MELODY
Today, Mayor Cortés, the city’s first mayor of Hispanic descent, announced that the manhunt for Luke Charlton, the shooter behind the murder of nine children at Pennington Academy and four more young lives at Lincoln Elementary just two weeks ago has come to an end. Charlton, who died via suicide, confessed to the murders to a family friend, who tipped off police. The Chicago PD have confiscated his rifles along with bullets they say all match the scenes of the crimes. However, the chief detective on the case says the investigation on what led up to these tragic days may take weeks. At this time, Charlton has not been linked to or ruled out of the attempted assassination of Governor Callahan, whom doctors say is recovering well and is due to go home today. This—
“Hey!” I snapped at Liam when he turned the television off and moved to make himself comfortable in the tiniest spot on the bed beside me. Resting his hand over his eyes, he yawned. “It’s all lies, forget it and rest.”
“I’ve been resting for almost two weeks now, Liam—”
“Rest more.”
I wanted to push him off the bed so damn badly, but instead I just lay back next to him. “Liam if I stay in this goddamn hospital for one more day I’m going to lose my mind. Every second I’m in here is a second they are fucking with our city!”
He didn’t open his eyes, just took a deep breath and said, “Breathe in through the nose and out through the mouth and you—ouch! Fuck, Mel.”
He cried out when he rolled off the bed. He didn’t fall, but he did sit up and glare down at me. Taking his advice, I took a deep annoying breath through my nose and out through my mouth.
“Happy? Now spring me from this joint.”
He snorted before laughing, a grin plastered all over his face as he got up and kissed my forehead. “Are we going to drive off into the sunset like Bonnie and Clyde?”
“Bonnie and Clyde lost. We’re going to ride off like Melody and Liam—”
“Liam and Melody.”
“GO!”
Again he laughed at me but moved to the door as I reached for my phone. It rang once before Cora answered. Her hair was pulled up into a ponytail, and for the first time since she’d joined the family, she was wearing sweatpants in front of me.
“You look like shit,” she ironically said to me.
“I was shot; what’s your excuse?”
“I’m taking care of seven children.” Touché. “Three of which ask me every hour on the hour when their mom is coming back home.”
That I couldn’t help but smile at that. “Where are they?”
“Musketeers!” she yelled out while pacing.
“What are you calling my children?”
She looked back into the phone. “Don’t look at me like that; it was your daughter who came up with it. Ethan and Wyatt don’t like it but don’t want to get on her bad side.”
’Atta girl. Dona, no matter what, always had everyone wrapped around her fingers; it was a talent, really.
“Aunty Cora, stop calling us that,” I heard Wyatt say grumpily.
“Wyatt?” I called out.
“Mom!”
The phone twisted upside down and then back around as he held it right up to his face. “Mom! When are you coming back?”
“Today sweetheart and no one is stopping me, I promise.” Neither Liam nor I wanted them to leave the safe house until we could be with them, so over the last week, the best I could do was video call them. It was fine at first—I was too tired to actually move anyway—but now I missed them and the longer I was away, the less comfortable I felt.
“Wyatt, is that Mom?” Ethan’s voice came from the background.
“Yes—”
“Hi, Mommy.” Dona had somehow managed to grab the phone and was waving it at me. “Are you better now?”
“Yes, I’m all better. How are you?”
She frowned. “Aunty Cora keeps making me swim and run! Even though Uncle Declan said I didn’t have to. I’m so tired and Ethan and Wyatt keep fighting. Uncle Neal eats all my favorite snacks! He put six Oreos in his mouth Mommy, SIX! What else? Oh…Nana and Aunty Mina make us do all this school work every day! I—”
“Dona! That’s enough, share!” Wyatt took the phone, then Ethan took the phone, and it looked like he went into another room and closed the door behind him.
“HEY!” both Dona and Wyatt yelled on the other side.
“Hi, Mommy.” He smiled, pretending not to hear them. His eyes looked so green.
“Mio bel leoncino, how are you?”
He shrugged. “I’m okay, are you okay? I…I saw the video.”
“The video?”
He nodded. “The one where you got shot. It was all over the internet. Everyone’s been trying to hide it from us, though. Dona and Wyatt didn’t see, I made sure.”
