There were gasps, followed by a round of applause as the woman stared at me flabbergasted.
“Mrs. Callahan, you truly are a Godsend. Thank you so much!” she said, starting the applause all over again. I smiled and waved like a broken doll before taking my seat again.
“Now we’re going to have to sit through art shows every damn month.” Olivia sighed.
Then I would buy the paintings every damn month to get it over with.
“This concludes our afternoon. Your artwork will be shipped to you this evening!” the woman said. I wrote a check, waving it for one of her art-boys to come snatch it up like a wild animal.
We all but ran out of there, and it wasn’t until we were in the car that Coraline broke out into laughter.
“Thank God. We came late and it still felt like we had been in there forever.”
“Now you all know how I feel. How dare you leave me all alone with those people?” Evelyn scoffed, pulling out her phone.
“I’m sorry, but God comes first, what can I say?” I added, finally able to relax into my seat.
“I can’t believe you bought all those paintings. Where’re you going to put them?” Olivia asked, trying her best to be “nice” to me.
“I don’t know, and I don’t care. I just had to get out of that place.” I was starting to get a headache from that woman’s voice.
Coraline looked out the window and frowned. “This isn’t the direction of the house.”
“That’s because Olivia and I are making a pit stop,” I answered, causing Evelyn and Coraline to pause, and Olivia to freeze.
I didn’t mind the silence, I enjoyed the ride. I didn’t tell Olivia earlier because I didn’t want her over thinking it. It was so cliché: a warehouse. That was because Liam didn’t want the prick in our house. I didn’t care either way. Declan, Neal, and Sedric would all be present, and normally, that would be stupid. Outside of the house and public functions, we were never all in the same place at once. However, Neal insisted, Sedric wouldn’t budge, and Declan was the one double-checking all the cameras. Another reason why we hated having everyone together was the amount of time we spent on security. It was just plain annoying.
When we pulled up, the driver opened the door for Olivia and I, and I noticed Antonio, along with four other snipers, on the rooftops.
“I’m coming.” Evelyn stepped out along with Coraline.
“This is not a field trip, and even if it were, I would be the person who signs the damn permission slip. Neither of you are coming,” I told them both.
However, Evelyn stepped up and looked me dead in the eyes, something very few people could do.
“I’m coming. Try and stop me, sweetheart.” She glared, and I wanted to show her that I could do more than try.
“Mel, you don’t want to add to your rap sheet, you spent more than an hour in confession,” Coraline said quickly, trying to get in between Evelyn and me.
“You people keep pushing me and then act all surprised when I snap.” I took a deep breath before turning around.
This was bad. Olivia did not need the whole family for this. She may have killed once, but I pushed her…I pulled the baby ruthless murderer right out of her. But she was still a baby. Babies got scared and nervous. Some even had performance issues.
When we stepped in, the first thing I had to get used to was the smell of weed from all the plants in the room. The second were the screams as Neal cut the fingers off of the pig.
“What the fuck?” Liam said to me, as he looked over at his mother and Coraline. Evelyn walked over to Sedric, who looked just as surprised as Liam, and kissed his cheek.
“They wanted to come along. I said no, but they didn’t want to listen,” I said as Coraline and Declan held hands.
“Since when do people not listening to you stop you from getting your way?” he asked, amused and running his hand up my side softly. I pulled away slightly; PDA was never my thing. He frowned, but dropped his hand to pull out his phone.
“Since I married you, I didn’t think you would like me using a sniper on your mother,” I replied, standing closer to him.
“Thanks, you’re too kind.”
“Been told that all day…”
“Neal, stop!” Olivia screamed, reminding me why I was here.
Neal, however, didn’t stop. He kept snipping away with the cutting pliers.
“You think this is bad?” he hissed, gripping the man’s thumb. “Wait until I get farther south, you stupid, motherfucking, cock-sucking piece of shit.”
The man looked dazed, but spoke anyway. “Believe me, that bitch had no cock when I sucked on her.”