The Untouchables (13 page)

We were going to Ireland.

“Liam,” Mel whispered into my ear as I stroked her arm.

“Yes, love.”

“…I’m pregnant again.”

God had a twisted sense of humor.

ELEVEN

“The business of murder took time, patience, skill, and a tolerance for the monotonous.”

—
J.D. Robb

LIAM

Neither of us spoke. Neither of us really knew what to say, nor where to even begin. A lot had happened in the last forty-eight hours. Too much in fact, and I was still trying to sort through it all in my mind. I tried focusing on her breathing, the beating of her heart as it beeped on the machines around us. I tried to calm myself down and just clear my mind, but then it hit me. It hit me like the car that hit her. I almost lost her…
them
. Everything would have been over.

“Ahh…” Mel groaned, forcing me to sit up quickly.

“What’s wrong?” I scanned her body, but other than the obvious, I couldn’t find anything wrong.

“Nothing,” she lied, making herself comfortable once again on the hospital bed.

Ignoring her, I went to look at her chart, Neal had already been moved to another room.

“You’re not a doctor, put my chart down,” she snapped, throwing her pillow at me.

Catching it, I handed it back to her as I read.

“You declined all painkillers?” She was white-knuckling the pain. What the hell was wrong with her? “When did you decline meds? I’ve been with you since I got here.”

“You were in the bathroom. Plus the doctor said it was fine.”

“After you probably threatened him. Have you lost your mind? You have two shots in your shoulder and one in your thigh. Not to mention the countless bruises I can see up and down your legs and arm. Take the damn drugs, Melody.” I tried not to snap at her, but I was only working on two hours of sleep. This was not the fight I wanted to have with her.

She glared and I glared back.

“No drugs,” she hissed.

“You’re in pain. You’re getting drugs if I have to shoot you up myself.” When I reached over to call for the nurse, she grabbed my wrist.

“No drugs, Liam,” she whispered. “They increase the chances of miscarriage and stillbirth. I can’t lose this one. If I do, I’m done, I can’t…”

I stared at her for a moment, not saying anything. I hadn’t even thought about the baby; I hadn’t had time to process it all.

“Okay. Okay, no drugs.”

Once again, we fell into silence. I wasn’t sure what was going through her mind. I still couldn’t believe she was pregnant. I mean, yes, it was more than possible. We jumped each other whenever we were alone. I was addicted her.

She glared at me and I wanted her, she sneezed and I wanted her. She was everything, and it had been more than a year since we lost…but the science behind how made sense. It was just a lot.

“What do you want to do, Mel?” I asked.

She didn’t answer right away.

“Do we have to tell them?”

“No, we can wait.” Until we were more comfortable with the idea…until I knew what to do. I had so much to plan and think over.

“Mel,” I whispered, walking over and taking her hand. “I love you. I love who you are and what we do, but it has to be different. I can’t…you cannot fight this battle. You can’t go up against Aviela. Not now. Not like this. I can’t lose our child again. You have to step back…”

“Liam.”

“Mel, I’m not debating this with you. I swear by all that is holy, I will make Aviela pay. I will make them all pay. But…”

“Let me speak,” she snapped as she sat up, only adding to her discomfort. Trying my best to help her, only gave her the chance to push me away with her one good arm.

“Mel…”

“Will you stop interrupting me? It pisses me off and you know it. What the fuck is the point of me telling you shit that ticks me off when you don’t fucking listen anyway?” she hissed through her teeth. Her brown eyes narrowed into slits and I tried my best not to smirk. She was sexy when she was pissed at me.

Even with her bruised lips, tangled hair and bandages, my wife still looked hot as fuck.

“Hormones already? Should I just buy the smoothie store?” The look on her face would have scared any man, I on the other hand found it funny by now.

She reached over and grabbed the first thing she could, and threw it at my head. Sadly, it was her own phone. I dodged it as quickly as possible and it broke apart upon impact with the wall.

