Day 7
I pressed my dress down for what had to be the ninth time since we stepped out of the car. I felt like I was going to jump out of my skin. I was so excited to see him. However, the first person to step out of the jet was one of the men I didn’t recognize, followed by Mel. She looked me over as she made her way toward me.
However, I couldn’t pay attention because there was my Declan. His eyebrows squished together as he looked at my hair.
“Do you like it?” I asked him as I brushed the back down a little.
He reached over and played with a little before looking back to me. “I’m kind of shocked, but you look cute.”
Cute, not beautiful, but I would take that for now. It was better than nothing.
TWENTY-TWO
“It is surely easier to confess a murder over a cup of coffee
than in front of a jury.”
~ Friedrich Dürrenmatt
LIAM
“That’s right, you little shit, come closer,” she said as she eyed the deer standing a few dozen feet away.
“Relax your arm and breathe,” I told her, resting my head right beside hers.
“My arm is relaxed, and you’re doing enough breathing for the both of us,” she replied like the smartass she was.
Backing away from her, I rolled my eyes. “Well then, go ahead, kill Bambi.”
She released the arrow and just like I figured, it went right past the deer’s head, causing it to run away in fear. She watched it disappear into the forest in silent rage before turning back to me. Handing me the bow and arrows, she pulled out a gun, and I tried not to laugh.
“I could kill it so much better with this!” she yelled, and it was cute, especially since I knew I wasn’t the source of her rage.
“That’s not the point.” I lifted the bow to the sky, pulling it back and releasing the arrow. It went straight through a bird’s heart. Mel simply rolled her eyes, pointing to the sky and shot three times.
“Three birds for me, one for you. What’s the point again?” She smiled, looking down at the . . . fuck.
“We just killed Mockingbirds.” I frowned, kneeling down to stare at the four birds now half-blown to pieces on the ground.
“Please, tell me you’re joking.”
Smiling at her once more, I stood and released another arrow into the tree, watching another one of the beautiful birds fall to its death.
“Show off.”
“I found the one weapon my wife can’t use.” I grinned as she glared at me. “I think I’ll show it off as much as possible.”
“I’m a people hunter! Who hunts people with arrows?” she snapped, and I opened my mouth to speak but she glared.
“If you say the Green Arrow I will shoot you in the other thigh,” she added, and all I could do was smirk at her.
“All people are animals, love. They freeze when they are afraid. They cry out in pain as they die. A hunter is a hunter, and if you can kill a deer, you can kill a person. It’s that simple,” I replied. “Plus, I wasn’t going to say the Green Arrow, maybe Hawkeye or Katniss Everdeen, but definitely not the Green Arrow.”
Her eyes became wide, and she turned away from me, heading back to camp. It wasn’t hard catching up to her.
“You are such a child,” she said, but I could see the smallest grin on her lips.
“Yeah, yeah,” I said, taking her hand and pulling her to me. She looked at her hands and then to me. I knew she was somewhat uncomfortable, but she didn’t pull away.
“What? Aren’t you going to ask me to go steady first?”
“Maybe if we were in the nineteen fifties.”
“Have you ever been on a date?” I asked her, causing us to stop.
“I don’t date, and you better not try any of that romantic shit on me either,” she said.
“Girls like romantic shit.” I smiled. She always made me smile, and I wasn’t sure if I could bring myself to hide it from her or the world.
“I’m not ‘girls.’ I’m Melody.”
“We can compromise,” I said, leaning against one of the tress.
She crossed her arms and stood straighter. “Or I could shoot you.”
“Violence is not the answer, love. Well violence against me isn’t the answer,” I replied, thinking quickly. “We can have private dates. You and I in our bedroom, where only I can see you being kind.”
Before she could speak, I pulled her toward me and pressed her up against the tree, kissing her ruthlessly, only to break away.
“On special occasions, we can kill the cops or anyone else who gets in our way in our pajamas again. We can watch as they bleed out and burn, drink wine and have each other over and over again. After all, we are both people hunters,” I whispered into the distance between our lips.
She kissed me, pressing her whole body against mine and broke away with a grin. “You sure know how to charm a woman.”
Her words made me so hard I lifted her up and pinned her against the bark. God, I loved my wife.
“Sir, ma’am,” a voice called out from behind us, and right then and there, I wanted to snap his neck. The darkness in Mel’s eyes told me she wanted him dead as well.
Breaking away from me, she turned to Fedel who stood with his back turned. “What!”
He didn’t turnaround. “The jet has been fueled and will be ready to depart. Neither of your phones were working, but your father, sir, has tried to reach you. The police commissioner is giving a statement to the press about the fire in an hour. They also came by the house this morning.”
That bitch came to my motherfucking house again? He was just asking to fucking die!
“Are the men ready?” Mel asked, adjusting her clothing, but she didn’t need to—she always looked the same—beautiful, deadly, and fuckable.
“Yes, ma’am. Monte and all the others who drove left last night,” he answered quickly. He was definitely more afraid of Mel than he was of me. I was going to have to balance that scale as well.
“Leave us,” I demanded, and he was gone. Turning to my wife, I tried to breathe calmly, however I wanted the cop fucker dead.
“I’m going to kill him,” I told her. “I’ll find out—”
“It won’t work. You have to break him.” She sighed, stepping in front of me. “Killing him is only half the battle. He is becoming a model for the rest of the force. He is becoming a hero. He is going to give some uplifting speech and try and reinstate a hope for better future. It’s time we do what we promised to do if he didn’t back down.”
“We make Chicago bleed,” I said, and she nodded.
“When the crime is in the ghettos, no one gives a shit. When the crime makes its way to the suburbs, people demand better from their police officers.”
“They begin to distrust them. When they do, we will step forward and remind them why they love the Callahans.”
“I will have Declan and Monte hack the records and find all the police officers who have families.” She smiled, but it wasn’t enough. I wanted the city and the state to cry out in agony.
“Not just the police,” I added as we headed back to camp. “I want the names of every judge, politician, and businessman who does not support our family. You step in front of us, we blow a hole through you and every last person who ever knew you.”
There would be blood, and lots of it.
MELODY
“People of Chicago, I come to you now because I know you are afraid. I’m from Chicago. I know this city like the back of my hand, and I know that we can get back to the glory days. It’s why the Chicago PD is working overtime to make our cities safe. If you see anything, we will protect you if you come forward. It’s time we take our city back from those who believe we have given up. From those who think we are just going to allow them to keep—”