Текст книги "Ruthless People"

Автор книги: J. J. McAvoy

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Текущая страница: 15 (всего у книги 21 страниц)

“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.

“My father told me once that the world wanted Kate Middleton or the first lady, someone to kiss babies and write big checks on your behalf.” She said it slowly, but I still didn’t understand.

“You want to write a check?” Why would that get her so excited?

“Yes.” She smirked, looking back outside. “To the men and women of the Chicago PD who were injured during those terrible fires. After all, how can they afford all those bills? I even think we should do it in person. I bet our favorite Superintendent and commissioner, Officer Patterson, will be there as well to console the families.”

Dear God, I loved my wife.

“Take us to St. John’s Medical Hospital.” I smiled alongside her, reaching into my jacket for my checkbook.

“Should I make it rich or obnoxiously rich?” I asked, wondering how many zeros to put in the space.

“Obnoxiously rich, of course. Something only a Callahan can do.” She grinned, looking toward Adriana. “Adriana, how fast can you leak it to the press?”

“Ten minutes. If you would like to change, I brought clothing. It’s in the back,” she answered, already dialing.

She had standby clothes?

Mel nodded, taking off her seatbelt as she climbed into trunk of the car.

“Seriously? How un-first-lady-like?” I grinned, looking back at her.

“Shut the fuck up, you Irish asshole and keep your eyes forward.”

“Why? I’ve seen it all before?” She smirked. “We wouldn’t want our driver peeking, would we?” My eyes narrowed at the man behind the steering wheel. At her words, he visibly tensed. She knew I would watch him like a hawk, which would stop me from staring at her.

I would have to make her pay later on tonight.

MELODY

“The Chicago Police Department is important to the wellbeing of this city. My husband and I do not want our men and women in uniform to worry about the medical bills or their livelihoods after protecting us. It is my great honor to present this check for nineteen million dollars to our commissioner and superintendent, Officer Patterson.” I smiled into the cameras that stood in the ER wing of St. John’s Hospital. Officer Patterson glared at me with a mixture of hate, anger, and disgust. But he took the money anyway.

“Thank you so much, Mrs. Callahan,” he said, practically sneering through his teeth. “I’m sure this will help the families who lost love ones and those injured, overwhelmingly so.”

Liam smirked beside me. “It was such a tragedy. Those old factories should be checked. Aren’t they also known for their crime? Are the police looking into this?”

Commissioner Patterson opened his mouth, but the reporters heard Liam’s questions and jumped on him.

“Commissioner Patterson, is this going to be one of the things you plan on fixing in Chicago?”

“Commissioner, is there going to be an investigation?”

“Is it true your house was also destroyed?”

“Rumor has it that this was a terrorist attack?”

“Did this have anything to do with your investigation of Flight 735?” That caught my attention, and Liam’s apparently because his jaw tightened.

“Ladies and gentlemen, this is a hospital, and we do not want to bother any of the patients that are here in need of medical attention,” Commissioner Patterson told them all as politely as he could.

A doctor stepped forward as the reporters fanned out. She looked almost star struck as she stared into Liam’s eyes.

Could she still be a doctor if I cut off her hands?

“Mr. Callahan, I’m Dr. Amy Lewis, thank you so much for the donation. Your family has been so kind to the patients of this hospital as well as the staff. It would be our honor to show you around. I’m sure the victims of this accident would love to meet you,” she gushed, while I tried not to vomit in my mouth.

“I don’t believe that would be a good idea,” Commissioner Patterson stated, causing the whole staff to look at him like he was crazy . . . most likely because he was.

“It’s been a difficult couple of days. They may need their rest.”

“I assure you, we are doing or best for every patient her,” Dr. Lewis replied, but only because she wanted to spend more time with my husband.

Stepping in front of Liam, I smiled like I was in a fucking Crest commercial. “Of course, I would love to meet them. Sweetheart, do you have time?”

Liam raised an eyebrow at me. “Anything you wish, my love.”

Dr. Amy Lewis looked like she came in her scrubs at the sound of his voice. I wonder if I can smash her head in?

“Where are we going first?”

She seemed startled by my voice, as if she had forgotten I was still here. I felt my hand slide to the back of my pants toward my knife when Liam grabbed me, pulling me into his arms.

“Control yourself, love,” he hissed into my ear.

Taking a deep breath, we followed the stupid bitch as she led us toward another part of the hospital.

