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I pulled the phone from his ear and spoke into the receiver. “If you truly love us, come home. Let me bring you home.”
“If I came home, I would only hurt you and him. I need to fix me,” she whispered. “I love you so much.”
“I love you t—” My voice broke. “Melody, don’t do this.”
“I…” she tried to say. “Liam, Ivan is a code name for someone in the government. I saw his name on the guest list for Senator Colemen. I think it is Avian Doers.”
That was all I heard before silence rang out on the other end.
“Melody?”
Silence.
“Mel?”
Silence.
“Wife, answer me!”
I didn’t want her to be gone. I couldn’t handle her being gone. It felt as though my body was too heavy to stay upright on its own, like the world was crushing my lungs. The phone, like everything I held dear to me, slipped out of my hands. When had everything gone so wrong? When had I failed? How could she just leave? What had happen to her?
“Liam.”
“WHAT!” I yelled so loudly that Ethan jumped before letting out cries, and part of me wanted to join him. Taking him into my arms, I wrapped myself around his tiny body. “I’m sorry, kiddo,” I whispered into his ear.
“Son,” My father stepped in, “The police have a warrant out for your arrest. They will be here in thirty minutes. We need—”
“Make sure all our rooms are secured and I’ll be out in twenty-five minutes. Send Mother in.”
“Liam, you can’t be—”
“Goodbye, Father,” I said to him, taking a seat in the rocking chair. Staring at the big eyes looking back at me, I tried to think of what I was going to say to my son.
“Your mother and I are starting this parenting thing badly,” I told him when the door closed. “But we’ll make it up to you, I swear. I hope when you’re my age you look back and all you see is us, that we didn’t miss anything. Rule number six: sometimes in order to win, you have to lose.”
He smiled and for a moment, and it was like he could read my mind. He reached out for me and I kissed his hands as I cradled his little head.
“Don’t worry, you’ll never learn them all. I think my father made them up as he went.” I rocked him until his eyes drifted closed.
He was another thing I didn’t want to let go of. Placing him back in his crib, I fixed my suit and brushed my hair just as my mother walked in, fire burning in her eyes.
“Your father says you’ve lost your mind.”
I kissed her cheek. “I don’t want Olivia to touch him. Neal either, for that matter. Please, keep him safe until this is over, or I get out, whichever happens first.”
She slapped me. “So you have lost your mind. Liam, we can call the lawyer, make bail. Just because they arrest you doesn’t mean this is over. They still have to prove you’re guilty. That’s democracy.”
“Mom, no judge will give me bail. I will be gone for a while until I prove my innocence. But if it makes you feel better, call the lawyer.”
Looking back at Ethan once more, I walked out to find my whole family lining the hall, each of them just as angry as my mother.
“Make sure nothing derails Senator Colemen from becoming President, am I understood?”
“Fuck that!” Neal snapped. “What about you? You can’t just walk out there. Have you lost your fucking mind?”
“I second that.” Declan walked up, trying to read me. Leaning in, he whispered, “Is there a plan here? You have an endgame, right?”
“Just to proclaim my innocence to whoever will listen,” I said. “Don’t break anything while I’m gone.”
Walking down the hall, every servant came out to watch as well. They poked out of rooms, and even froze on the grand stairs as I walked towards the door. Among them, the little boy I smuggled over was holding onto his mother’s dress.
“It wasn’t me. I swear, sir. I swear,” she cried, holding him closer to her.
BOOM.
BOOM.
BOOM.
“Mr. Liam Callahan, this is the Chicago Police Department, we have a warrant for your arrest in the murder of Melody Nicci Giovanni Callahan.”
Opening the door, I walked out into the sea of flashing lights.
EPILOGUE
“To betray you must first belong.”
—Harold Kim Philby
OLIVIA
The cheers made the stage we stood upon rumble with such force that I had to hold onto Neal. I squinted against the flashing lights in order to see straight.
“Thank you, America!” my father yelled, riling them up even more. “I am proud, honored, and so blessed to be your President. It’s been a long and strange journey, but together we will change America for the better. We will make this country—that city on the hill—great once again.”
“How much longer is this going to take?” Neal whispered as he leaned into me. I wanted to roll my eyes.
Where did he have to go?
“Neal, the judge denied bail. Your brother is going to spend the next five months in jail before the trial. Right now, this is a win. A bloody good win when we so badly need one, so smile for the damn cameras.” Leaning away for him, I took a small step forward, waving and smiling at all the people who came to see us. The Colemens, the first daughter of the fucking President of the United States, we did it.
How big is my crown now?
“I am smiling, dear. But I will not just forget about my brother. That judge needs to go—”
“Can we talk about this later?” Why couldn’t he just let it go? Liam wouldn’t give two shits if he were arrested. The judge was a hard ass and I loved her for it. She wanted Liam behind bars as much as I did. Now if Evelyn would just let go of Ethan, everything would be perfect.
I would handle that later.
When my father took a step back, I applauded even louder, wrapping my arm around Neal’s as we were led backstage where Mina stood, suited up with her head set and clapping like a seal. Everyone around her stopped to take pictures of my father.
“Mr. President.”
“POTUS.”
My father is the President.
“Olivia, I’ve got to go,” Neal said, pulling away as everyone focused in on my father.
Grabbing him by the arm, I pulled him into the hall, but it was just as full of people as inside. He didn’t even blink as he broke free of me before heading over to the elevator.
“Neal,” I hissed, stomping over to him.
He shook his head as he waited for the golden doors to open. It was the only place we were going to get a damn moment, so I just bit my lip tapping my heels on the marble until we stepped in.
“I don’t want to hear it, Olivia.”
“Neal, my father just won the election! And you want to go back into your basement with Declan and Sedric trying to figure out how to save that idiot!”
“OLIVIA!” His hand hovered over my neck as he breathed through his nose and tried to hold himself back.
“Neal, he’s not even trying! It’s like he wants to be in that cell. Tell me when are you going to stop wasting your time, and mine, on a brother who doesn’t give a shit!”
He shook his head, and pulled off his red tie before he stepped out of the metal box on the ground floor where his black Mercedes was already waiting for him.
