“Hi, Olivia,” I whispered pressing the knife into her white skin even harder. Her eyes rolled back and I slapped her hard across the face keep her awake. Her blood dripped from the side of her head from where I’d smashed it with a dish.
“Melody, whatever it is you—”
I pulled onto her hair tighter, her head lifting up. “You helped Avian, and caused my husband to be sent to jail all in the hopes of stealing our lives and our son. That was your deal, right? You stupid, incompetent, naïve, little bitch.”
“Mel—”
“That was the deal, wasn’t it?!” Taking the knife, I stabbed her in the thigh.
“MELODY!” she screamed as her hands rushed to her thigh when I pulled the knife out.
“Say the truth for once, Olivia. I already know it, but I need to hear it from you,” I said, as I pressed the bloody knife into her neck once more. “SAY IT!”
The tears fell from her face as she began to sob.
“I don’t have time for this shit,” I muttered as I pulled the knife back
“I—I…did it,” her voice broke. “I made the deal. He contacted me after my father won the election. He promised me that Neal and I would take over. He wanted you gone, but he still needed the drug trade going and that—”
“And what?” I hissed.
“Ethan. He promised me that I would get Ethan.”
“You—”
“Melody,” Liam stopped me from craving her face up.
“Get up,” he said to her when I let go.
She didn’t move.
“You have five seconds starting now. Five…four…three…two—” Before he got to one, she got to her feet, and the moment she did, I punched her square in the jaw. She stumbled backwards, but I didn’t stop. I couldn’t stop. I punched her repeatedly, and her body fell to the ground, I would have gone further, but I felt Liam’s arms as they wrapped around me and pulled me back.
“Take her away for now, and make sure she doesn’t do anything foolish,” he said to both Monte and Kain.
I hadn’t even noticed when they’d entered.
She was out cold, with blood dripping from her face as I took a deep breath.
“What happened to calm?” Liam questioned me from behind.
Turning to him, I glared. “I was calm! She’s alive, isn't she? For five months, I couldn’t hold him. For five months, I ran around watching from computer cafes and cell phones while she held him. While she read to him and tucked him in! While she was his mother, not me! I can handle everything, but not Ethan. Don’t fuck with my child.”
“I’ll handle her,” he stated as he put his hand on the sides of my face and forced me to look at him and breathe.
I nodded. “Have Monte patch up her fucking face, and give her a damn Xanax. She’ll bloody well need it to make it through the rest of the day. After all, we wouldn’t want Avian to miss his puppet. I’m going to sit with Ethan.”
Goddamn I hated her.
LIAM
Reaching up, I cracked the smelling salts open under her nose, causing her to wake up. She sat up quickly, and for a moment I saw relief in her eyes until she noticed the zip ties around her wrists. She pulled against them as if they would simply break.
“You’re going to leave marks if you keep at it,” I said, as I rolled up my sleeves and took a seat in front of her.
“I want to speak to Neal.”
“Your wants are no longer any concern of mine.”
“You can’t do this!” she shrieked at me. “I’m the President’s daughter! I’m your brother’s wife! You can’t do this to me.”
“And yet, here I am. Funnily enough, it’s because of those two things that you’re not dead. Yet.”
Her eyes glazed over with tears. “I want to talk to Neal.”
“Neal knows where you are, if he wanted to talk to you, he would’ve been here,” I replied as Monte came in with a bag, a rag, and a bowl of water.
“Neal—Neal knows I’m here?” she whispered.
“Neal’s the reason you’re here, he was the one who got us the proof that you are nothing but a lying, manipulative bitch. Though Melody and I have known that fact for a while.”
She began to shake and I wanted to roll my damn eyes at the dramatics of it all.
“I—I…No. I…But I…I don’t understand. No! None of this makes sense, this is not how it was supposed to happen. No, I don’t understand, everything was fine.”
“Just because you have deluded yourself into believing that, does not make it true. Welcome to reality, Olivia, and it’s going to hurt like a bitch.”
“Liam—”
“No. No. No. It’s Mr. Callahan to you, Ms. Colemen. Only family calls me Liam, and that no longer applies to you.”
“I’m still your brother’s wife.”
“Is that so? Where’s your ring?” Her head dropped to the empty spot on her finger. Her entire body hunched over as she let loose a dry sob.
I held the ring up for her to see. “This is a family heirloom, and once again, you are not family. Instead, you will be given another ring to wear while out in public. As you said, you are the President’s daughter, and you are also our connection to Avian, we cannot kill you outright. Though I’m sure Mel is just itching to rip your head off.”
She didn’t seem to be listening to any of the words coming out of my mouth, so I gave her the bottle of water at my feet, along with two pills. She looked down at them and then back at me.
“I just said I wasn’t going to kill you. Be smart, Olivia, you’re going to need your strength for this afternoon’s award ceremony. I heard there is going to be strawberry shortcake, your favorite.” I smiled at her, as I waited for her to take them.
“I’m not going to be paraded around like—”
“Again, Olivia, it’s not up to you. Maybe you do not understand, so I will explain it just this once. You went against this family. I always knew that in some way you would come after us, but I, for some reason, thought it was your morality that would be your motivator. But no, you were reaching for the crown and you failed. You fucking failed, Olivia, and in the worst way possible.
“You may have been able to get away with it while Mel and I were both gone, but you should have known better. You were sloppy, prideful, and just plain ignorant. You are not good enough. You failed. And failure comes with consequences. It means you have no rights, no dreams, and no hopes. You’re nobody. You’re nothing but a pawn on my chessboard. So when I say you are going to fix yourself up; wear that pretty dress, come to the White House, and smile with your daddy, the President, that means you have no choice in the matter. Now take the fucking pills.”
I pulled out a knife, and cut the zip ties around her wrists, allowing her to take the pills and drink them down.
“Avian is going to know something is wrong.”
I laughed. “You think he’s your friend? For the sake of your life, you better make sure he doesn’t. You’re a loose end. The man drove his own daughter to the brink of insanity. One of us is going to kill you, the only difference is that I can promise you that you won’t be dumped in some river or buried in a shallow grave only to be eaten by rats. You can still be buried on the Callahan cemetery plot. So start thinking about what you want your headstone to say.”