“Thank you. I’m glad they didn’t see it. I don’t want any of you to worry, I’m perfectly fine. I’ll be home today, too.”
He didn’t speak for what felt like forever.
“Ethan, what’s wrong?”
“Who did it?” he questioned angrily, and for a spilt-second, he looked exactly like Liam. Not funny, carefree, and nerdy Liam, but willing to kill anyone at any time Liam.
“Some very stupid people,” I answered.
“You and Dad are going to do something right? They aren’t going to hurt you again right?” I could tell he was hurt. These weren’t conversations to be had over the phone. I needed to be there and hold him and tell him to his face this would never happen again.
“Mel?”
I glanced up as Liam came back into the room, a frown on his face as he looked to me and then back over to the phone. He came over and took it from me but relaxed when he saw Ethan.
“Mini-me, what are you and your mother talking about?” he asked, sitting back beside me.
“None of your business. Now give it back—”
“Oooh, now I really want to know. Son,” he said with a stern face.
“Nothing. I was just asking when Mom’s coming back.” He lied, and even I was shocked by that. He never ever lied to Liam. Liam’s eyes looked to me for a quick second; he’d caught it too, but he didn’t press.
“Well we will be back for dinner, so make sure your Uncle Neal is nowhere near the kitchen, all right?”
“Yep. Bye, see you.” He waved and hung up.
Liam then gave me his full attention and I rolled my eyes. “He wanted to make sure this would never happen again. He wanted to know what we were going to do, but he’s far too young to be worrying about what to do. He should just trust us.”
“No.” He shook his head, placing the phone into his pocket. “His mother was shot. He should be worried. He should want to know. It means he wants vengeance and won’t be satisfied by just trusting it will come.”
“Does this mean you’re on board with me going back to work?” I sat up.
“Don’t push it, I had to promise to have a nurse—”
“You didn’t!” I didn’t want some nurse checking up on me in my own damn house. It reminded me too much of Orlando, and I was not at that point.
“She will come check to make you are recovering fine and then leave, in and out in less than an hour. It’s either that or another few days here.”
I said nothing, which was just as good as agreeing. I needed to get back to work. I needed them, the world to know I wasn’t on life support or even scared.
“We should leak to the press what time I’m leaving so they can catch up to us,” I stated, and the look on his face—
“No—”
“Why? Because this bitch is going to take another shot? If I hide now it means I’m scared, that I crawled back home defeated. If the people of this city think I am unfit to lead, they will pressure me to resign. I worked too hard and for too goddamn long to be pushed out. I know you want me to rest. But I can’t…not completely. We have jobs to do.”
“We are doing it my way,” he finally said, and I knew there was no fighting him on it.
“Fine.” Just as long as my face was back out there, and the last thing people remembered wasn’t me being shot.
LIAM
We got sloppy. It was the effect of our own hubris. Who would ever take a shot at us? How could we let ourselves think like that? We had been on top for so long, our enemies were so beaten and broken that not once did we stop to think that maybe, just maybe, someone was looking down through a scope at us… Never once did I think about it; I was too wrapped up in enjoying my life. I didn’t even take Mel’s warning seriously about Liling and Emilio, and like always, when it came to these things, her instincts were right. I’d fucked up and that could never happen again.
“She doesn’t want the wheelchair,” Mina stated, coming out of the room.
“Of course not.” I scoffed at myself. That would be too fucking easy and my wife didn’t do easy. Everything was either hard as fuck or borderline insane; she had no ‘simple’ setting. I’d be fighting her to the end of fucking time.
But I prefer that life than a life without her.
“I’ve got it make sure everything and everyone is ready,” I said as I opened the door. When she turned back around to face me, her red lips in a hard line, nose flared, and arms crossed under her breasts, I thought my heart stopped.
She looked beautiful. She was always beautiful, but that day she looked especially so. She wore a casual white dress with a white blazer and tan hat. It looked like a stunning outfit, but in reality, every article of clothing she wore was bulletproof, as were mine.
“No to the wheelchair, it defeats the point,” she said to me.
“Pity you got all dolled up and we aren’t going anywhere; after all, we agreed to do this my way.” When I reminded her, she lifted her hands as if she were going to strangle me before taking a deep breath.
