The Untouchables(62)

She began to shake, dropping her head as she wrapped her arms around herself. Fuck, I was losing her.

“Go on,” I spoke, grabbing her shoulders and forcing her to meet my gaze. She looked right through me. “What do you mean, that’s what you were supposed to do?”

“To keep order. The drug business is a big one. No one man can control it all. There has to be a balance; you can only be so powerful. There is only so much crime the world will ignore before they call for justice. Ivan is the scale. He has the power and allows you to have pieces of that within reason. Shamus was too powerful, too cocky, and the feds caught him. But Ivan made it go away, he can make anything go away, all Shamus had to do was get Sedric to marry me.” She whispered to herself as she rocked back and forth.

This made no sense!

“Why? Why you?”

“Because my family knew the game but weren’t players. We couldn’t make him any more powerful than he already was. But he married Evelyn. Ivan didn’t like that but Evelyn’s family wasn’t anything. He let it go because there was balance. But you Callahans always marry the wrong people!” she yelled, spitting in my face as she did.

Stepping back, I wiped the side of my cheek and allowed myself a moment to think. This was the craziest shit I had ever heard. Both Jinx and Fedel stared at me waiting; they were not really fazed at all by her words. But they should have been. Everything we had been fighting to figure out was because of this.

“Ivan doesn’t run a mafia monopoly!” I couldn’t help but laugh. Not only was this stupid as fuck, but just unrealistic!

“And not only did you stupidly marry his granddaughter, but you married the head of the Italian mob! Every single cop, lawyer, and judge you pay off around the world, he gets a cut. If you and your stupid wife control everything, you will be placed on everyone’s shit list! It’s a chain reaction…”

“Jinx. Fedel. Clean up this shit, I’m heading back to my wife. This was a waste of my time.” Grabbing my beer, I stepped out just as she yelled.

“Ivan’s the game maker, not you!” she said. “You’re a player, find a way to meet him halfway.”

Turning, I raised my bottle to her. “I’m Liam Fucking Callahan! I don’t meet anyone halfway. They bend my way, Mrs. Briar.”

Monte stood outside, holding open the door to the Range. Sitting back in my seat, I finished my drink.

“Well, this was anticlimactic,” I whispered, staring at the fading brick house among the green hills. I wasn’t sure what I expected, but this wasn’t it. My “mistress” was a bitch, my wife was driving me insane, and all I really wanted was an aspirin.





NINETEEN

“Kings kill for empires, madmen for applause.”

—John Dryden





MELODY

I knew it was him, and he knew I was awake. How could anyone sleep with him slamming the drawers of our dresser so loudly? I wanted to give him a baby update and ask him what had happened to trigger his anger, but I couldn’t bring myself to speak. He was just pissing me off!

SLAM!

“We’ve been here for a week,” I said. “There is nothing in the damn dresser! So either chop it up for firewood or leave it alone.”

“Of course, your highness! God forbid I make you feel uncomfortable.” He slammed the dresser so hard the books on top of it fell over.

Sighing, I bit my tongue, trying my best not to explode again.

SLAM!

“URGH!” I screamed, grabbing the pillow behind my head to throw at his face. He caught it with ease then dropped it as I rose from our bed. But he pretended that he didn’t even notice me.

“You men and your stupid fucking double standards. How many maids have you screwed, Liam? How many of them still work in our house? I am not yours—”

“That’s where you’re wrong!” he barked, finally acknowledging me. “You are mine! You are so hell bent on reminding me that you belong to no one but yourself. But that’s bullshit. It’s my last name attached to yours. You belong to me! And I belong to you, and the sooner you get that through your thick skull, the less grey hairs I will have!”

“I have a thick skull? You’re the one—” I stopped, quickly grabbing onto my stomach as the movement became worse.

“Love?” Liam rushed, grabbing hold of me.

“Oh now it’s ‘love’?” I hissed, pushing him away as I wobbled over to the bed. “Damn it, kid, you can’t be on his side already.”

“Mel,” he called, pulling me closer to him on the bed. “What is it?”

Sighing, I laid back holding my stomach. “The kid moved right after you left. It didn’t hurt then, but it does now.”