“I will come after you,” I told her, pulled the phone away from my ear in order to breathe. I walked over to Ethan and placed the phone right next to his ear.
If she honestly thought I was just going to let her go, she was fucking crazy. Her mother had truly fucked with her mind. Listening to her coo at Ethan, my heart burned through my chest. What could make her not want to come home? What was going on?
“Mommy will never ever abandon you, I swear. I love you, my sweet baby. I love you so much.”
I pulled the phone from his ear and spoke into the receiver. “If you truly love us, come home. Let me bring you home.”
“If I came home, I would only hurt you and him. I need to fix me,” she whispered. “I love you so much.”
“I love you t—” My voice broke. “Melody, don’t do this.”
“I…” she tried to say. “Liam, Ivan is a code name for someone in the government. I saw his name on the guest list for Senator Colemen. I think it is Avian Doers.”
That was all I heard before silence rang out on the other end.
“Melody?”
Silence.
“Mel?”
Silence.
“Wife, answer me!”
I didn’t want her to be gone. I couldn’t handle her being gone. It felt as though my body was too heavy to stay upright on its own, like the world was crushing my lungs. The phone, like everything I held dear to me, slipped out of my hands. When had everything gone so wrong? When had I failed? How could she just leave? What had happen to her?
“Liam.”
“WHAT!” I yelled so loudly that Ethan jumped before letting out cries, and part of me wanted to join him. Taking him into my arms, I wrapped myself around his tiny body. “I’m sorry, kiddo,” I whispered into his ear.
“Son,” My father stepped in, “The police have a warrant out for your arrest. They will be here in thirty minutes. We need—”
“Make sure all our rooms are secured and I’ll be out in twenty-five minutes. Send Mother in.”
“Liam, you can’t be—”
“Goodbye, Father,” I said to him, taking a seat in the rocking chair. Staring at the big eyes looking back at me, I tried to think of what I was going to say to my son.
“Your mother and I are starting this parenting thing badly,” I told him when the door closed. “But we’ll make it up to you, I swear. I hope when you’re my age you look back and all you see is us, that we didn’t miss anything. Rule number six: sometimes in order to win, you have to lose.”
He smiled and for a moment, and it was like he could read my mind. He reached out for me and I kissed his hands as I cradled his little head.
“Don’t worry, you’ll never learn them all. I think my father made them up as he went.” I rocked him until his eyes drifted closed.
He was another thing I didn’t want to let go of. Placing him back in his crib, I fixed my suit and brushed my hair just as my mother walked in, fire burning in her eyes.
“Your father says you’ve lost your mind.”
I kissed her cheek. “I don’t want Olivia to touch him. Neal either, for that matter. Please, keep him safe until this is over, or I get out, whichever happens first.”
She slapped me. “So you have lost your mind. Liam, we can call the lawyer, make bail. Just because they arrest you doesn’t mean this is over. They still have to prove you’re guilty. That’s democracy.”
“Mom, no judge will give me bail. I will be gone for a while until I prove my innocence. But if it makes you feel better, call the lawyer.”
Looking back at Ethan once more, I walked out to find my whole family lining the hall, each of them just as angry as my mother.
“Make sure nothing derails Senator Colemen from becoming President, am I understood?”
“Fuck that!” Neal snapped. “What about you? You can’t just walk out there. Have you lost your fucking mind?”
“I second that.” Declan walked up, trying to read me. Leaning in, he whispered, “Is there a plan here? You have an endgame, right?”
“Just to proclaim my innocence to whoever will listen,” I said. “Don’t break anything while I’m gone.”
Walking down the hall, every servant came out to watch as well. They poked out of rooms, and even froze on the grand stairs as I walked towards the door. Among them, the little boy I smuggled over was holding onto his mother’s dress.
“It wasn’t me. I swear, sir. I swear,” she cried, holding him closer to her.
BOOM.
BOOM.
BOOM.
“Mr. Liam Callahan, this is the Chicago Police Department, we have a warrant for your arrest in the murder of Melody Nicci Giovanni Callahan.”