Walking slower than usual but as gracefully as normal—apparently wearing heels was like riding a bike—she sat down in the wheelchair.
“You frustrate the bloody hell out of me, Mr. Callahan.”
“It’s a two-way street, Mrs. Callahan,” I said, moving to push her from behind. “I know you enjoy your speeches, but skip them today. Let them know you’re alive and well—”
“Who is my advisor, you or Mina?” She glanced up at me.
“Husband, advisor, sex toy—I’m a package deal.” I winked, forcing another smile even though I wanted to get her home as fast as possible. Things had been quiet after Ju-long’s death…too quiet, which meant they were up to something.
Everything had happened smoothly, so who was the mastermind, Emilio or Liling? Or did they work together like Mel and me? I had spent the last two weeks reading and researching everything Fedel had been able to gather on Emilio, but the man was clean. There was nothing, just community service, teaching, law, more community service, now all of a sudden he was married to the Chinese triad and appointed as the interim mayor? He wasn’t just patient, he was maniacal.
“I can feel you thinking,” she whispered as I pushed us toward the front of the hospital. Fedel walked up ahead with Mina to the right of Melody, texting only God knew who.
“It’s noth—”
“Nothing. I know you’re lying, I’ve let you do it for the last two weeks, but the moment I step outside everything starts again,” she reminded me, leaning back in the chair.
I said nothing. We’re getting far too old for this shit man.
“Here we go,” Mina said, placing her phone back into her purse as the glass doors opened for us. Fedel and two of our men stepped forward.
“Governor! Governor!”
“Mrs. Callahan, are you all right?”
“Do you have any words for the people of Chicago?”
“Has the shooter been—”
They stopped when a black Lincoln town car pulled up right behind the Mercedes waiting for us. Fedel even had the door open; we were so close.
“It’s Mayor Cortés.”
They both came out of the car, Emilio, with his dark hair in a cut more appropriate for the mayor but still unruly, dressed in a gray suit and black tie with an American flag on the panel. Liling was in a clear lace cocktail dress, her hair pulled to the side, a bouquet of lilies in her small hands.
Were they fucking with us? Really? Were they really so fearless, or were they just that stupid? Liling bent over, a soft smile on her face as she handed Mel the flowers…like she was looking down on her.
“We are so pleased about your recovery—”
Melody rose out of the chair, completely ignoring her and the flowers, outstretching her hand to Emilio. “Mayor Cortés, thank you for stepping up for this city when I was unable to. No matter what, we always need a functioning government.”
“Of course.” He shook her hand and they both turned toward the cameras, holding the pose. “I truly hope you recover well enough to return to your job. After all, what would Chicago, hell this state, be without you?”
Sly snake-talking son of a bitch.
“My wife brought you flowers.” He nodded to Liling, who was tightly clenching the bouquet but managed to compose herself again.
“Thank you so much.” Melody smiled brightly…fakely…but still didn’t take them. “However, I’m sorry, I’m allergic to lilies.”
In Chinese culture, it was a huge insult not to accept gifts, and she had done it not once, but twice.
“Really? I’m so sorry,” Liling said through her teeth. “I was sure your—”
Melody turned away from them and back toward the cameras. “Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for your love and support at this time. It has meant so much to my family and me. I want to assure the people of Chicago and this state that I am not only healthy but inspired to do more.”
“Governor Callahan, Mayor Cortés, have the police given either of you any clues as to who might have been the shooter or if the Sandbox Sniper was connected to this case?” a reporter asked.
“At this time—”
“At this time, it is still a pending investigation.” She cut Emilio off before he could get ahead of himself. “I trust the Chicago PD to do a thorough investigation of the matter. If the shooter is still out there, believe me when I say I will stop at nothing until they feel the full brunt and force of this city around their necks. Acts of terrorism can never be accepted nor tolerated and must be stomped out in any way possible. Chicago has come a long way in the last decade. We have all worked hard to make this city not only safe for our children, but also for their children to come. This disgusting, immoral, ugly coward thinks that one shot will somehow destroy everything we have built. That one shot makes them a big shot. Which goes to show you how little this person knows about this state and me. If you shoot and we don’t go down, we come back hard, stronger than ever before. So just wait, justice is coming.”