“You are an ass, Liam Callahan. First, this isn’t ‘hormones,’ it’s me. Me with three bullet holes in my body, an asshole of a husband…. and meeting Aviela.” She said the last part softly. “The woman who gave birth to me, and also happens to be insane. I’ve had a rough few days, my reaction is completely normal,” she said,

But her reactions weren’t normal to me. If this was anyone else, my Melody would have stitched herself back up yelled at me for being late and then demanded that we hunt down who ever the son of a bitch was right then. Her reaction...well, she was hurt. What was worse was the fact that she didn’t even realize how much.

“What do you need?” I asked her gently, causing her fist to clench up.

“I need to be looking down at my mother the way she looked down at me,” she said as she turned away from me, but I made her face me.

“Mel. I’m never judging you. I don’t need you to be strong every moment of forever. I need you to let me in now more than ever.”

“She shot me, Liam.” Her voice cracked. “With no remorse or hesitation, she shot me with ease. She said that I was nothing more than an unwanted side effect of her job. But I should have known right? Everything we had found out about her said that she was a cold-hearted bitch, but I really didn’t think she would shoot. I don’t know why. I heard her voice and it sounded like the same woman who used to read to me at night.”

I wasn’t sure what to say in reply. What could I say? Part of me didn’t believe Aviela could pull the trigger either. For God’s sake, it was her daughter, her own flesh and blood. Melody and I did not draw lines in the sand, but that was something that I could never dream of doing.

Placing my hand over her stomach, Mel sighed and leaned back into the bed before covering my hand with hers.

“Mel…”

“Fine.”

“What?” I whispered.

She looked me in the eyes. “For our child and for your sanity, I will not chase Aviela. But I want you to. From now on, she’s your mistress.”

“Excuse me?” I tried not to cringe. Maybe she
was
on drugs.

She laughed, pulling me to her until I was once again lying on the small cot they dared to call a bed. It felt like a prison mattress.

“Aviela is your mistress in that I shouldn’t know anything about her. Everything involving her will be kept secret from me. Even with the men. If they tell me anything about ‘mistress,’ you threaten to cut their balls off and make them wear them as earrings,” she explained softly.

Only my wife could talk about castration and sound like an angel.

I watched her skeptically. “You’re just going to back down and stay out of danger?”

“Depends on your definition of danger,” she stated.

“Melody…”

“Don’t ‘Melody’ me. You’re not my father. I’m letting you take over the hunt for Aviela; I will help if you need me. But don’t need me. I know myself well enough to know that if I get involved, I will want to take over. I will want to hunt her down myself. But I’m not becoming a housewife either. If we’ve learned anything, it’s that Aviela cannot be underestimated. You can’t focus on the business and her at the same time—”

“So, you want control of the drugs?” I cut her off. If this were anyone else, I would have snapped their neck.

“Liam…”

“Don’t ‘Liam’ me,” I said. “You want me to hunt down your mother while you’re off making drug deals with the rest of the country?”
She was definitely on drugs.

“It’s safer and you know it,” she whispered.

I could only shake my head at her. Only in our world would selling drugs be safer than dealing with family.

“What would be safer is you spending the day at malls and charity events while I handle this…” She squeezed my hand so tightly I felt my knuckles crack. “Ouch. Damn, baby.”

“This is the deal, Liam. Take it or leave it,” she demanded.

Always the demanding bitch. She was lucky I fucking loved her. I don’t know why, but like a fool, I did.

Grabbing her good arm, I glared down at her.

“You’re not in any position to make deals, love. You’re pregnant and you’re not putting yourself in danger. You are not your mother, and you wouldn’t harm our child by letting the same thing happen twice. How would it look, having my pregnant wife dealing smack to junkies and dealers that would put a bullet in their mother’s head just to get a line?”

Why couldn’t she just spend nine months watching re-runs and painting her nails in bed?

She frowned and winced. “Liam, you’re hurting me.”

“Shit, love. I’m sor—” The moment I let go of her arm, she smacked me over the head.

“I’ve been pregnant for seven weeks. It didn’t affect my ability to handle junkies. I get it, you’re nervous, so am I. But we have so much work to do. You cannot do it all alone, nor should you have to,” Melody said. “Handle Aviela for me. Focus on that. I can handle everything else. You know I can, and if you tell me not to, I will only ignore you. So why are you fighting me on this? It’s a good plan. It’s the only plan we have right now. Liam, I’m not asking permission. I own half of our family. I’m doing this, or we deal with both situations.”

