Текст книги "Ruthless People"

Автор книги: J. J. McAvoy

сообщить о нарушении

Текущая страница: 9 (всего у книги 21 страниц)

THIRTEEN

“Murder is not the crime of criminals,

but that of law-abiding citizens.”

~ Emmanuel Teney

LIAM

“The plan was flawless,” I said, pinching the bridge of my nose. “Every last detail was planned out for you, you no good brainless cocksuckers. We all but drew you a fucking map! So where the fuck did I lose you!”

I threw a gun at Neal, Antonio, Eric, and Jinx’s faces. Those idiotic muscle-head fuckers messed up, and I was tempted to kill them all.

“Sir, we had Amory on the Port Lincoln, but he had already been in Austria for days and knew something was up. We set the trip wires and even gave him time to leave, but the Italian here didn’t give us a heads up he was circling back,” Eric said, looking at Antonio who was ready to throw a punch at his fucking face.

“You know what, you Irish son of a bitch—”

“Enough!” I stepped forward, my voice still echoing off the rafters. “Will one of you explain to me how we lost some of our own fucking men? Did you push the idiot button?”

“Amory found the trip wires and reconfigured them onto the safe house,” Neal answered, looking me dead in the eye, and I wanted to bash his fucking skull in. We lost five of our men—three Irish, two Italian—all blown to bits because of their fucking dumb shit.

“Is this your first time on a mission? You embarrassed the family.” I moved toward Neal. “You embarrassed me, and now you stand before me with your cocks in your hands unsure of what to do with yourselves.”

Sighing, I turned back around to find my wife sitting in my leather chair behind the oak desk, simply staring at the fucked-up men behind me. She was stunning dressed in a beautiful blue, lace dress with her white shoes. But I knew she was just as pissed as I was. In the last nine days, we had fought and fucked hard, and I was starting to read her as well as she could read me. Unfortunately, our men were like cavemen and had no idea how to fucking work together, and now I had five dead on my hands.

We stood in my basement with all our men around us, but no one was speaking. Not a single one of them. Mel pulled out a gun and placed it on the table with a single bullet before looking me in the eyes. She wanted blood, and so did I.

“Who was the biggest fuck up?” she asked softly. I noticed she never really yelled at the men when she was pissed off. In fact, her voice became softer, as though she wanted to haunt those around her.

No one spoke up, so I walked up beside her, leaning against the table. “She asked a question. We want an answer, or we will kill you all and start over. How much do we pay them, love?”

She glared at me, and I knew she hated when I called her that in public, but I didn’t care.

“Five million a year? I could go to the ghetto and get men to replace them in five minutes with the offer of 500k,” she said offhandedly as she spun the gun on the table.

Nodding, I looked back at the men. “So again, we ask, who fucked up the most?”

Eric stepped forward. “It was Ian.”

And the moment he said it, Mel lifted the gun and shot him right in the kneecap, the poor fuck. I didn’t even know the gun was loaded, seeing as how there was one bullet still on the table.

Mel hissed at him. “Since when do you give up your brother, you fucker?” And she had a point. Even when we commanded them, they weren’t supposed to give that information up unless someone was betraying us.

Eric yelled like a dying pig as Ian stepped forward. Pushing off the desk, I extended my hand for Mel as she rose from the chair.

“This bullet is for you, Ian,” I told him as he eyed the gun and bullet. Eric’s bitching was all that could be heard as we waited.

“Five dead because of you. Take your own life,” I said as Mel and I walked to the elevators.

“If he doesn’t,” Mel added as we stepped into the waiting elevator, “the rest of you put the idiot out of his misery. That’s an order.”

She must have timed it perfectly because the doors closed right on cue.

“I like Eric,” I told her as we rode up to the main floor. My mother was throwing one of her many end-of-the-summer charity bullshits, and we all had to attend, of course.

“Next time he will hopefully keep his mouth shut.” She smirked, obviously enjoying shooting him way too much.

“Touché, but we can use this fuck up to lay the cover-up. For all anyone knows, one of the five really could have been Orlando. We can release a statement tomorrow,” I said stopping the elevator and pushing her against the wall. I wanted her. I needed her, and if I didn’t have her right then, I would have to wait hours.

“Calm the fuck down, Liam.” She glared at me. “Whenever you see blood you get excited.”

“Whenever I see you spill blood I get excited. There is a difference,” I said, correcting her as I leaned against her.

“We have an interview we’re late for,” she said, as I grabbed the back of her neck, allowing my hands to wander up and bury themselves in her hair.