“This is our burn unit where many of the officers are being treated,” she replied, moving down the hall as if she were putting the men on display.

I wasn’t sure what it was that made me stop in front of one of the officer’s rooms. Maybe it was all the flowers, cards, and balloons. Or maybe it was the small girl who sat in her mother’s lap, laughing with her burned father that did it. The side of his face was wrapped in bandages along with both of his arms, but he was still alert.

Stepping in, the family froze and looked to us.

“Officer Pope, this is Mr. and Mrs. Callahan. As of a few moments ago, they have paid off all your bills,” Dr. Amy-what’s-her-face stated, joyfully.

The woman in the chair broke out into sobs before running up and giving me a hug. I was not a hugger. However, I couldn’t be myself.

“Thank you so very much. You have no idea how much this means to my family,” she cried, stepping back to adjust herself and pick up her daughter.

“Anything to help. I can’t imagine the life you live,” I said softly. “Always worrying if your husband will get wounded, or even worse. It’s the least we can do.”

“Thank you. Really, thank you.” She wiped her face, turning to her daughter. “Tell Mrs. Callahan, thank you, sweetheart.”

The small girl hid behind her hair. “Thanks.”

“Let’s go tell Grandpapa the good news,” she replied, looking back to her husband for a moment, who nodded slowly.

“There’s that first lady,” Liam whispered, kissing the back of my head and handing me a cup of coffee.

“Mr. and Mrs. Callahan,” Dr. Amy, the whore, called out.

“Liam, I will stay,” I told him. He gave me an odd look before exiting with the rest of them.

Officer Pope simply glared at me, and I knew he had an idea of who we really were underneath the public mask.

“I have no idea why people choose to become police officers.” I frowned, looking over his burnt skin, half of his face was basically melted off.

“Someone has to put people like you away,” he struggled to say.

Raising an eyebrow, I smiled. “That’s never going to happen, and if it were, it wouldn’t be you. I’ve seen better looking beef jerky.”

“I could have a wire,” he hissed out, and I rolled my eyes while reaching over to push on his wrapped skin. He cried out softly.

“You don’t have a wire, and even if you did, I have a frequency jammer. If that didn’t work, then I would kidnap your family until you confess to tampering evidence to falsely arrest me.” I wasn’t an idiot, and after all, we were in a hospital full of cops.

His eyes narrowed. “Aren’t you ashamed of yourself? Don’t you have guilt? Or are you all just heartless, cold-blooded snakes? Your drugs kill dozens of people in this city alone, just in one week. God knows how many people die in this country just so you can make a buck. You all are sick. How the hell do you sleep at night?”

“Who did you lose?” I asked him, taking a sip of my coffee. His words didn’t bother me.

“You don’t give a damn.”

“Nope, not at all.” I smiled. “You see, you’re blaming me for something that isn’t my fault. Do you blame a bartender for giving someone a drink? No, because he is supplying a demand. No one is forcing anyone to do or take anything. Whoever died, it was on them and their family. They should have gotten their shit together. Their family should have stood by them. Instead, you look for someone to blame.”

“You must be fucked up in the head to think like that. There ain’t any justification for what you people do,” he snapped, looking away. “You insult us more by pretending you’re good Catholic folk. You don’t care about God. I don’t think you even believe in Him.”

“I do. I care about God, and I do believe in Him.” I really did. “However, I know why I was created. God needs me. What would happen if there weren’t people like me? If the world were perfect, if everything was the way you wished it to be, then why would you pray? God needs me, because without us, you forget about Him. He is on my side, not yours.”

“We will see about that. The commissioner has his eye on you all. He won’t rest until you are all in jail!”

“Then I’ll rip out his eyes and put him six feet under. You should thank God you are in here, because after tomorrow, Chicago will never be the same. You can tell the commissioner I said that,” I replied, leaving the coffee cup with my lipstick imprint on the counter before turning to leave.

“By the way, I sleep perfectly fine at night. It’s all about the thread count.”

I smiled at him once more before leaving. Chicago would burn, and they would know it was their fault. Once the smoke cleared and the dust settled, we would rebuild. But we would own this motherfucking city.

Stepping into the corner, I placed a call.

“Put Officer Pope and his family on the list.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

TWENTY-THREE

“Courage is the power to let go of the familiar.”

