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.”