“Then we can have a quickie,” I lied, nothing ever came quick for either of us, and she knew it.

She pushed me off her as she began brushing off her dress and released the elevator to get it to start moving again. “You’re quickly becoming a sex addict.”

“Only for you.” I winked, fixing my tie as the doors opened. And there waiting for us was my mother, tapping her pumps against the floor.

“You both are late. I have Time Magazine waiting to take a photo of the happy couple without the happy couple,” she said, her voice clipped.

“Evelyn, Time Magazine will wait for as long as we want them to wait seeing as they’re the only ones we’re talking to,” Mel replied.

I watched in amusement as they spoke with their eyes. However, it faded when my mother slapped me in the arm without warning.

“The elevator Liam, honestly?” She huffed at me, while I stared at her in confusion. Mel and my mother seemed to speak a language with their eyes that no one else seemed to understand.

“I don’t know what’s wrong with him, Evelyn.” Mel smirked, before winking back at me.

“Let’s fix your hair before the whole world knows about it.” She sighed, taking Mel from my side. I hated to say it, but it ticked me off. Over the last few days, Mel and I had spent most of our time together. Sometimes we talked, most of the time we fucked, and the rest of the time we just laid next to each other. It was like we were both allowing our bodies, minds, and souls to just get used to one another, and I loved every moment of it, which was why I hated when she was taken away from me.

“I know that look.” My father smirked, as he stepped next to me.

“What look?” I hissed, as I leaned against the wall waiting for my wife to come back. My wife. It made me smirk.

“That look.” The old fool grinned. “I know it, because it comes across my face from time to time. It’s lust, it’s desire, it’s hope and love all wrapped into one. It took you a little over a week. It only took me forty-eight hours.”

I hate him sometimes. “It’s too soon for love, father.”

He snorted. My father, Sedric Callahan, snorted. “If Shakespeare had said that the world would have never known Romeo and Juliet. Do you still hate her?”

“I never said that,” I interrupted quickly. “I’ve been waiting for someone like her for a long time and didn’t even know it. However, I can’t let her know that I  . . . I can lust after her, I can be loyal, and I can care, but I can’t love her yet. She doesn’t get love. So I will wait for her to feel something.”

“And if she doesn’t?”

I straightened up off the wall once I saw them heading toward us. “I’ll still be right here.”

“Who are you and what have you done with my son?” His old eyes gleamed at me.

“Do not even start, Father.”

“What are you both whispering about?” My mother eyed us carefully when she finally reached us.

My father smirked, kissing her cheek. “World domination.” She rolled her eyes at him while Mel just raised an eyebrow at me.

“You had your chance and failed. Time to step aside and let the new blood step up,” my mother said. My father pretended to be hurt, before pulling her into his arms. That was what I wanted to do with Mel, but she would most likely shoot me for showing public displays of affection . . . or any type of display.

As if to prove my thoughts, Mel stared at them in confusion before meeting my gaze as if to tell me, your family is so odd.

“Don’t you have an interview, oh new king and queen?” my father asked us with a smirk. He had officially given up his title on the night of our wedding, and since then I . . . Mel and I ruled, and he was more relaxed, happy even. He had been waiting a long time to step down, and here I thought this whole time that he just didn’t want to give up his title, but he did. He just wanted to make sure he would never have to step back in again.

After offering my arm to Mel, we both headed toward the living room, and I laughed when I saw her working on relaxing her face.

“Shut up. God knows how long we will have to smile for these people,” Mel retorted as I stopped at the door.

“Just be like Evelyn.”

“Be like your mother? You’re a sick fuck, Liam Callahan.” She winked, making me want to both strangle and kiss her.

“Be unlike yourself,” I replied through my teeth, before opening the door.

When I did, she stepped forward. “We’re so sorry we are late. Tearing Liam away from his work can be difficult. He’s shy about these things,” she said kindly, as the crew smiled at her.

It never failed to amaze me how quickly she could switch on and off. She had the ability to disarm people so easily.

“Oh, don’t be, Mrs. Callahan. We are just so glad you could make time for us. I’m Jan, and this is my crew. We were just making sure the lighting and whatnot was okay.” The woman grinned, obviously already figuring out that she was getting the interview of a lifetime. Walking up beside my wife, I wrapped my arm around her waist.

“Do you need anything? I’m sure we could have someone come to help out,” I said softly overusing my Irish accent. She froze, staring into my eyes. Without fail it happened to every fucking woman I met except Mel. The one person I wished it did happen with.

