When he finally looked me in the eye, all I saw was pain and tears he wouldn’t let fall. Instead, the tears fell out of my eyes.
“I came back.” I smiled, and I was far too tired to do anything else but squeeze his hand back. “I always come back to you, don’t I?”
He smiled too, shaking his head. “Yeah…you always come back. I just prefer you not leaving to begin with.”
“Duly noted.” I nodded, relaxing into the pillows. “Who did this?”
“Our newly inducted mayor, Emilio Esteban Cortés, and his wife Liling Tàiyáng.” He sneered.
“Fucking cunts.” I hissed through my teeth, the heart rate machine beside me going off again. Two more doctors ran in.
“You need to take it easy, Mrs. Callahan. You can’t put any unnecessary stress on yourself,” a woman said as she checked the machines and looked me over once again.
Unnecessary stress? Being stressed about some fucktard and his bitch of a wife nearly killing me and ruining everything our family has built in this city seems pretty fucking necessary to me.
“Wife,” Liam sternly whispered beside me, drawing my attention from her back to him. He placed his forehead on mine so I could look nowhere but his eyes. “There is no expiration date on vengeance. It doesn’t just last a lifetime, it spans generations. So let us rest tonight; it is not us who will die tomorrow.”
Slowly a smile spread across my lips. “Shakespeare’s got nothin’ on you.”
He said something but I didn’t hear it. I was far too tired to keep my eyes open anymore and falling back asleep was the one single thought that ran through my mind.
When I get out of this bed I’m coming for every fucking one who thought they could take me. I am Melody Nicci Giovanni Callahan. I won’t die so easily, you stupid motherfuckers.
LIAM
I waited an hour after she fell asleep before finally leaving her side. For the first time in twenty-four hours, I was finally able to think straight, think beyond her and what would or could or might happen. Glancing back at her, her chest rising and falling as she slept comfortably, I closed the door behind me and stepped out into the hall where Fedel and Declan stood in wait for me.
“Is he here?” I asked, adjusting my jacket and tie. I rolled my shoulders to crack my back and groaned, aching far more than I’d expected. I was going to need them to put better chairs in her room; Jesus, it was like resting on bricks.
“Liam, I don’t know what is going on here, but this could be a trap,” Declan said, his whole body tense. “When he cornered me, he swore that he and his family had been set up. Next thing we know his son-in-law is the fucking mayor.”
“Is he here?” I asked again, focusing on Fedel.
“He just arrived and is now waiting for you in the cafeteria,” he answered, stepping aside.
“Perfect. I’m in the mood for Jell-O.” I only made it a few steps before realizing Declan was following me. “You stay—”
“Liam, you can’t go alone.”
“Why?”
He stared at me as if he wasn’t sure what the hell was wrong with me, and I wondered what the hell could make him so fearful to begin with.
“Liam—”
Standing right beside him, I spoke low, only for him to hear. “Declan, I’m not an idiot. I also don’t know what is going on right now. All I do know is my wife, the most important person to me, is resting behind that door, and the only person I completely and fully trust to protect her when I cannot is you. So as I said, you will stay here at her door like Cerberus, the guard dog of hell, am I clear?”
He cracked his jaw to the side but nodded.
“Brilliant. To the cafeteria, then.” I turned back around, Fedel shadowing me.
As we got onto the elevator, I thought about a dozen ways this ‘meeting’ could end, and each way all I saw was death. I didn’t care if he was being framed, I didn’t care if this was some misunderstanding. I knew two things: his daughter shot my wife, and his son-in-law was now the mayor of my city. They had gone against my rules. They had broken our unspoken treaty and they would die.
Ding. “Cafeteria floor,” the automatic voice stated as the doors opened. Fedel tensed and I knew he already had his hand on the trigger.
A shootout in a hospital? I doubt it.
“He’s not breathing! I need an AED!”