Ruthless People (38 page)

Forcing myself out of his arms, I picked a random shirt and walked out. But not before
hearing him curse and it was my turn to smirk. Pregnant or not, I ran shit.

LIAM

She left me so hard I had to take a quick shower so I wouldn’t have to face our men
with a hard-on. When I walked down the stairs to the basement, I was met with a crowd
of our men waiting for something. In the interrogation room sat one of Valero’s men
chained to his chair. However, my wife was nowhere to be found. It took me a total
of eleven minutes to take a shower and dressed. She should have been here already.

He didn’t even need for me to ask, he nodded to second door in the room, where Eric
stood in front of and he opened it upon my gaze. Stepping inside, I found my Mel sitting
in front of a severed hand with a rod through its middle finger. Fedel and Neal stood
beside her as she just stared at it.

“It’s Dr. Anderson’s hand,” she told me without looking away. “They left another note.”

Fedel handed me the letter.

We planned to send his whole body, however, we got a little carried away. All we could
save was his hand. But that’s all a doctor needs right? So sad he won’t help you like
he helped your mother when she was pregnant . . . you’re going to need all the help
you can get.

XOXO

A&S

“When did this arrive?” I hissed to Fedel and Neal.

“The men at the gate checked it a few minutes before you got here,” Neal said.

Pinching the bridge of my nose, I took a deep breath. “Leave us.”

“Don’t,” she snapped at them, and they froze. “We’re done here. I’ve gotten all that
I needed.”

She said nothing more before rising from her chair calmly. She was so calm it was
eerie. The moment we stepped out, Declan handed her another smoothie.

“From mother,” he said quickly. She glared at him, taking it from his hand before
walking into the interrogation room.

When Fedel walked in, he placed a chair out for her. My mind went straight to the
first time I ever laid eyes on her. She had changed so much since then and yet was
alike in so many ways. We both had changed.

“So this is the Italian bitch who managed to piss off not only Vance, but also Amory
and Saige,” Cross said, and I felt my hand twitch. I wanted to rip his motherfucking
tongue out.

To make it worse, Mel did nothing. She didn’t even speak. She just sucked on that
damn straw.

“What? Do you plan to strike me down with your eyes? Where is that big bad bitch who
set fire to the bosses’ wedding? Or are you just an Irish bitch now? Did Callahan
fuck all the fight out you?” he asked her, and my eyes were clouding over. I was going
to rip his throat out of his neck.

“Speak, you bitch!” he yelled, fighting against the chains. “You think I will just
talk? You think I’m afraid of you? I fucking ran all the prisoners for the Valero.
I was the one who cut off your motherfucking doctor’s hands. He begged and begged
for mercy. He didn’t talk until I started cutting. So call the motherfucker really
in charge, bitch, so we can get this over with. I’m no rat.”

Before I knew it, I already had my gun in my hands. Had she not spoken, I would have
gone in there my fucking self.

“Monte,” was all she said, and he came out of the fucking shadows of the room like
he was a damn ninja with a sword in his hands.

“What the fuck?” Declan, Neal, and I all said at the same time.

Placing her cup on the ground, Mel stood up as calm as I had ever seen her.

“My father taught me a lot of things growing up,” she began as she circled him. “He
had this weird thing for swords . . . iron swords, though. He told me I should get
martial arts training and shipped me off to Japan, because they knew their swords.
I thought I would come back a motherfucking ninja, but I got my ass kicked.”

“Is there a point to this trip down memory lane sweethea—”

Before he could finish, Mel’s sword came down, slicing through his wrist.

“Holy Shit,” Declan, Neal, and I said together once again as we stared at the hand
on the ground.

They spoke out in shock while I was kind of turned on. My wife was fucking bold, beautiful,
and deadly. She never failed to amaze me.

Cross screamed loudly, even though Fedel stuffed something in his mouth.

“The point is, I have a sword, motherfucker.” She grinned, only an inch from his face
as he huffed and puffed, trying to fight the pain.

“You’re going to answer my questions or you lose limbs. That”—she pointed to his bloody
hand—“was for your comments before. I’m so in charge I could be the fucking Energizer
bunny.”

He muffled something that sound liked fuck you, and Mel’s grin widened.

“Do you know why we call people rats?” she asked him as Antonio walked in with a cage
full of the beady-eyed creatures.

Mel, with no reservation, grabbed one of them.

Note to self—ask doctor about shots for her and the baby.

“Because they are self-preservation creatures. They have no honor, no loyalty. It’s
all about doing what they can to save themselves. In fact”—she smirked throwing the
rat into a small jar—“they will eat anything if it means their survival.”

“She wouldn’t,” Neal whispered.

“I’m done doubting Melody. It’s unhealthy to be proven wrong so many times,” Declan
whispered back.

Cross struggled as Antonio fit the jar and the rat on the end of his decapitated wrist.
But she wasn’t done. Despite her calm appearance, she was seething. Pulling out a
lighter, she held it to the jar, and the rat ran toward his wrist to get away from
the flame. Cross screamed against the sock.

“So many limbs, so many rats. You called me a bitch . . . twice, insulted not only
my intelligence, but also my abilities, and then killed my doctor. How ticked do you
think I am?” she asked him.

“First question and I’ll make it easy. What is the Valero’s next move?” He only screamed
in pain.

“Take your time. I can wait for you to stop screaming,” she added, drinking her damn
smoothie.

MELODY

“He’s unconscious,” Fedel informed me, putting his hand to Cross’s neck. I was surprised
he was still alive, he lasted two hours.

Sighing, I stood up and rolled my neck. “Make sure he doesn’t die.”

Cross had only given bits and pieces of information, most of which didn’t make any
sense. It had to be the blood loss. However, I would get an answer, and I would put
an end to them all.

