A Bloody Kingdom (Ruthless People 4)

He threw his glass and grabbed the gun from his bodyguard to point it right me. Finally, the females in the room screamed, running like naked rats out of the room.

“Ni zenme keyi? How dare you come into my house and motherfucking speak? Do you have any idea who I am? How powerful I am? Me, Tàiyáng Ruò Jiàn—”

Before he could finish, he reached up to grab his neck and the gun dropped from his hands. He fell to his knees no less than six steps from me, his face slowly turning blue. He glanced back at his guards to, from what I could only assume, order to kill me, but one by one they fell to their knees.

“How dare I?” I whispered and crouched down in front of him. He reached out to touch me, but Fedel caught his hand. His eyes watered with each deep breath he tried to take. “You come to my city, put bad drugs on my streets, fuck in my hotel and ask who am I?”

Grabbing his neck, I pulled held him tighter. “You should be careful of the questions you ask Tàiyáng. Ruò. Jiàn. Because you will not like my answers.”

“My—father—”

“You’re on your knees, that means you are at my feet, does that seem like a position from which you can threaten me?” I wanted to rip his goddamn head from his shoulders for making me do this on today of all bloody days. “I warned your father. I made sure he got my message, keep your fucking drugs out of my city, and yet what do I find? Your drugs in my city. Now, what am I supposed to do about this, Tàiyáng. Ruò. Jiàn? If I don’t kill you, it looks like I’m a bitch, and as you can see my son is here, so that I can’t have that. If I kill you, I’m going have to kill a lot more people later. Personally, I do not mind. But you see my wife is the governor and her platform is safer schools, safer streets, and all that.”

“Pl…ease…”

I released him and he fell back, his body starting to shake. I rose to my feet and nodded to Fedel who bent down and opened the idiot’s mouth to pour the antidote down.

“Ethan.”

“Yes, dad?” he asked, softly stepping up beside me.

I handed him my gun and he took it without question, pointing it at the man my guards were now holding up. The bravado the man had shown only minutes ago was fading, replaced now with tears.

“Please. Please! No! Anything you want…I’ll give you anything you want,” he said as he sobbed, spit coming from his lips, “Forgive me. Yuánliàng wo! Yuánliàng wo!”

“Ethan.” When I called his name, he fired, but his hands were shaking so badly, he missed completely. “Congrats, you killed a lamp.”

“I—”

Snatching the gun from him, I fired not once but twice, both bullets towards his crotch, his body cringing, before he buckled forward as he screamed out for his father. Paying him no mind, I turned to my son looking him dead in the eye.

“People like him,” I nodded to the fool behind me, “are the reason you should never be proud to called Liam Jr. You can only stand behind me for so long before you have to stand up for yourself. It is better you learn this now before you end up like him bleeding on someone else’s hotel floor, crying out for someone else to save his pathetic life. Do you understand me?”

His nose flared a little, his eyes hardened, his fist clenched, but he nodded. “I will never be like him.”

I saw it.

The same thing my father saw in me, I now saw in him and I could not help but feel pride at that.

“Tàiyáng Ruò Jiàn, when your father asks who did this to you, tell him I, Liam Callahan, accept his apology in advance. Tell him if I have to deal with the Tàiyáng family again, I will show no mercy, and you will lose your other head,” I said as I watched the blood pour from him. He sobbed and curled into a ball on my floor.

“Sir, it’s almost time,” Fedel reminded me.

Sighing, I nodded, already heading towards the doors with Ethan beside me. He peeked back at him once, a frown turned his lips downward but said nothing until we were in the hall once again.

“Uncle Declan?” Ethan said with a grin. He ran up to the man who was dressed in a fitted dark suit, shirt, and black tie. His dark brown hair was cut shorter on the sides and longer on the top, styled by who I could guess was Coraline. There was no way in hell he’d put the effort in coming here if our family didn’t have to. “Uncle, why aren’t you in a bow tie?”

“Because apparently he and the grim reaper share a closest,” I answered for him.

He laughed and messed up Ethan’s hair. “Unfortunately, not all of us can pull off the James Bond look as well as your father, Ethan.”

The corner of my lips turned up. “Well, at least you know.”

He rolled his eyes, the smile on his face fading when he focused on the door behind me. “Everything good?”

I didn’t reply and got on the elevator as it arrived. When Ethan moved to get in, I held my hand out and shook my head. “Your job now is to go with your uncle and fill him in before dinner starts. I can count on you, can’t I?”

“YES!” He stood straighter and nodded so seriously I wanted to laugh. A grin spread across Declan’s lips and his eyes met mine. I knew exactly what was going through his mind and I was sure he knew what was on mine as well.