“On that note ladies and gentlemen, I’m going to steal my wife back.” I took her hand, leading her to the car. She slid in first, and I paused, turning back to the mayor. The bastard had the nerve to grin at me, his hand wrapped around his fuming little disgusting, immoral, ugly coward of a wife.
After I took a seat inside, Fedel shut the door. The moment we pulled off, Melody punched the seat in front of her, her chest rising and falling hard.
“I want them dead!” she snapped. “Fucking bitch will have lilies coming out of her ass when I’m through with her. How dare she? How—”
I grabbed her hand as it shook with rage. I understood her feelings. I felt them rushing through me. I wanted them gone just as much as she did. But right then, what mattered was her being calm…if that was possible.
“Patience,” I told her, even though I didn’t have any of my own.
“Screw patience, Liam, I want vengeance.” She turned to me.
I thought for a moment.
“Then vengeance you will have.” Fedel’s eyes met mine in the rearview mirror. “Starting with Liling’s brother, Ruò Jiàn.”
She paused, glancing at me. “You have him?”
“In a box made in China, ironically.”
MELODY
She tried to give me flowers? She nearly killed me and she tried to give me flowers? Not any flowers, but the flower most commonly associated with funeral services? It was as if she was spitting in my face. It took everything in me not to strangle her. In that one moment, I thought of at least two dozen ways to kill her while staring at her beady black eyes.
Ahh. I winched at the pain in my chest. My stitches had only been taken out the day before and I still felt the ache. Trying to hide it from my face, I leaned back in the chair and closed my eyes.
“Mel…Mel?”
When I opened my eyes, the car had stopped right outside the house. He cupped the side of my face as I blinked twice, then three times before sitting up.
“That was fast.”
“We were in traffic for forty minutes,” he replied. “Come on, you’re tired.”
“I’m fine—”
“You were in pain earlier, don’t argue.”
“Ruò Jiàn—”
“You’re arguing?” His eyebrow rose. “Trust me, you won’t miss anything. Now come.”
Effortlessly he lifted me out of the car. I didn’t know if it was the painkillers or just my own exhaustion that made me give in, but I allowed him to carry me back into the house. Every time I closed my eyes I felt like I skipped through time; one moment we were at the door, the next he was setting me on the bed. Sitting up by myself, I took off the stupid hat he’d made me wear and threw it to the side as he took off my heels.
“Mommy!” I heard their little feet before I actually saw them.
“Dona!” I laughed when she bounced onto the bed.
“You guys, be careful!” Liam panicked, his eyes shooting not only to Dona, but to all of them: Wyatt, Ethan, Helen, Sedric, and Nari all surrounded me, climbing onto the bed, making themselves completely comfortable.
“Hi, Aunty. You not sick now?” Sedric asked, tilting his head to the side with a lollipop in his mouth.
“No, I’m not sick now.” I placed my hand on his head.
“Dona and I made you this.” Helen slid a beaded bracelet onto my hand before I even got a chance to move. “It’s good luck.”
“Thank you. I’ll always wear it.” It was a mixture of pink, blue, and green beads with my name spelled out in the middle…well, it actually said Melodi, but it was close enough.
“Welcome back,” Nari said softly. She didn’t climb on the bed, instead standing off to the side next to Ethan, both of them being the more mature ones.
“Come on little ones, Aunty Melody needs to rest.” Evelyn came in, walked over to me, and gave me a hug, kissing the side of my head. I was so shocked that I just stared at her before looking to Liam, but he just took a picture with his cellphone before winking at me.
“Nana, I want to stay,” Wyatt said, sliding in under the covers to the left of me and curling up into a ball.
“Me too!” Dona raised her hand.
“Me three!” Sedric replied.
“Oh me four!” Helen giggled and one by one they all got under the covers.
“Guys—” Liam started to say but stopped when Ethan sat down on the small edge of the bed right beside me. He didn’t say anything but his cheeks turned just a bit red. Laughing, I wrapped my arms around him and kissed his cheek.
“Mommm,” he muttered under his breath, but hugged me back.
“Apparently we have a little revolt happening.” Evelyn crossed her arms.
“Just one movie and then we will go? You said you would watch a movie with us before, Mom, but you didn’t,” Ethan replied.