~ Raymond Lindquist

SEDRIC

“I believe your son and his wife just dismissed me.” My nose flared as I clutched onto the phone in my hands.

“Why is it whenever they do something wrong, they magically become ‘mine’?” my wife asked as she dressed.

“Because . . .”

“Choose your words carefully, dear.”

Walking up behind her, I grabbed her waist pulling her to me. “I ruled once. I was king, and yet my own children are dismissing me as if I were a butler. When did I fall so far?”

She laughed, turning back to me. “My dear, you were king, and when you were, no one could speak a word to you. Your word was law, and those around you listened. Neither your sons nor I could talk you out of anything you wished. But you gave up your crown because it no longer fit. In doing so, you agreed to allow Liam and Mel to rule as they wished.”

“They may bloody well destroy this family.” I pouted as she kissed me.

“Then let them. We have more than enough independently to leave and never be found if we wish. However, you and I both know they aren’t destroying this family.” She was right, but I didn’t like it.

“I just wish they would—”

“No. You promised me you would only get involved if they asked. They haven’t, so stay the fuck out of it. You have done your part. I just want my husband.”

Staring into her eyes, I nodded before grabbing hold of her shirt and ripping it from her body. Buttons popped off her like bullets.

“Then have him, because he definitely wants you,” I whispered before ripping her bra off her as well. Her breasts jiggled free, and I smirked to myself before taking them into my mouth.

She moaned my name, and the last thing on my mind was my children, or their chaos.

TWENTY-FOUR

“We don’t murder, we kill . . .

You don’t murder animals, you kill them.”

~ Samuel Fuller

MELODY

Flipping on the television, I couldn’t help but grin.

“Three weeks ago, Commissioner Patterson, you stood before us all and promised to make this city safe! You promised that you would put an end to the blood and corruption, but instead, all you have done is made it worse! For three weeks, it has been raining blood! The death count is up to twenty-seven that we know of. Most of them innocent people who just want to live their lives in peace. People are dying left and right! You did this!” A man yelled out in the crowd.

“My son was walking home for school. He walked that same path every day and then . . .” A mother sobbed with a photo of her son in her hands.

“Twenty-seven in the suburbs, fifty-four in the city, two a day in the most poverty stricken parts of the city. Commissioner Patterson, is this the new normal?” a reporter asked.

Commissioner Patterson looked old, tired, and stressed as he tried to find the words.

“The Chicago Police Department is . . .”

“The Chicago Police Department is no safer than we are! How many men and woman have we lost in the last three weeks?”

“We have lost at total of nineteen men in the line of duty.” Commissioner Patterson sighed. I could feel the defeat coming through the screen.

“How can you keep us safe, if you can’t even keep your own people safe?”

“Is the FBI going to get involved?”

“Nope,” I said aloud and even if they did I had more than a few friends I could call on.

“Each one of these instances has been at the hands of multiple criminals, leaving them up to the Chicago Police Department to solve. However, they will be consulting on many of the cases involved.” The Commissioner stood firm.

“Will the Governor call for a state emergency?”

“Not if he wants to lose his next election.” I’m sure he was a friend of the families, Coraline held a function for him.

“We are not at that point yet. I understand how frightened you all are, but please don’t lose faith in us. It is what the people who are responsible for this all want.”

“Do you know who is responsible? Some have speculated this is because of the Irish Mob, others say there was a breakout at the county jail.”

I wanted to listen to his reply. However, I was distracted by the man kissing my neck from behind. Leaning into him, I allowed myself to relax.

“Keeping an eye on our city?” he whispered when he came up for air. Wrapping his arms around me, he pulled me closer.

“The Commissioner seems stressed.” I smirked, reaching up to run my hand through his hair.

“With all the murders, robberies and bad press, I would be stressed as well.” He snickered. Turning me to him, his eyes went straight to my breasts, but that’s what I got for standing in my underwear as I watched the news.

“Like what you see?” I whispered to him while pulling on his tie.

His eyes were coated with lust before he shook his head clear. “Yes, very much so, and as much as I would enjoy making you scream my name until your voice cracked, we have a very important wedding to get to.”

“You’re turning down sex for a wedding?”

“It’s not just any wedding love.” He pouted. “It’s Saige and Amory’s wedding, which means . . .”

“Which means you get to sit and eat their food and drink wine, while our men fuck them across the ocean.”

“And I don’t want to be late for a moment of it.”

