Ruthless People (Ruthless People 1)

“My son is not going to just let her rule. In fact, I fear the years of peace we’ve enjoyed inside my house will be on hiatus.” Sedric grinned and I knew he was looking forward to it. Behind his polished accent and polite demeanor, he enjoyed chaos. I had an old bullet wound in my arm to prove it.

“But”—he turned back to me—“that is not your only reason, Orlando. If you minded her fighting, you would have locked her away from it all the moment she was born. The fighting does not bother you. What does?”

Damn Irish bastard, I thought as I glared at him.

“The difference between a female and male Boss is that the female sells not only her soul, but her heart. Mel hasn’t felt anything but rage in years. She is walled-off and will stay that way if she does not marry. Even if she were to hate him, at least I know she will never be alone. She will still have a family.” Everyone she has ever loved has died, and I was well on my way, too. In return, Mel died a long time ago.

Sedric frowned, shaking his head. “It is odd. You believe that Melody needs Liam to end the loneliness, and I believe Liam needs Melody to not fear being alone. He has all the makings of a Ceann na Conairte. I knew it the very first day he was born. Neal was . . . not mentally strong enough. He doesn’t have it. But Liam? He was born for it. It is in his DNA. Even as a child he loved to leave his mark on everything.”

“But?” I coughed.

“But behind Liam’s façade, he craves to be loved, and he hates to be alone.” He frowned, hating that he had to admit the truth, and that was the truth. “He is not focused as he should be and is too compassionate sometimes. I blame his mother for that.”

“And compassion is only for the family,” I said.

He nodded. “He is merciless in many ways. But to be the Ceann na Conairte, you must not show mercy to anyone but your family. You are cold. You are distant. You enjoy the blood, the death. Liam kills, but he does not relish in it as he should. If he did, the Valero would fear him as they fear you, or should I say, the woman now acting as you.”

“I must ask you for something, Sedric,” I added, wishing more than anything to never have to speak the words that were about to break free from my lips.

“Whatever it is, say it, and I will have it done,” he said, only making the ache in my heart burn more.

Swallowing my pride I nodded. “I wish for you to walk Mel down the aisle.”

There was a pause, and he searched my eyes. “Are you sure?”

I nodded. My bambina dolce5 deserved to walk down the aisle and be proud. She would argue about how proud she was of me already. How she didn’t care that I would cough throughout the ceremony, or that I needed to be pushed down the aisle, or the fact that more people would be focused on me rather than her. But I cared, and I did not want that. If I went and our enemies saw how weak I was, they would try to use that against her, against her empire.

“I will call Evelyn, and she will have everything ready in three days. You can watch from a secret room. No one will see you,” he said with a grateful nod. Offering any more than that, and he might as well carve out my heart.

“Do you not feel like we are Pandora just as she is about to open her box?” I grinned at him. “They will bring chaos like we never could, and we did it simply with the hope of bettering them for the future.”

Sedric chortled before finishing off his brandy. “Yes, in a twisted sort of way.”

“We do live in a twisted world,” I replied as the door opened to reveal Adriana once again.

“Yes?”

“Mr. Giovanni, Mr. Callahan. I am sorry to intrude, but I was told to come get you both,” she said with her head down.

“Why is that?” Sedric asked with a coldness in his voice that he hadn’t had since our conversation started.

“The Boss and Mr. Callahan apparently cleared the room in the basement so they could be alone and no one was to enter. But, a few minutes later, a gun went off.”

FIVE

“It’s a pity you didn’t know

when you started your game of murder,

that I was playing, too.”

~ Robb White

MELODY

Who in the fuck is asking to die?

I glared toward the back of the room, searching for the face behind the voice that had dared interrupt me.

My blood boiled.

Liam, soon-to-be-fucking-dead, Callahan was walking down the stairs—my fucking stairs—with his sex hair high and his green eyes sharper than razor blades. He was beautiful, and I almost regretted the fact that I would have to put a bullet in his head and then smash it through a fucking wall.

“So, this is the man behind the bitch?” Ryan laughed.

Before I could even stop myself, I brought the butt of my gun across his face and did not stop smashing it until I heard a sick pop. I beat him into unconsciousness and left him slumped in his chair, his eyes swollen shut.

Wiping the blood from my face, I took a deep breath and held the gun up for Monte before I turned back to face the fuckable idiot.

“You overstep, Callahan.”

He looked me up and down with both disgust and lust. “Do I? I believe you’re mistaken, love. After all, I just signed a very powerful document making all of this mine.”

“Did your father pay for your Dartmouth diploma? Because you don’t seem to be good at reading.” I glared at him, trying not to let the thick waves of lust that radiated off him bother me. “That paper says you work with me after our marriage, Callahan, and we are not married yet so you’re still a fucking guest in my fucking house.”

He smirked and it was sexy, dangerously so, and I wanted to kill him for it. “Be a good fiancée and tell your pets to leave, or I will put them down, sweetheart.” His green eyes assessed at me as though I was his shiny new toy.

Do not kill. Do not kill. Melody, stay calm and do not kill him.

I wasn’t going to lose my cool in front of my men. Glancing across the room, each of them stood with their hands tensed at their sides, waiting for me to give the word. Just a tip of my head would signal them to put as many fucking bullets as possible into the motherfucker in front of me.

“Monte, Fedel, take Mr. Ross and wake him up. If he doesn’t cooperate, please show him the live feed we have of his brother, whom he also failed to hide, and the bomb in his house.” I never broke eye contact with Liam. “The rest of you, leave.”

I could hear their feet as they followed my orders and ran like roaches in the daylight. The only men who didn’t move were the two I recognized as Liam’s brother and cousin.

“That applies to you two as well.”

They grinned and looked to Liam.

He raised an eyebrow at me. “They stay here.”

Taking a step forward, I stopped when he was a little more than an inch away from me. I could feel his breath on the tip of my nose, and smiled sweetly.

“Only if they’re in body bags,” I said, stepping around Liam and scowling at the two men who had yet to leave. “You have two seconds.”

They shifted their eyes toward the man standing behind me once more before heading toward the door. The moment it shut, I spun around, fist flying toward his head. It met his palm.

Grabbing my fist, he flung me into the chair Ryan had occupied. He cupped my cheek with one hand, and with the other, he held both my wrists tight.