I had forgotten about that.
“Fine, one movie,” Liam agreed and took the remote from the bedside table. The flat screen came out of the wall. “Then it’s your job, Ethan, to make sure everyone leaves.”
“Got it!” He puffed out his chest.
For some reason, I didn’t think I could fight this…this family. My family. This wasn’t the first time I had been shot, nor did I think it would be the last. However, it was the first time I was surrounded by so many people. I knew they were my family. I was there for all their birthdays and Christmases, but this was the first time I actually saw them being there for me. I felt overwhelmed by it.
“Mommy?” Wyatt called out when I glanced to him; he had somehow gotten the remote in his tiny hands.
“Yes?”
“The movie, which one?”
“Anything is fine.” The moment I said it, they all started to call out movie titles as I just sat there leaning against my headboard.
Cora, the child whisperer, somehow came in time, holding baby Darcy in one hand and calming the rest of them with the other. They settled on something called Spy Kids. The moment it came on they stopped talking, their eyes focused on the screen like little zombies.
Creepy as fuck.
Even so, I was so mesmerized by them that I didn’t notice when Liam snuck out of the room. Declan was the one who tiptoed around to me and handed me a cell phone. He didn’t say anything. The screen came on…there in our basement was Ruò Jiàn. He gave me an earpiece, and petting Helen’s head, he left just as quietly as he had come in.
Apparently I was going to be watching another movie.
LIAM
“Mel…She was shot…I don’t know how bad but…”
“There is a lot of blood in front of those hospital doors...”
“Her condition is critical, but we managed to stop the bleeding. However, if she doesn’t get a new heart in the next day or so—”
“She’s coding! I need a crash cart in here!”
“Her heart is failing…”
Like a horror show, the events of the last two weeks replayed in my mind over and over again. It haunted me, to the point where I felt like I was losing my mind. For Mel’s sake, for our children’s sake, I had to push past it. I had to act as if I was above it. All the smiling, all the laughing was taking a toll on me. I didn’t want laugh or smile. I wanted blood.
“Who’s there? You don’t know who you’re messing with.” Ruò Jiàn foolishly cried out, his head whipping in every direction when I stepped into the room.
“Untie him and take off his blindfold,” I said to Neal, who did so as I took off my jacket and handed it to Fedel.
“It’s you…” He gasped out as I lifted the tie from my neck.
Slowly, I undid the buttons of my sleeves and rolled them up. “Leave us.”
Fedel, Neal, and the two other guards in the room walked out, leaving me alone with the only person I could take my aggression out on right then. Sliding off my wedding ring and placing it in my jacket pocket, I put on the brass knuckles. His eyes widened.
“I left your city! I LEFT! I—”
His head snapped back the moment I connected with his nose. Blood poured down into his mouth, his nose cut open, and he stumbled back. He held on to his face with one hand and held the other up to me.
“Whatever you want! Whatever you want I’ll give—” I didn’t wait, I couldn’t stop myself. Over and over again I punched him, blood splattering into my face, covering my hands. When he fell to the ground, I lifted him by the collar and beat into his flesh more. Bones cracked, teeth fell from his mouth, and still I could not stop. My vision was completely red.
How dare they? “How fucking dare you!” I screamed. His body limply slumped over. “No, you don’t get to die, not until I hang you up by your balls and you beg, until you and your little bitch of a sister are begging me to die, then I will cut off your heads, do you hear me? YOU DON’T GET TO DIE! You haven’t suffered nearly enough!”
“Liam.”
When I glanced up, Melody stood at the doorway. She didn’t say anything, just stared at me, and the more she did, the more my mind cleared up. When I looked back down at him, I couldn’t even see his face anymore. Just blood, flesh, and drool. I let him go and he fell back onto the ground like a broken doll. Rising to my feet, I stepped back, wiping the side of my face as I took a deep breath.
“Your hands.” She finally spoke again, lifting my hands up between us; the brass knuckles had dug into my own so badly that when she slid them off, a bit of my skin went with it.
“I’m fine, you should—”
“If you tell me to rest one more time you will look worse than our guest here.” She grumbled, taking the second pair off my hands. “I knew you were holding back, but if you don’t control yourself, he’ll die and we won’t get answers.”