Stepping closer to him, I retied the bowtie around his neck. “Of course not. Who would like to have sex when they could watch Vance lose control? Who knows when that could happen again. You won’t be having sex with anyone for a while either, but still.”

I kissed him deeply, biting onto his lip before breaking away. His mouth dropped open as my words sunk in. “Sweetheart . . .”

“This body is now closed to you, husband.” Stepping away from him, I turned to walk to my closet but he pulled me back.

“Let’s not do anything rash,” he replied lifting me up and throwing me on the bed, crawling on top of me as he brushed my hair back.

“We don’t have time.” I smiled as he kissed me.

“We’re the guests of honor. We can make time,” he whispered kissing from my lips to my cheek and then to my neck.

Pushing up against him, I was able to flip him onto his back. Sitting on his waist, I stared into his eyes.

“You made your choice, husband now deal with it.” I smirked as I ground my hips into him before rising, and sure enough his hard-on was clear to the world.

“Wife.”

“Husband.” I smiled, and the moment I took off toward my closet, he leapt off the bed after me. Sadly, he was too slow, and I was able to lock myself in my closet.

“Damn it!” He pounded on the door as I laughed.

“Calm the fuck down and finish getting dressed,” I called out as I looked for the shoes I wanted to wear.

“Take off your underwear. You won’t be needing them tonight!”

“The fuck I will! You aren’t getting shit from me,” I replied even though I couldn’t stop grinning.

“Fine then, I will rip the bloody things off you.” His voice was fading, and I rolled my eyes at him.

Hearing the door close, I smiled to myself. In the last three weeks, my relationship with Liam had changed drastically. We no longer fought with one about personal matters. Instead, most of our issues were with the job, and even those were few and far between. Sometimes our plan of attack didn’t mesh well, and the only way we could settle it was to “fuck it out.” Neither of us complained about that though, and I was sure he disagreed with me sometimes just so we could have sex afterward, the little prick. Yet, I found myself smiling more often because of him. I was happy, and that just seemed odd to me.

He insisted we have our “dates” at least once a week. The first week was awkward because I hated the word date and neither of us did anything really but work. The second week he brought me a snitch, a lower-level pawn who had been in the process of speaking with the police to get out of jail time. Too bad for him, we wire tapped all our men’s phones. To make an example of him, I gave him embalming fluid to drink and when he died, we made sure to ship his tongue to the Commissioner.

After that, Liam and I didn’t come out of our room for two days. The date we had this week consisted of Liam and I both naked on our bed watching the local news. We had scheduled a hit on three officers and their families.

“Ma’am, it’s Adriana. I have your dress.” Adriana knocked. Opening the door, I pulled the dress from the bag.

“Perfect.” I smiled, touching the satin of the dress.

LIAM

Stepping out of our bedroom, I tried to wipe the grin off my face. However, it was damn near impossible. I hadn’t known before that I would have no other choice than to say I was in love with Melody Nicci Callahan. I loved how she broke people’s noses, how she smiled whenever we killed someone. I loved the way she moaned my name while we made love, only to slap me afterward. She was ruthless in everything she did, and yet she could still manage to be open with me. We had both changed. I felt like I had known her for a lifetime and not just a few weeks.

“So I’m guessing by your smile that all is well in your bloody wonderland?” Sedric asked me as I reached the study.

He was decked to the nines like myself and seemed just as excited as I was, despite the fact that he didn’t know any of our plans.

“Yes, father,” I said stepping into the study. “All is well in our bloody wonderland. In fact, the adventure is just beginning.”

He sighed, taking a seat in front of the desk. “Must you torture me boy, or will you tell me what is going on? Half the city is covered in blood and the other half is afraid of its shadow. Both you and Melody insisted that we attend this mockery of a wedding. However, neither Neal nor Declan are going to be in attendance.”

“You always said I was impatient. If so, I see where I get it from,” I replied pouring myself a glass of wine.

“I’m guessing you and Melody are no longer shooting at each other.”

“For now. My wife’s opinion of me changes more often than the tide. She may shoot me tomorrow if I tell her I dislike her gun collection.”

“But at this moment—”

“Are you asking as my father or as a Ceann na Conairte?” I cut him off leaning into my chair because it was my chair and not his. Kicking my feet onto the desk I watched as his eyes narrowed at my shoes. He used to hate it when I placed my feet on his desk as a teen, but he couldn’t say anything now.

