a monster, tell me I was heartless or cruel. But none of them knew the life
I lived or walk down the same dimly lit streets as me. I was head of the family. I
was the
Ceann na Conairte
. Which meant it fell on my shoulders to protect this family from past, present, and
future nuisances. All you had to do was watch an old mafia movie to see how one loose
end brought down some of the greatest empires there ever was.

Rule Two: Take no prisoners and have no regrets about it.

Anyone we captured were either killed or flipped to our side and used for intel. But
after we got what we needed, they were killed anyway. Any man who can flip on his
boss once can do it again. What made the Callahans successful is that we had evolved
past all the mistakes that had brought other greats down. We didn’t cheat on our wives,
and we didn’t do any of the smack or drugs we sold. Those two things alone were things
the mafia world was known for. However, it was also the first thing that brought them
down. Everyone stayed clean, even the men closest to us. The men of our family had
worked too hard to become what they were today for some junkie to snitch to the police
to save his skin. Wives were key, because if you treated them right, they would live
and die for you. I had no regrets for what I did. I didn’t kill because I was a sick
twisted motherfucker. Everything was for the betterment of the family.

Sighing, I played away on my piano. I came back late and I didn’t feel like dealing
with Mel or anyone else for that matter. I thought she understood, but she just wrote
it off like it was nothing. She was too focused on Amory and Saige. Yes, they were
a huge problem, but we needed to cover all our bases. Vance would just love it if
we hung ourselves. He was trying to spread us out all over the globe. The more areas
to cover, the more room for mistakes. I just needed to find an opening.

“You’re going to wear out the keys,” my wife called out behind me, but I couldn’t
bring myself to look at her. I knew whatever she was wearing tonight would leave me
smitten . . . fuck that . . . it would leave me fucking hungry for her.

I just kept playing. I wasn’t even sure what it was. I just played. However, with
each step she took, I could feel her like a wave of warmth behind me. I knew when
her hand was hovering right over my head, and I leaned into it without thinking. She
ran her fingers through my hair before stepping onto the seat next me. From there,
she climbed onto the front of the piano, placing her legs on either side of me and
forcing me to play while staring right at her. Damn her to hell.

“Mel . . .”

“Do you love me?” she whispered, looking me dead in the eye. I froze. What could I
say to that? If I lied, she would know. If I told her the truth, she would push me
away. So I just played.

She slid down, the keys chiming as she hit them, until she was in my lap. Kissing
me, she wrapped her legs around my waist.