I hated this.

I didn’t want this. I wanted her out of the business. Not forever. Just until…just until I knew they were both safe. Luckily, before I could reply, my phone beeped.

“I have to go,” I told her, kissing her quickly before grabbing my jacket from the chair.

“Where are you going?” she asked.

“To find out more about my mistress.” The look in her eyes as she sat up told me this would only last about a minute before she was prying the details out of me.

“I’m only taking Fedel, the rest of the men are here to protect you…” I paused looking over once more. I didn’t want to leave her. “To protect the both of you.”

“And who’s going to protect them?” She glared, lying back down.

Shaking my head, I walked toward the door.

“Love you,” I said.

She sighed. “I love you too, okay? Happy? I love you. Now leave before you mess with any more of my emotions.”

MELODY

When he left I stared up at the ceiling rubbing my flat stomach. My flat stomach with a kid inside of it. A kid with really bad timing. Our kid; my and Liam’s own kid.

I was going to be a mother…if it made it. If I didn’t get it killed again, I was going to be a mother; a mother who wouldn’t shoot her child at point blank range.

“I never wanted you. I had orders. I followed them, and you were a side effect. No hard feelings.”

I could hear her voice—the voice I so desperately craved as a child—and now I wished she was dead. I felt the pressure building up in the back of my throat, and I tried to push it back down. But I couldn’t, and the sob rippled through me before the tears came.

I was not a crier. This was not me. But it hurt. Everything hurt. It hurt so badly and I just wanted to forget everything.

Hearing a knock at the door, I wiped my eyes and nose quickly before taking a deep breath.

“Enter,” I called out, and in walked Adriana.

“Mr. Callahan said you would like some herbal green mint tea for the pain,” she said, holding the mug tightly as she walked over to me.

She looked me over and I knew my eyes had given me away, but I just nodded and took the tea.

“Liam said to give me herbal green mint tea?” I asked, staring at the cup.

“No.” She said. “He said, ‘my wife’s in pain. Find some natural shit to make her feel better before I get back.’”

“Dartmouth’s finest,” I whispered, rolling my eyes as I sipped, only to spit the liquid out. “This tastes like shit and mud.”

Adriana grabbed a few napkins, cleaning me off.

“I’m fine. But I’m not drinking this.” Handing her the cup, I lay back down.

“Is there anything I can get for you, ma’am? I’ve been trying to get information from the nurses and doctors, but they’re a little too afraid to talk.” She frowned, eyeing the chart at the end of my bed.

Since when did everyone become a doctor?

“I was shot twice in my shoulder, but it missed the bone, so I’ll need a sling but no cast. I have to stay off my leg for a few weeks, plus physical therapy.” Thanks, Mom.

“Would you like me to make any calls? I can get the best th—”

“No outsiders. If I need help, I’ll come to you.”

She stared at me oddly. “Ma’am, I don’t have any training in…”

I just stared at her. Today was not the day.

“I’ll see what I can do,” she whispered.

“You do that,” I replied, grabbing the tea again. If it was going to help with the pain, I would bear it. “But before you go, I need information.”

“On what, ma’am?”

“Profile Aviela DeRosa.”

She froze and stared at me.

“Ma’am, I don’t know en—”

“Adriana, I will not ask you again. Profile Aviela DeRosa,” I ordered.

She sighed. “From what I can tell, Aviela DeRosa is an extremely narcissistic sociopath. She cares for no one but herself, and has never felt anything for anyone, ever. She appears to be charming, yet she’s covertly hostile and domineering, and sees her victims as instruments to be used. She likes to dominate and humiliate her victims. She will never stay in one place for too long. She will most likely spend the rest of her life hopping from one place to another. I would be shocked if she even had a home. I’d also blame it on her childhood, but there have been cases where some people are just born without feelings.”

“Then why did she have me?” I sneered. She could have had an abortion and been done with it.

“There could be many reasons. She could have just wanted another person to praise her. Another person to control. She could have—”