“I’m asking as a father. Son, are you happy with your wife?”

“Yes, father, everything is bloody and well in fucking wonderland.” I drank some more. “She is . . . she is Bloody Melody and perfect. God created her and then shattered the mold afterward, for the world could not handle two of her.”

“Look who has become a poet.”

“Hardly, it was a simple fact.” My wife was a ruthless animal, and it only made her sexier.

“So then I could expect something to go terribly wrong at this wedding.” He really wanted to know. It was almost sad.

“I hope when I have a child, I’m not in the predicament you are in.” I laughed at him.

“Knowing you, I doubt you will allow your son or daughter to take the throne as easily as I did.” He was joking. He had to be joking.

“Bullshit. The amount of hell you put me through—”

“I put you through hell so you could sit in that seat and call hell to you. In three weeks, you have brought this city to its knees.” He almost sounded jealous, but I could also hear the pride.

“We, Melody and I, brought it to its knees. However, it’s not bowing yet. The police commissioner is still holding out for hope to overcome the mess. A judge gave him the okay to place wiretaps on the house and our phones.” I snickered. That was only after the first week.

“When was this?”

“It doesn’t matter.” I grinned drinking again. “We had jammers and frequency scramblers placed throughout the house, and then updated all the phones. Melody insisted that we make an example out of the judge.”

I waited for it to click in, after all it had been all over the news that week. He shook his head as the realization hit him.

“Judge Randal. They found him hanging from the bridge. I figured, but I didn’t understand why.”

“I don’t believe the commissioner has had any help with the courts since then.” Because they were fucking smart.

“And you both don’t want to end him?” Oh, how the tide had turned.

“And let another wannabe hero take his place? He is about to break, and when he does, his moral compass will either force him to take his life or he will just drink himself to death. Either way I don’t give a flying two fucks.” He picked a fight, and now he was going to lose.

“Bloody wonderland,” he said again with a smile. There was a knock at the door, before I could reply.

“Enter,” I called out and in walked my mother dressed in a beautiful long-sleeved, green dress. “You look beautiful mother,” I said, standing up to greet her.

She kissed my cheek. “Thank you, son. I came to tell you that there are two officers at our door. They’re asking to speak with you. I thought I would let you know personally. This is the third time, Liam. I’m not pleased.”

Rule Sixteen: Never displease your mother.

“Call my wife.”

“No need.” Melody stepped inside, making me want to drop to my knees and kiss her feet. She was an absolute vision in the long, strapless white dress she wore. She looked like a goddess or an angel, and I felt lucky to even stand before her.

“Father, Mother, thank you. However, my wife and I have some business to attend to. We shall meet you at the wedding.”

“Please send the officers in,” my Mel replied as she walked, more like glided, toward me.

Taking her hand, I kissed it once my parents were gone. “You look beyond beautiful.”

“Save your flattery and tell me we are going to kill these sons of bitches for returning here.” She glared as she fixed my hair.

There was another knock at the door, and I smirked at her.

“Let’s find out.” I grinned, walking to my desk. “Enter.” Sadly it wasn’t the commissioner, but his Smokey the Bear sidekick along with another broad-shouldered man with orange hair.

“No commissioner? I’m insulted.” I turned to Mel who only glared at them.

“The city is a bit too chaotic for him to make it,” Smokey said. “As you know I—”

“We don’t care. What do you want?” Mel asked, looking at the younger man next to Smokey.

“We’re here to wave the white flag,” the orange-haired man declared.

I felt my brow rise and a smirk curl my lip. When I looked over to Mel, she frowned. Of course she would, white flags weren’t her forte.

Stepping toward the man, I looked him over. “You’re Irish.”

“Yes, Mr. Callahan.”

“Who the fuck forgot to recruit you?” I snickered. Most of all the Irish-born natives in the damn state worked for me in some form.

He glared at me. “I wanted to be the first of my family to do right by the law.”

“Well then, as you can see, we are on our way out.”

Mel replied stepping toward me. “We will speak to the commissioner at a later time. You both found your way in, I believe you know the way out. Please give Officer Pope and his family my regards.”

They couldn’t speak and that may have been due to the fact that she looked sinfully beautiful in white, or because Officer Pope and his family were no longer alive. They nodded with rage building in their eyes. The door slammed once they exited.

She turned to me and frowned, straightening my tie again. “You know they were lying right?”

“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.