“Liam, stop before you give the poor woman a heart attack.” Mel smiled up at me, but all I saw were knives in her eyes before she turned back to Jan. “Please don’t mind him. He doesn’t know the full extent of his Irish charm.”

I rolled my eyes and kissed her cheek affectionately. I felt her stiffen just slightly, but she didn’t break out of character. “All I needed it for was to catch you.”

I still needed it to catch her.

“This is going to be a great interview. I can feel it. Are you both ready?” Jan asked. Nodding we walked over to the chairs that were staged for us. I waited for Mel to sit down first before taking mine right next to her. The moment I did, she leaned in like a fucking pro and placed her hand on my knee. For someone who had never done an interview before she was doing well. Crossing all the t’s and dotting her i’s. But that was my wife, a master manipulator.

“First of all, it’s my pleasure to be sitting across from America’s Royal Couple,” Jan said to us, leaning forward.

Mel looked at me, and I knew that if Jan wasn’t careful, my wife would kill her.

“America’s Royal Couple?” she smiled before letting out a small fake laugh.

“Yes, Mrs. Callahan, all of America loves you, and I have to say I personally loved your wedding dress. After your wedding, orders came flying in all over the country,” Jan said, gushing.

“Oh, my God, really?” Mel blushed, looking innocent and doe-eyed while she held on to my knee with a grip from hell. “That is so odd to me. Suddenly, everyone cares about my clothing and hair. I feel like a celebrity or something.”

“Believe me when I say there are no bigger celebrities than you two. My friends are even trying to figure out the secret behind the Liam Callahan sex hair,” she continued, and it took all I had not to groan instead of smile for the fucking camera.

“Honestly, I do nothing,” I said, laughing.

“Because he is Liam Callahan and is naturally sexy,” Mel continued, before sticking her tongue out. So I leaned in and kissed her lips.

“See why I can never win a fight?” Mel frowned back at Jan, before grinning again. “He just kisses me, or worse takes off his shirt, and I’m completely dumbfounded.”

If only that was fucking true.

“Yes, because I’m Liam Callahan and naturally sexy,” I said, throwing her words back at her before turning to Jan. “Do you think we can get that on a bumper sticker?”

Mel hit me, laughing softly, and I disliked it simply because it wasn’t her. This bubbly, preppy faker was not my wife. It was odd, because I had wanted her to be like this before we met. However, my Mel, both in private and with our men, was stronger, ruthless, and sexy. This Mel was cute, but it wasn’t her, and I wanted her to be who she truly was when she was with me.

“So the very first question the world wants to know is . . . where did you two meet?” Jan asked.

MELODY

I groaned as we walked into the study. “Thank motherfucking God.”

Liam handed me a glass of brandy, reminding me, once again, that I needed to have someone set up my wine in here. “I’m surprised you didn’t kill her when she asked if you were pregnant,” he said, watching me carefully as I drank.

“Me, too. Apparently, marriage has made me soft,” I replied, turning back to the paperwork on the desk before us.

He wrapped his arms around me slowly, and I felt my body automatically begin to relax into him. I wasn’t sure when it started, or if it was due to all the sex, but it did that now. My body now knew his touch and was accepting of it, in fact, it enjoyed it. I enjoyed it.

What the fuck was happening to me?

“Liam, we need to make sure everyone believes Amory killed my father and prepare for Italy,” I murmured, but he just kissed along my shoulder and neck. “I’m serious. Cork your cock, and let’s finish this before Evelyn drags us out for the dinner.”

He groaned, pulling away, and my body instantly missed his warmth. Drinking some more, he sat down, looking at the file after I pushed it toward him.

“Six of Vance’s most prized cars will be en route from Suvereto to Lucignano. It’s about one hundred and four miles, but they will take the back roads because it’s safer and the roads are clear of police. I don’t care if they are Vance’s men or not, they are still men,” I replied, showing him the map.

He looked at me with an eyebrow raised and with a twinge of lust as always. He was such a fucking sex addict.

“What is that supposed to mean?”

“It means if they have dicks, they are male. If they are male, and you put them behind the wheel of a multimillion dollar sports car, they will break the speed limit. They will race each other, because males have to prove they are better in everything.” I rolled my eyes.

He glared up at me as he gripped my arm. “You know I hate it when you refer to any other man’s dick but mine.”

“Get over it, it’s not like I’m sucking it,” I said, glaring at his hand. He had one second to let go before I cut it off.

“Fuck, Mel. Why must you always try to piss me off?” His eyes narrowed before he finally let me go.

“The American Royal Couple, remember? That means I embody freedom of fucking speech.”

