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—”
“His voice makes me want to shoot myself.” I groaned muting the computer in front us. “Maybe we should kill him now. Don’t we have snipers in the area?”
Liam drank my wine as he relaxed as well. “You and I both know that would be a bad idea. Tomorrow begins the reign of terror, just hold off another twelve hours.”
Sighing, I looked to the computer screen where the idiot was still speaking.
“Does he really believe anyone is going to talk?”
“They would have to be pure idiots,” Liam said. However, Fedel stood up and placed another file in front us.
“What is this?” I asked, but the moment I opened it, a grin spread across my face as I handed it to Liam, waiting to see how he would react.
“Jesus Christ, you did this in church?” He laughed, lifting up the hospital photo of Natasha. I should have just killed her.
“I was told you saw her for breakfast,” I stated, and he looked up to me, eyes wide, before turning to Fedel.
His jaw set as he threw the photo back on the table. “You had me followed?” he hissed.
“The morning you were being an ass,” I paused and, grabbing the brandy, added, “the morning you were being a giant ass, I had you followed and your ex-girlf—”
“She was a bitch I fucked in the past, not my ex-girlfriend,” he snapped.
Leaning in, I made sure he could see my eyes. “I’m not sorry, not even a little bit, and I don’t care who she was. She wanted to be a part of your future, and I made sure she knew what would happen if she crossed that line again.”
His nose flared but he simply glared at Fedel. “Why are you showing this to us?”
“Ms. Briar filed a police report to Sam, claiming, ma’am, that you were the one who attacked her. Brooks is waiting for your directions,” Fedel replied.
“Kill her,” he demanded. “I warned her when she ambushed me before.”
“That would look bad.” I sighed because I really did want the bitch dead. “If she were to be killed, it would be too obvious. She has family. They would realize it, and that is just too many loose ends for one whore.”
I just wasn’t sure what to do with her.
Liam pinched the bridge of his nose before lifting up the photo again. “A broken nose and jaw, large abrasions across the forehead, with trace amount of bleach in her throat.
“Bleach in her throat?”
I shrugged. “They must have used bleach in the toilet bowl I stuck her head in.”
He tried not to smile, but I could see his lips twitch up. Shaking his head, he placed the file back down.
“Ninety percent of those wounds could have been self-inflicted. After all she is a very unstable woman with a history of stalking and violent acts in a fit of jealously,” he said, seriously, looking over to Declan, who looked much better than he did earlier in the week. He was lucky I had only used my small knife.
“Declan, make sure all records of Natasha Briar list her as mentally unbalanced. Fedel, have Brooks flag her as mentally ill as well by whatever doctor she visited—pay him well enough to make sure he stresses the need to get her ‘help’—and by the end of the week, make sure she should be in West Ridge.”
“West Ridge is the worst mental hospital in the state, if not the country.” I smiled. If Natasha wasn’t crazy now, she would be.
“I know. We can kill her after the dust settles.” He smiled back.
“How romantic. I hate blondes.” I laughed along with him. However, I stopped when I heard a snicker.
“Poor Olivia.” Liam turned to Neal. I didn’t bother giving him a glance.
“I don’t give a shit,” I replied, looking out the window. “She should be happy I took it easy on him.”
Liam shook his head. “You broke his nose—something I’m starting to see you’re good at—and damn well choked the life out of him, then tasered him.”
“Are you defending him? I did worse to Declan, and he didn’t even shoot you.” He was too calm about this, and it pissed me the fuck off.
“I second that,” Declan muttered just loud enough so we could hear him.
Liam rolled his eyes. “We’re going to war, remember. After tomorrow, hell is going to break loose. We are family, and we need to make sure our personal shit is together. Besides, you stabbed Declan with a knife the size of a dagger.”