“One...” He began.
“Two…” I countered, and on three, we both spoke.
“Neal.”
“Olivia.”
We both paused.
“Why Olivia?” he asked me, and all I could do was look at him with my eyebrow raised. However, he shook his head. “She’s jealous and spoiled, but I doubt she has the skills to pull anything this elaborate off.”
That was true, but…“Maybe if it was just Olivia alone. But Avian could be protecting her.”
“But Olivia is adamantly against our lifestyle. We’re ‘evil,’ remember? Sadistic even, according to her,” he mocked as we stopped at the light.
“You know what I think is sadistic? People know who we are and what we do. But yet they still lie, cheat, and steal from us, thinking that there will be no repercussions. Somehow we’re the depraved ones in their fucked logic. Don't cross the mob and you get to live. How many more mafia movies does Robert De Niro have to be in before people get that?”
He looked at me before he broke out into a fit of laughter.
“Look, I’m not a hundred percent sure about Olivia, but my instincts tell me to not trust her. Why do you believe it’s Neal?” I asked him.
“He’s my older brother,” Liam replied as if that was reason enough. But then again that was enough. I wasn’t sure if anything could have ever cleansed the bad blood between them, but at the end of the day, Neal was still his brother.
“Do you think they’re in it together?” Though I wondered how either of them could possibly keep such a thing from each other.
Liam thought for a moment and then sighed as his phone went off. Reaching for it, he quickly read through the text and smirked.
“What is it?”
“The White House chief of staff is wondering if we had time to come to pay a visit late next week for an award ceremony and dinner dedicated to our service. It’s perfect. Let’s leave tomorrow.”
What?
“Tomorrow? Why in the hell would we do that?” I’d just gotten back.
“We’re at war, Mel. We’ve taken things slow to repair as much as possible” He smiled before sitting up. “But it’s time we stopped fighting in our own backyard and go into Avian’s. He’s been separating his criminal life from his professional, so now we’re going to collide them both and watch it burn.”
“I’m not a pyromaniac, but you just might be,” I said, as I turned into the city. “Fine. But I do want the whole family to come along as well. If only to keep an eye on them.”
“Coraline and Declan will have to stay behind. There’s a void in dealers with Roy gone. Someone else will try to push their luck and step up, I’d rather keep them all on a very short leash,” he reminded me.
“Short leashes easily lead to the master,” I paused, thinking for a moment. “Have you ever thought that maybe Declan and Coraline could be the mole?”
The moment I said it, his face fell and he shook his head. “Not Declan. Never Declan.”
He said it with such conviction that I didn’t push him any further on the matter. However, I had to get the thought out there.
I wasn’t sure about Declan, but I knew Coraline…But then again, I’d thought I knew Adriana as well.
“Wife. Not Declan,” Liam said to me again as if he could read my mind.
“Okay.” For everyone’s sake, I hoped it wasn’t anyone in the family.
TWELVE
“Everything in the world is about sex except sex. Sex is about power.”
—Oscar Wilde
MELODY
By the time we’d gotten back, it was almost time for the family dinner. Liam had taken a shower while I visited Ethan, so now I was running behind. The last thing I needed was for Evelyn to hate me even more for messing up her family time. I had just put in my earring when I turned to find Liam leaning against the frame of our bedroom door. He stood there, arms folded over his chest, with his green eyes focused on me as they traveled down the length of my body, from my heels, to my back, to my eyes.
“What is it, Liam?” I said as I placed my hands on my hips. Something felt off. “Do you not like the dress—?”
“No, so take it off,” he demanded as he closed our door and locked it.
“Liam, later. Dinner is—”
“Dinner has been canceled. Ethan has eaten and is now resting in Cora and Declan’s room, where he will stay for the rest of the night. Why isn’t that dress off yet?” he asked as he took his suit jacket off.
What the fuck was this?
“It wasn’t a request, Melody.” He turned to me and I couldn’t deny that I was just a little turned on. Slowly, I reached behind me and pulled down the zipper, and when it slipped from my body to the ground, he glanced up at me briefly before he returned his attention to removing his cuff links.
“Your bra and panties, I want them gone.” His voice even sounded deeper…no, colder. He had given me no room to argue, but I didn’t want to. So I did as he said and undid my bra, allowing it, and my panties, to join my dress on the floor.
I stood there completely naked, with the exception of my heels, and once again he spared me one glance.
“Necklace, and earrings.”
Taking them both off, I dropped them onto the growing pile on the bedroom floor.
“What about my heels—?”
“Keep them on,” he cut me off as he took a seat. He had taken off his shoes, belt and coat jacket, but other than that, he was still fully dressed.
“Liam, this isn’t fair, you’re—”
“I could give a damn about being fair, wife. Keep your hands at your sides,” he replied leaning back in the chair as his eyes followed every single line on my body.
That was the second time he had bloody interrupted me.
“You’re pushing it, hus—”
“Did you really think I would be satisfied with one quick screw in the boxing ring?” He finally stood up, loosened his tie, and walked over to me. He reached up and stroked the side of my face, then he smeared the lipstick off my lips with his thumb. “I’m hungry, Mel. I was starved for five months. I need more than one quick fuck.”
His hands wandered down my neck, and I felt like it was getting harder to breathe. His presence, his dominance, everything about him made my whole body feel like liquid fire.
“You won’t bow down to me outside of this room, but I swear that tonight I will watch you tremble underneath me,” he whispered as he placed his hands on my shoulders and walked behind me. Soon I felt his hands travel down my spine as he circled back around me and stared into my eyes.
“That way we won’t be separated again, because when I’m done, you’ll need it every day for the rest of your life. I’m going to make sure you are only addicted to me in both pleasure and pain. Any questions?”
I swallowed and nodded my head, I wasn’t even sure if I still knew how to speak.
“Take my tie off, Mel.”
Reaching up I pulled it from his neck.
“Now tie it around your eyes.”
As I did, my world went dark and I felt his thumb once more as it brushed over my lips.
“These lips of yours, if you only know how sinful they make me. What I want to do to them…and to you.”