Before he could reply, there was a knock on the door.

“Great. It’s your mother.” I sighed and prepared myself to be civil.

Rolling his eyes, Liam turned toward the door. “Enter.”

However, the person who entered was not Evelyn, but Declan, whose eyes were dark and his jaw set.

“The new Chicago Police Superintendent is here and wishes to speak with you,” he said, glowering. I looked back to Liam who was now sitting up straight in his chair scowling at the door with the promise of death and blood in his eyes. This Liam I found to be the sexiest of all.

“Bring him through,” he said softly.

Declan stepped aside, allowing a middle-aged man, though younger than I would think a Superintendent would be, to step forward. Beside him, another man around his age entered. They both looked unafraid, which meant they were either naïve or stupid.

“Thank you, Declan,” Liam called out. Declan eyed the officers, his jaw grinding, before walking out and shutting the door behind him.

“Superintendent Andrew Patterson is it? What brings you to my neck of the woods?” Liam asked as I took a seat on the desk crossing my legs.

“Yes it is, Mr. Callahan,” he said before glancing at me. “We came to talk to you privately.”

Privately? This mother-fuckering bitch.

“I think I’ll stay,” I said as kindly as possible, before Liam could speak.

Liam snickered, leaning back in his chair. “Well, you heard the lady.”

“As you know, Mr. Callahan, in fact, I’ll call you Liam, I’m the new Superintendent because the former decided to retire early. I was chosen by the good people of Chicago to make this city safe. Something it hasn’t been in a long fucking time. I know who you are. I know what you do, and I’m here to warn you that your days of walking all over the law are over. I won’t stop until you and the rest of your kind are where you belong. Behind bars reaching for soap.”

Liam laughed, looking at me. “Sweetheart, we really have to start voting. Look what happens when we don’t. Some idiot gets a badge and a gun and tries to pick a fight.”

“It’s not too late,” I said, smiling as I moved beside him. “He won’t stop. So all we have to do is kill him and then make sure to fill out the next ballot.”

The darker skinned officer beside the fool stepped forward. “Is that a threat, Mrs. Callahan?”

I smiled. “With my hand on the fucking bible, you very stupid man.”

Superintendent Patterson looked at me, shocked. “Maybe you didn’t hear me—”

“No, we heard you clearly,” Liam snapped, his eyes narrowing dangerously. “But it’s time for you to hear me. You think you can run this city? My fucking city? I fucking own it. I fucking bought it! I fucking fought over it! No crackhead bitch over on the corner of Jump Street, and damn well no 5-0 with his Smokey the Bear looking sidekick, will ever tell me differently. I own Chicago! Which means I fucking own you!”

Patterson stepped forward. “You may think you walk on water, but you are just a man, Liam Callahan, nothing more, and I’m not afraid of you. I will use every measure of the law and every man I have to put you down like the fucking dog you are!”

I had to hand it to him, the man had balls. He was a fucking idiot, but he had balls.

“You think you will,” I replied, as Liam breathed through his nostrils and stood up. “You think you have every cop, but you don’t. You never will. What happens if someone were to pop off their families? They aren’t all like you Superintendent Patterson. You lost your wife, your child, and your fucking house.” He looked at me surprised, as if I wouldn’t do a background check on the new head of the police department. “You lost it all, and now you think you have nothing to lose. Well, believe me, you do. You are not the first man who thought he could control this city through law and order. You are replaceable.”

Liam moved from around the desk to meet his gaze. “You think you can change the world? You think you can change my fucking city? Here is a reality check for you. One cop down a day, one family member a day how do you think your men will like that? This town will bleed. I will make it rain blood and tears. It will taint your hands so badly you will never be able to wash it off. Those men will hate you. I wouldn’t be surprised if they put a bullet in your skull themselves.”

Liam took another step right in front of the fucker’s face.

“I will unleash hell on these streets like you have never seen, and when a mother comes to you with a picture of her dead son, when your people are so afraid that they sleep in bullet-proof vests and they turn to you, tell them it’s because you thought you could step up to me. Tell them it was because you were an idiot and stepped into the wrong house one Saturday,” Liam said, and I couldn’t deny how sexy I found him at that very second.

Walking over to the door, I held it open. “You’ve been uninvited, which means get the fuck out of my house before I use my second amendment rights and blow you the fuck away.”

They left quickly after that, and when they did, I let the door slam behind them before I walked over to Liam and kissed him deeply. He lifted me up and carried me to the desk laying me out on it. He spread my legs with his knee as his hands traveled up my stomach and then to my breasts while he kissed the side of my face.

