The Untouchables (Ruthless People 2)

I grabbed the table knife just like my father, wanting to ram it into his goddamn throat, but Melody squeezed my leg.

“I do believe I will take that as my queue to leave. These old bones of mine need to be rested,” Shamus said as he rose with the help of his cane. “You all enjoy your evening.”

“Father,” Sedric called out to him, stretching out the word to the point where he grimaced just by saying it.

Shamus stopped, turning back to him and looked just as surprised as I was.

“Do not spend the night in our house,” he said.

“That’s where you are wrong, son. It’s my house. All of this—everything you have, everything you have accomplished—is because of the deals I made.”

With that, he left.

MELODY

No one said anything. With each passing moment, Shamus disgusted me. I was tempted to kill him the second I saw where he was sitting. But it wasn’t my place. I had enough issues with my family line.

Liam grabbed his plate and threw the damn thing at the door after Shamus left.

“I want him GONE!” he yelled. “I don’t care how, duct tape him to the bottom of a goddamn plane and send him back to Ireland for all I care. He’d better not be back at our fucking house!”

“Liam,” I whispered, but he didn’t say anything, just backed away from the table trying to breathe as he reached for the closet bottle.

“Mr. and Mrs. Callahan, I would like to remind you that this isn’t your home.” Mina snapped. “There are cameras everywhere and not to mention, I don’t know, a political candidate! Can you people stop going Rambo on whoever walks through the door?”

“Can’t we just buy the building?” Coraline asked. Mina took a deep breath before dragging Senator Colemen out of the room. Walking over to Liam, I placed my hand on his shoulder.

“I thought we were quite civilized, didn’t you?” I asked Liam.

He looked around the building. “Honestly, if people would stop testing us, the world would be a better place.”

“You both are so…” Olivia started, but stopped, perhaps remembering she too had blood on her hands and she wanted more. When you are part of this family you then you can’t judge anyone…We all made the choice to be here.

“Well then, my wife and I will be calling it a night,” Liam said, taking my hand.

Neither of us said anything as we left through the back, where all of our cars were now parked and waiting for us. Monte and Fedel had two cars up front while Dylan, Liam’s new right hand since Eric’s death, manned the cars behind ours.

It was only when we took our seats that Liam pulled off his tie and leaned back, pinching the bridge of his nose.

“I need to kill my grandfather,” he said to himself. “But if I do, it will be all-out war. We have a shit load of product coming in tomorrow, and I can’t take out Ireland’s superman. He knows it. He’s been pumping money into the country for so long I’m surprised they haven’t made him king yet. He’s untouchable.”

“If you can see him, he’s touchable. Being untouchable is just an illusion people like us create to intimidate others. Everyone has a weakness. We will deal with him, he won’t get away with talking to you like that, I swear,” I said, staring out the window.

“When did you become so sweet?” He kissed into the back of my hand.

I hated how much I enjoyed that and how I couldn’t admit it. “I don’t know what you mean. Him calling you a cripple was insult to me. As if I would marry someone with less balls than me.”

He smiled so wide it made me uncomfortable. Like he knew something I didn’t.

“What?”

“Nothing. Anyway do you find it odd that my father, a former rival of your family, came into town around the same time your mother suddenly popped up?” he asked, staring out into the city.

“You don’t think—”

“I don’t know what I think. But if I were my grandfather, after everything that happened last year, maybe he wants to take back the business.”

“Over my dead body,” I muttered, pulling out my phone. “We’re going into lock down until we can talk to father crime himself.”

EIGHT

“Children aren’t coloring books. You don’t get to fill them with your favorite colors.”

—K Colemend Hosseini

EVELYN

I wasn’t sure what to say to him. No, that was a lie. I knew what I wanted to say. I knew how I wanted to say it. Sadly, I couldn’t. It wouldn’t be right. I never once flinched at Liam or Melody’s actions. My moral compass was shattered beyond repair, but that didn’t bother me either. When I first married Sedric, knowing what his life was going to be, I thought I could keep my head up above it all. But this life has away of sucking the good out of you…how can it not when you are surrounded by the worst of people. I’ve never physically killed a man, but twice in my life I’ve asked for retribution, and twice Sedric had ensured that it was done it for me.

“What are you going to do?” I whispered as he lay on our bed. He stared up at the ceiling, not bothering to move like a fat cat after a feast. I knew this Sedric. He was about to do something…something evil.

“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” he said, as I took off my heels.

They were originally Melody’s and the damned girl wanted to burn nine hundred dollar Jimmy Choos, just because they were white.

We were the same size, and like the shoe hoarder I was, I took them with pleasure. However, it seemed like they were molded for her feet alone and were going to kill me.

“You’re a bad liar. Thank God I keep you locked away.” I laughed, crawling on top of him.

“I’m a great liar. We’re just born with a strong pair of bullshit detectors.”

“Raising three boys—four if I count you—it was a required skill.”

He chuckled, but didn’t reply.

“Sedric, what are you about to do?”

“Shh…” he whispered, just holding me.

I stopped struggling, allowing him to just hold me. It was what he did, what he always did. He held onto me as if he were worried I would never forgive him for whatever he was about to do, but I always did. No matter what, I always would.

We sat there, wrapped in each other’s arms, and I felt sixteen again. I felt like that same loud mouth, know it all, rash, love-struck teenager who saw her prince charming and went weak at the knees the moment he looked my way.

“What?” he asked, as I smiled to myself.

“Nothing,” I said, and in one swift motion, he flipped me onto my back and pinned me under him.

He glared into my eyes with a smirk on his lips. “Woman, what is so damn funny?”

“Man,” I lifted my head up to him, “I said nothing.”

“The hard way then…”

“Sedric, don’t…” before I could stop him, he ripped my shirt open. “Damn it all to hell, Sedric, that shirt was a gift.”

“My gift will be so much better.” He kissed my neck and with one hand, he ripped my bra from my chest.

“Really?” I dared him, crossing my arms over my chest, but the moment they covered my breasts, he pried them away.