I knew after the shit with Olivia that Liam wasn’t done spewing; I just thought he would be man enough to confront me himself instead of calling Sedric. It took all I had not to roll my eyes at the old man sitting behind the even older oak desk, surrounded by the oldest fucking books. It was like I was having a flashback to my youth.
“You wished to see me, father?” I asked, not bothering to sit down. We would be at each other’s throats in a moment.
Throwing his pen onto the table, he leaned back, and stared at me before folding his arms. “Do you know who I am?” he asked softly.
“Yes, sir.”
“Remind me.”
I hated these Yoda moments.
“Remind you of what, sir?”
I could see his teeth clench as he lifted his hands, gesturing to everything around us. “Tell me the story I told you as a boy, Neal. Tell me how I came to sit on this chair, in this house, with this family name.”
“You were only twenty-two at the time, studying at the Loyola University of Chicago, when grandfather called, and told you that it was time to take over the family. Your oldest brother had been gunned down, mother was pregnant, and gang affiliated crime was at an all time high.
“Every day, Chicago was bleeding under the hands of five kingpins. They were just waiting for the chance to kill each other. You didn’t have the manpower, money or clout to get anything done, but somehow you managed to find all five of them and burn their bodies, but not before decapitating them. At twenty-three, you took over Chicago in one night.” I recited like a well-memorized monologue.
He clapped, rising from his chair. “That was the story I told you as a proud father. I spared you the details, and thus this is my fault. I made it sound easy. I didn’t tell you about the bullets I took, all the ribs I’ve broken, or scars I have. And I sure as hell didn’t tell you how your mother laid on top of you in the bathtub as one hundred and seventy-two rounds shredded through our apartment. She took a bullet for you. When I got there, I sat you on my lap, pulled your mother to my chest and promised the both of you the world on a golden platter. I swore that neither of you would ever want for anything and that you would always be safe.”
“No, you didn’t tell me any of that.” And I wasn’t sure why he was telling me now.
“I didn’t think I had to.” His face remained emotionless. “After everything I did, not once have I ever gotten tied in with the police. In fact, I prefer my name to never drop off the tongue of a blue blood.”
“I know this.”
“Do you?” He stepped forward. “You know nothing, boy!”
And so we begin.
“I find out today that your wife was the reason behind one of our maids talking to the police.”
“It was a mistake.”
“It was a mistake?” he roared, grabbing the side of my face. “Marrying her, that was the mistake! I knew this. But I allowed it because I foolishly thought what harm could one dumb wench do to us. I thought my son would be smart enough to control his wife. Our wives are a reflection of ourselves, and you are failing me! You are failing your brother, and you are failing this family.”
I tried to pull away from him, but he just held on tighter, forcing me to meet his eyes.
“I gave up everything for this life, this family; everything. And you stand before me telling me it was a mistake? You are my blood, my first born, and I love you dearly, but I need your wife handled, or so help me God, I will take her head next.” He pushed me away, and turned back to his chair.
“You and your wife should go pack. The both of you will now join Senator Colemen’s bus tours. You will represent the Callahan family far away for now, until everything blows over.”
He couldn’t fucking be serious.
“Liam needs me, Declan’s a mess—”
“And yet, even as a mess, Declan is still more useful. Liam needed his brother, and once again you chose another side over blood.”
“Olivia is family!”
“Olivia has a ring on her fucking finger, and a name on a damn sheet of paper; she is not blood. If she were to die tomorrow, she would be nothing but old photographs and even older memories.”
“You could say the same thing about Coraline or Melody!” He was just a fucking hypocrite.
“Coraline is on the board of six charities, she organizes numerous functions that we have, on occasion, used as a cover. On top of that she runs many small businesses in our name. She was doing that even before Melody came to this family. She keeps us looking clean to the public. Melody, among everything she has added and given to this family, is also going to have a son. She’s starting the next generation of Callahans. They have worth. Tell me, other than the fact that her father is a senator, what has your wife brought to the table?”