I stopped. “Repeat that last part again.”
He froze, realizing that he did in fact know something that I didn’t.
“Sedric, now is the time to use more words, not less.” I dug my nails into his arm.
“Anna, the blonde woman he spoke with upon entering, she’s family—or ex-family. Liam’s second cousin, her parents planned to betray the family, my father killed them. Anna was given money, but no connections and went into…”
“I don’t give a shit about who she is or how she came into being. I want to know why the fuck Liam is speaking to Interpol.” Now I was pissed, pulling myself away from him, I turned towards Liam and his mother.
They were speaking causally, but after tonight, they wouldn’t be speaking at all if he didn’t tell me what I wanted to know.
“Once again, Evelyn, I’m so sorry,” I cut in, glaring into Liam’s eyes. “But it seems your son and I need to have a little chat.”
Evelyn rolled her eyes. “Please don’t make a scene, dear. The press.”
“Of course, there are private rooms here, correct?” I didn’t even wait for her to answer. Instead, I brushed past Liam and towards the grand staircase.
I could feel him, his warmth, and the heat rolling off him as he followed me. Opening one of the doors, I let him in first.
He looked me in the eyes before stepping inside. Sadly, the sight of Coraline riding Declan with her head thrown back and his face buried in her chest kissing her breasts, greeted us.
“OUT!” I yelled, causing them both to jump.
Coraline shot off him and pulled the sheet around herself quickly, her brown eyes wide and shocked.
Declan on the other and was livid. “Are you fucking kidding me? This is the first time we’ve been this close to each other in months!”
“This is me giving a fuck. Get out, or I swear, Declan, I will feed you your own dick.”
“You should go.” Liam sighed, looking for a mini bar.
Declan grumbled.
“Now.”
“I’m going! For the love of Christ, Liam, did you tell her already?” he yelled, grabbing his boxers.
Liam groaned loudly. “Why is it that you and Neal can’t seem to keep your goddamn mouths shut! What is she made of, Kryptonite? The moment she comes by the both of you can’t hold water? When I say shut the fuck up, that means shut your bitch-ass up!”
He told his cousin…before me?
“Declan, sit back down, you too, Coraline. Both of us may be widows at the end of the evening.”
Declan stood up, but I pulled a gun on him and he sat back down.
“Somebody better start explaining before I start shooting.” I waited and neither of them spoke. “Have you people been setting me up?”
“What the hell, Melody, seriously?” Liam said.
“Well you see, things aren’t adding up for me, Liam. You’re talking to people; you’re talking to the police. Tell me to my face, you bastards. Have you been playing me for a fool? You’re setting me up, aren’t you?”
He just stared at me dumbfounded…and hurt. “You really think after everything we’ve been through that I would betray you? You’re my wife.”
“Think of it as a compliment. I know how much you like power, Liam. With me out of the way, you could take—”
“We found your mother,” he snapped at me, as his nostrils flared. “I had Declan back-hack you, he was deleting and rewriting codes as you searched because I wanted to be sure what we were dealing with before sending you down the goddamn rabbit hole. I was trying to protect you because I was worried about what this would do to you; how this would hurt you. Everything I do is for you, and you think I would sell out? For what? Power I already have?”
I looked back to Declan who now stood with Coraline behind him, neither moving, nor daring to speak.
Slowly, my hand lowered as I tried to think.
“My mother was killed in a plane crash by the Valero.”
“You mother, goes by the name Aviela DeRosa, and she controlled the Valero, or at least your grandfather did as part of the DeRosa Family. She’s a pit bull for him, a hired gun. Here,” he pulled out a flash drive, “It’s a list of every last person she’s killed. Your mother, is a cold-blooded killer. You grandfather, is a Mafia Boss, and they knew about you, yet still they had the Valero come after us. Most likely, he sent them after us. Now that the Valero is gone, who knows who will come next?” He snapped.
My mind was spinning.
“You should have told me,” I whispered, trying to think, but I was drawing a blank. “You were fucking out of line! How dare you Liam! Who the hell do you think you are?”
“YOUR HUSBAND!” he roared back, “You want an apology? Ask your mother, better yet, ask your bloody father. They were the ones lying to you for years, not me! I did what I had to do. You would have emotionally compromised everything. Not because you’re weak, but because you’re human. Everything you are is a product of what happened to you. You are who you are because your mother was supposedly murdered. But she wasn’t. Finding that out—”
“You think you know me! What, after only a year? Screw you, Liam Callahan. I am who I am because I made myself this way. I had a right to know! But instead, you went behind my back like a two bit crack-headed bitch.” My whole body shook, all I could see was red.
“I went behind your back because I wanted to come to you with all of the information, not half of it. Why? Because I knew you would overact!”
He thought I was overreacting?
“This is me overreacting,” I hissed, pointing my gun at him.
“Mel—”
I fired.
Fuck him! Fuck them all.
FOUR
“Honestly, I don’t understand why people get
so worked up about a little murder!”
—Patricia Highsmith
LIAM
“BITCH!” I yelled, as I grabbed my thigh. This was the second time this woman—this goddamn cursed wife of mine—had shot me. The bullet grazed my inner thigh, but it still hurt like a motherfucker…damn her. If it weren’t for her damn silencer, the whole goddamn hotel would have heard. I had noticed both Declan and Coraline make their escape.
“Now you have a matching set.” She glared, and without thinking, I lunged for her legs like a damned linebacker¸ forcing her to the ground and pinning her arms down.
“You’re getting on my last damn nerve woman!” I hollered as she clawed at me.
“I could say the same about you!”
“I swear to God almighty, if you do not calm the fuck down, I will beat the shit out of you.” Great now I sounded like a wife beater. However, she wasn’t any woman, she was Melody. Even the devil pitied me.
She glared up at me with a rage so deep, her brown eyes looked pure black. She struggled, trying to push me away, but despite her skills, she was still much smaller than I was.
Finally, I thought, when it looked like she had given up, but like a damn piranha, the bitch bit my bottom lip so hard I could taste blood. In that moment, I released her hands, and she took the opportunity to punch me in the throat before kicking me off of her.
“Swear to whatever God you want,” she hissed, right before stretching out her legs to kick me.