But before he could rip my shirt off, I grabbed a gold-plated letter opener and held it to his neck. He froze, staring at me in shock and confusion.

“Remember how close you came today to having me in this office,” I said, pressing the opener just a little bit harder into his neck. “Then remember you do not own Chicago. We own Chicago, which you forgot in the heat of your roaring. We! Next time you forget, I will cut you from the tip of your pretty chin to your heart. Now off.”

He glared into my eyes, grabbing my wrists and squeezing until the letter opener fell from my grasp. His hands went to my neck, and I saw the very monster I lusted over staring at me back in the eyes. Even then, I still found it sexy.

“I’ve told you once—but I will tell you again seeing as how you are my wife, whom I trust and care for in too many twisted ways to describe—do not ever hold a weapon to me.”

He kissed my lips hard again before letting go of me and stepping back. I began fixing my dress, as he went straight for the brandy.

“We are going to have to kill the Vance mission,” I replied, walking up to him to fix his tie.

He looked angry, frustrated, and bloodthirsty. “And why the fuck is that? That bitch and his sidekick have nothing to do with Italy.”

“Liam,” I hissed pulling on his tie. “We are about to go to war. We will not be stuck in the middle of Vance and the Chicago PD. Especially when our men are acting like children and fucking up every time we look away. They hate each other.”

“Hate is a strong word.”

“Since I’ve gotten here, has there been one night where either of our men haven’t insulted or tried to kill each other?”

His pink lips parted for a quick second before closing again.

“Exactly.”

“We Irish have been fighting you Italians for generations. Of course they are not going to stop just because you’re sprawled out in my bed.”

The grin on his face, like an obese cat after a meal, made my blood run hot. When was he going to get it?

“You are a fucking . . . it is this thing you Irish do that pisses us off. You don’t think before you speak. Sei in ottone, idioti maleducati, egoisti e cazzo, razza di mangiare, dormire, uccidere e gobba come cani!”

“I’m sorry you lost me after speak.”

Talking a deep breath I took a few steps away from him, trying my best not to just . . . ah. “How can someone with your IQ not have taken the initiative to learn Italian?”

“Have you seen the Sleeping Dictionary?”

“The what?”

“In the movie this Englishman goes to a foreign country in the nineteen thirties to help colonialize the area. But he doesn’t know the language so they give him this beautiful village girl whom he sleeps with and shares words until he knows the language.”

I . . . I couldn’t even. He had to be a masochist or just enjoyed fucking with me. I didn’t have the energy for this.

“Let me guess, the movie was written and directed by men. Voi tutti mi fai schifo.”²⁰

The corners of his jaw turned up as his shoulders relaxed leaning on the front of his desk.

“So, dear wife, what shall we do about our men?”

“Tonight we go to dinner and tomorrow we prepare for camp,” I said with a smile of my own.

He stared at me as though I had lost my fucking mind. “Camp?”

“When I took over as Boss my men didn’t trust me. They didn’t think I could lead them and when I brought in new people, they didn’t trust them either. I bought a stretch of forest near Cascadia, Oregon and made it into sort of a camp. It’s their moment to let their guard down, because the place is like a fucking fort. The hackers all spend time playing with the newest toys I provide them. All I ask is that they don’t get on any FBI lists. The very fact that I have to tell them that is beyond me. The woods are filled with targets to challenge snipers. The gym is for the hand-to-hand knife nuts, and there are seven chefs there around the fucking clock to feed them. They kill things together, they eat together, and they sleep in the same houses. By the end of the week, they are brothers.” It was genius on my part, and I could see it in his eyes as well.

“One week? That’s it, and then we will be the Brady Bunch?”

“Well, they won’t be trying to kill each other as often. That’s a start.”

He shrugged. “Well, wife, to camp we go then.”

I grinned almost wanting to take more pride in his words. “No women allowed other than Adriana and me.”

“What the fuck is with this Adriana?”

“She is part of the crew, Liam, and if you saw past the physical looks, you would know that. She is a trained marksman, expert profiler, and a damn good personal dresser,” I added, pushing away from him to grab my phone off the desk.

“I still want to take out Vance’s cars.” He frowned. Men and their cars.

“We can, and we will.” I smirked, already loving the plan forming in my head. “Except this time we will have to steal it from Vance’s estate before he gets there.”

He looked at me, grinning like a mad fool, and stepped forward brushing the side of my cheek.

“Fucking perfect,” he said to me before kissing me once again, and I knew this time there was no stopping him.