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.”