“It’s you who should be worried about dying.” Cross spoke out in a daze. His eyes
were barely open, and he was so pale he could have been mistaken for a corpse.

“I still have my hands and foot.” Who the fuck did this idiot think he was?

He smiled and laughed like a mad man. Fedel punched the side of his face, but Cross
only laughed harder. Then the house shook so violently I had to hold on to Antonio
for a moment. It took me only a second later to realize what caused it.

Liam busted in. “The east wing was just bombed, we need to move.”

“See you all in hell motherfuckers. Tell the Boss I said hello.” Cross laughed and
passed out.

There was another explosion and the look in Liam’s eyes as he pulled out not only
one but two guns was the deadliest I had ever seen.

We were under attack.

TWENTY-EIGHT

“Any of you fuckin’ pricks move,
and I’ll execute every mother fuckin’ last one of ya.”

~ Honey Bunny, Pulp Fiction

MELODY

“Monte,” I hissed through my teeth, and a second later, he placed a machine pistol
and two extra mags in my hands.

“Your orders are to shoot to kill everyone but Amory or Saige,” Liam snapped at him.
Fedel and Monte didn’t even waste a second before they were out the door. Placing
the magazines in the back of my pants, I could feel the bloodlust kicking in.

“Where is the family?”

“The safe room . . . where you should be,” he said to me, grabbing hold of my arm
before I could leave.

“Liam, I don’t want to waste bullets, but so help me God if you think for a second
that I’m going to sit behind walls and wait for the storm to settle, I will end you
myself,” I snapped at him holding my gun to his nose.

His green eyes narrowed. “You’re pregnant. Get the fuck behind the wall, Melody.”

“Fuck you.” I glared back before walking out. The moment I did, all I saw was destruction.
It was like . . . it was like we were bombed. Lights flickered, wires dangled from
the ceiling, and all I could hear was gunfire.

Leaning against the wall, I held my gun to my chest as Liam came up right next to
me.

“Done treating me like a bitch and not your wife?” I asked, trying to see where the
gunfire was coming from.

“You better not get hurt or I will kill you myself, love.” Liam smirked, kissing my
cheek before stepping forward, shooting blindly into the hall and yet somehow, hitting
the motherfuckers.

Stepping out from behind the wall, I glared at him as he smirked. “I hate you.”

“You love me . . .” He was cut off as I shot into the hall at one asshole hiding behind
a broken door.

“You forgot one.” I smirked before running down the hall and I could feel him right
behind me.

The moment we reached the east wing, it looked like an all-out war between our men,
who used every part of themselves, including teeth and fists, and broken glass to
kill if they were without a weapon. From the corner of my eye, I saw Neal almost rip
the arm off a Russian. The air was clogged with the scent of blood, and I was going
deaf from all the noise around me. Out of nowhere, a blade sliced up my leg, and the
second I looked down, I met the eyes of the fool who thought it was a good idea to
cut me with glass.

Stomping my heel into his face, I screamed as his blood went everywhere. Wiping my
face with my arms, I turned to see Liam slit a man’s throat. When he looked over again,
he wasn’t looking at me. I followed his gaze, in time to see Amory put a bullet in
Eric’s forehead.

Liam roared so loudly I would have thought it was him who made the house shake. “
Amory
!”

Amory appeared shocked at first, as if he had forgotten whose house he had attacked.
But the shock soon gave way to fear as Liam stalked toward him like the devil himself.
The moment anyone blocked his path, they were struck down so quickly I didn’t even
have time to blink. I wanted to watch him rain fire and brimstone on the fool, but
I wasn’t sure what they knew our how much they were after. There were only a few of
them left. I needed to make sure that all our files and information weren’t being
stolen right from under us.

“Neal!” I yelled for him but he was too far gone in his thirst for blood, and was
busy shooting down the motherfuckers in his way. He looked almost giddy, like he was
in some video game and invincible.

Glancing back at Liam one last time, I watched as his fist collided with Amory’s face
before running down the hall. The further I went, jumping over rubble and exposed
wires, the louder the screams. At first, I wasn’t sure what it was. Between the sparks,
smoke, and the flames, I could barely see a few feet in front of me. As I peered around
the corner, I heard someone scream.

“Let go of me!”

It was Olivia, yelling as three large men surrounded her like wolves around a sheep.

“You’re pretty,” one of the men said, “but you would be prettier on my cock.”

They all laughed as he grabbed at her, and in that second I put a bullet in his head,
causing the blood to spatter all over her face. She stood there, shaken, while the
other two men spun around, releasing a hail of bullets.

Jumping behind what was left of a broken wall, I yelled out, “You have two seconds
to run before I place a bullet in your brains.”

“Fuck you, bitch, you’re outnumbered,” one said in a heavy accent.

“Come out like a good bitch and we’ll be gentle with ya,” the other said, laughing,
and all I could hear was Olivia’s scream. She was annoying as fuck. Why couldn’t she
have just gone to the safe room like a good little damsel in distress?

Taking a deep breath, I stood up slowly, hands up.

Guns pointed in my face, the men smirked. The one holding Olivia smiled. “Drop the
gun, sweetheart.”

“I warned you,” was all I said to him, smirking as Fedel came up behind the other
one. I shot through the hand the motherfucker was holding Olivia with, and when he
backed up, I shot him right in his eye.

Rushing over to Olivia as she screamed, I grabbed her bloody arm. Ripping my shirt,
I wrapped it quickly and forced her to look me in the eyes.

“Why the fuck aren’t you in the safe room?”

“N-Neal . . .” she stammered in shock. “I–I-Neal.”

Slapping her across the face, I glared into her eyes. “Get your shit together and
move, or I will kill you myself. Fedel, get her to safety. She fights, knock her out.”