Part of me didn’t want the answers; I just wanted them dead.
“Declan,” she called out and he, along with a doctor—I wasn’t sure how he was already there—came in. Declan handed her a first aid kit as the doctor moved over to the pile of shit bleeding on my floor.
“Sit.” Melody snapped at me, reaching up and tilting my head to the side so I could and would only focus on her. “Now, Liam.”
Sighing, I followed her direction, moving to sit back on the chair I had left my jacket and coat on. Kneeling in front of me, she took out the cotton balls, drenching them in alcohol before placing them on my knuckles.
“Ouch!” I hissed at her.
“Oh boo hoo, you big baby,” she muttered under her breath but dabbed lighter on the second knuckle. There was nothing else either of us could say so I just sat there, letting her treat me as we waited for the fucker to come back…
And waited.
And waited.
And motherfucking waited until I was ready to smack him back to life. Two hours we waited until he was drugged up on so much morphine he was able to sit up and talk…somewhat.
“Give us the room,” she said to me, and the look in her eyes was the only reason why I didn’t argue, stepping out to join Declan and Neal watching through the mirror.
“Tell me everything about your sister and Emilio,” Melody said to him, calmly. He could only open one of his eyes. He swayed side to side almost imperceptibly, trying to stay alert. She placed her hand on his shoulder. “I’m sorry this happened to you,” she added, and I almost had a fucking heart attack.
“What?” Neal gasped in shock, the rest of us far too stunned to speak.
Mel? My wife? The woman with not a single apologetic bone in her body, had said she was sorry? Either I was dead or she was on some hell of a drug…
“Liam Callahan is dangerous. He will keep you alive to torture you for as long as possible.” What is she doing?
“Why…why do you care?” he managed to say.
“I care because I know this isn’t your fault,” she whispered. “And you had nothing to do with any of this. You are just as much a victim as I am. I don’t know what you heard about me, but it’s not true, and I don’t want to see any more people hurt.”
“Liling says….” He took a deep breath. “My…sister…she says you’re a…a monster…a liar.”
“Your sister killed children. Innocent children. I may not be a saint, but I’m not a monster or a liar.” She was lying; she was both of those things. “Liam listens to me because I’m smart and he loves me.”
“She couldn’t pass up the opportunity to flatter herself.” I rolled my eyes and both Declan and Neal snickered.
“If I tell you, he’s going to kill my sister—”
“Ruò Jiàn?” She took a towel to wipe the drool coming from his mouth. “Your sister didn’t just kill children, she killed your father. She and Emilio don’t care about anyone but themselves. How did you think you got here? They didn’t protect you because they didn’t care. It’s time for you to take care of yourself. Join hands with Liam. I’ll make sure he hears you out. You should be the head of your family. You should be the leader of the Tàiyáng triad, not your sister, not some outsider. You. Liam can make it happen, you just have to tell him what you know.”
She was fucking brilliant. She meant none of the words coming out of her mouth and yet said them so passionately you had to believe…and he did.
“Liling always wanted to be the head of the family.” He sang like a canary in a coal mine. “Father kept denying her. Half of the triad supports her, the other doesn’t. She’s trying to prove herself. I don’t know where she met Emilio, or anything else other than he was the son of some powerful man. He’s smart and invented this new drug, Blphine, and it spread all over China so Father welcomed him. However, he didn’t tell us that those who take Blphine will be dead in a year. Father asked him to lower the dose, but it wouldn’t be as effective, so he took it and brought it here, and Liling followed. I know nothing else about him, other than…”
“Other than?”
He coughed and she held on to him. “Are you okay? Sorry, dumb question.”
Oh God, Melody. Don’t you think you are taking the kindness rise just a bit far?
“No…no…it’s just…he’s obsessed with you.”
What?
“What?” She had read my mind.
“Emilio,” he repeated, “he’s obsessed. Liling complained once that he had a whole room filled with photos of you. She’s jealous. She wasn’t supposed to shoot to kill you. He almost killed her when he found out. That’s all I know, I swear. Whatever it is, he wants you.”
Melody glanced over at the mirror, and before he or I could even blink, she pulled out a gun, held it to his head, and pulled the trigger.