The Untouchables(76)

He thought for a moment and shrugged. “Who knows, but at least we have something to hang around that woman’s neck. I wonder how the people will feel when they find out.”

“I think they’ll bring out the guillotine. I doubt she knows who Aviela really is. She might not even know her as Aviela. But that woman is just itching to confess, we just have to give her a soapbox to stand on.”

“I’d better call Neal and tell him not to bother with whatever half-assed plan he was working on.” He sighed, texting his idiotic brother.

“Not that it would have worked anyways. I’ve seen puppies who are more useful than he’s been. Though we have to give him credit for the cameras.”

Liam shook his head. “No, we don’t.”

I tried to smile, but there was that pain again.

“Are you alright?” he asked, reaching for my hand.

“Yeah, I’m fine. Just…damnit, Liam. I want her gone. I want them all gone! I saw her, and for the first time in my life, I was truly scared. If I was who I used to be, I would have stormed in there the moment I heard her voice…but…” I paused to stare down at my protruding stomach.

“Mel…”

“I don’t like to be scared. I don’t know how to be scared. That isn’t my nature and yet, there I was,” I whispered.

Taking my hands into his, he kissed the back of them. “You weren’t being scared, you were being a mother, love. You put your anger and your need for revenge aside and protected our child. That’s your nature.”

The smile on his face, despite all the things going on, made me want to smile. But I couldn’t. One moment I was sitting up, the next, I was hunched over just enough to see blood—my blood—rapidly staining the white of my dress.

No. Please no. Not again.

“Mel? Mel!”





LIAM

I don’t know what happened. It was all a blur. One moment I was in awe of her, so proud that she had been open with me. The next, I was surrounded by the press as I carried her into an ambulance. I wasn’t sure if I had gone deaf or if my brain had momentarily shut down, allowing me to focus without really breaking.

During to ride to the hospital, everything was moving so quickly. Mel was squeezing my hand so damn hard, and yet, I was frozen, unsure of what was going on, unsure what to say or what to do, so I held her hand, brushed her hair back, and kissed her forehead. She was curled up in the fetal position and there was nothing I could do. I was a phone call away from making a man the next President, and yet, I couldn’t help my wife.

The moment we stepped into the hospital, they wheeled her away, cutting her dress off as they went. The nurse was already preparing to put an IV in her arm, but I reached out to stop her.

“We don’t want drugs.”

“Mr. Callahan.” I looked up to find that doctor, Am… something. She looked down at Mel, pressing into her abdomen softly, which only made Mel cry out again.

“Your job is to fix her, not make her worse,” I snapped, wanting to pop her ugly little head off her neck.

“Mr. Callahan, I’m sorry but it’s going to hurt before it gets better. Either way, she’s going to need the fluids, and the painkillers have a dual purpose. She needs to be calm or we run the risk of losing this baby,” she snapped right back.

The nurse looked directly at me, waiting for me to release her arm, when I did, she had that needle in Melody’s arm before I could blink.

“We’re going to need a sonogram,” she spoke right past me, still pressing on Mel’s stomach. Each time she applied pressure, Mel would squeeze my hand. It was like that for what felt like hours, but in reality, it was probably only a few minutes; push, squeeze, until Mel stopped squeezing and her body relaxed. Looking at her, I found her staring at me, completely relaxed with her eyes wide open. It was scary as shit, and yet I welcomed it all the same.

“You look like shit,” she whispered with a smile.

“This how all men with wives who terrorize them look,” I whispered back, kneeling at her bedside.

She rolled her eyes at me before looking at the nurse who was currently taking her blood pressure.

“What are you giving me?”

“Acetaminophen.” The blonde haired doctor smiled, as she grabbed hold of the ultrasound. “Don’t worry, it’s safe.”

“What’s wrong with her, doctor?”

“Dr. Lewis,” she corrected. “Dr. Amy Lewis we met last year and I just want to—”

“Question one: what is wrong with me?” Mel asked, cutting straight to the point. “Question two: how is my baby?”

“I’m checking your baby right now, but he or she should be just fine,” she said as the nurse closed the door and blinds.