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“I’m going to find Liam. I’ll be back,” I whispered.
Kain nodded, already standing guard.
Walking down the hall, I waited until I was out of both sight and hearing range. Then, I ducked into an empty room, pausing only for a moment to ensure that I was completely alone before I released everything; I screamed. I screamed and punched the wall over and over again until my knuckles were numb, bloody, and exposed. Avian had sent us an image of Ethan and Evelyn with a message saying, “Goodbye.”
And now…now Sedric was gone.
Just like that. Not only had he killed him—but ten other bullets were found, three were in Monte, one in Sedric, the others were bystanders and a driver who ended up driving into a building. And now Sedric’s body was here in the morgue and I couldn’t…
Fuck, this hurt.
Taking a deep breath, I followed the blue arrows and rode the elevator down. It smelled like actual death as I walked down the quiet hall. And there I found him, stiffly standing over the table. Moving inside the room, I sighed in relief at the fact that he had not unzipped the bag by himself. His hand, which seemed paler than I remembered, was hovering over the top of the bag. He was afraid, but I knew that he wouldn’t believe it until he saw Sedric’s body with his own two eyes.
Stepping up, I pulled the zipper down slowly and Liam took his hand away. I didn’t want him to see this, not if he didn’t want to, so I allowed my body to block his view.
“I’m ready.”
No you aren’t.
None of us were, no matter what we said. Moving back, I allowed him to see the single bullet wound in the center of his father’s head. Liam’s body hunched forward as his legs went weak, but I held on to him and caught him as the sobs erupted from his body; not just from his mouth, his entire body was wracked with painful sobs that caused my throat to tighten and my eyes to sting. He cried openly in my arms before finally moving over to face his father. He kissed his cheek and hugged him tightly.
“I’m sorry. I’m so sorry, Dad. I’m so sorry.” He wept.
I didn’t care what he said; we were going home.
He was going to take his father back home to Chicago where he belonged. We would have our revenge, but he needed this, and truthfully, so did I. We all did.
Someone still had to tell Declan and Coraline…and I knew that that someone would’ve been me.
Holding onto my husband, a burning need traveled through me. Something akin to adrenaline, but darker, much more vengeful, pumped through my veins and I made a silent promise: Never again!
TWENTY-SIX
“Hearts can break. Yes, hearts can break. Sometimes I think it would be better if we died when they did, but we don't.”
—Stephen King
CORALINE
Wiping my face over and over again didn’t help. Nothing seemed to dull the pain, or stop the tears. I sat on the edge of our bed waiting for my husband. He was going to be here at any moment, and I needed to be strong for him, but the damned tears wouldn’t stop falling. When the door jiggled, I sat up quickly with my hands at my sides.
“Did you see the news? Mel and Liam are insane. I’m famous babe…well, my gun and my altered voice was. Who knew it would be so easy to—” he paused as he took off his shoes and looked me over. “What’s wrong?”
I said nothing, choosing instead to move towards him I before gripped the sides of his face and kissed him deeply. He pulled me to him, and wrapped his arms around my body before he pulled back and smiled.
“What did I do to deserve that? Let me know so I can do it again!”
I didn’t want to do this. I couldn’t do this to him. He had lost the man who took him in and treated him like his own son all his life—he had lost his real father. The tears returned as I bit my tongue. Mel had said on the phone to just spit it out, that it was going to hurt no matter how I delivered the news, but I didn’t want to see him in pain.
“Coraline, talk to me please,” he whispered, as he placed his hand on my face. “Did I do something? I know I’ve been overprotective, but I can’t help it, I just worry about you—”
I placed my finger on his lips and took a deep breath. “Mel and Liam are coming back tomorrow morning.”
“What? Why?”
“Baby, I’m so sorry. Sedric’s gone,” I allowed the words to rush out.
His eyes widened as he took a step away from me.
Everything I’d been told spilled from my mouth. “Avian tried to have Evelyn and Ethan killed, but Sedric pushed them out of the way and…and took a bullet…he never got back up. Mel—”
“Stop!” Declan screamed at me.
I tried to reach for him but he pushed me away while shaking his head. “What are you saying? What? I don’t…I don’t understand. I spoke to him and Evelyn a few hours ago. Why are you saying this?”
“Declan.”
“No, this is crazy. You're wrong.” He snapped at me as I moved to him once more, this time I pulled him into my arms. He stood stiffly. “You’re wrong.”
His body began to shake as he held onto me. “You’re wrong. I can’t lose two fathers, Cora.”
But he had and I wished I were wrong. I really did, because all I could see were dark days before us.
How did this happen?
NEAL
I needed to see her. It had been only a couple of hours without him and it still felt as if I’d just been told. It burned to think about reality. My throat felt as if it were closing, like my heart crawled through it, just wanting to be expelled. My eyes ached, and I wanted to rip them out if only to alleviate the constant stinging. Mel had taken Mom and Ethan home, leaving me with Liam and Kain. None of us spoke. We simply sat in our private waiting room in silence before I couldn’t take it anymore. I had to see her.
We refused to leave without our father. We refused to let him stay there without us in a cold box as if he were no one. It wasn’t right. I had planned to stay at the hospital all night when Olivia called for the ninth time. I’m not even sure why they bothered to leave her a phone, but I was sure it had to do with Avian—the fucking bastard. I was going to pull his lungs out of his ass.
The longer I thought about him, the more I thought of her. I had to see her, I had to know if she knew about this…if this had been a part of her plan all along.
Liam didn’t even seem to notice as I took my leave, he just sat there with Kain, who stood at his side like a fucking rock. It didn’t even seem as if he were breathing. I didn't want to leave him, but I needed to know.
“Evelyn, stop, please!” I heard her strangled scream as I walked towards the basement. There, on the bed, was Olivia trying fight off my mother who was on top of her. She continuously punched her, and her fists were covered in blood as they slammed into Olivia’s face.
“You bitch! I welcomed you into my home, my family, and this is what you do? This is all your fault! I’m going to kill you! I’m going to fucking kill you! How dare you! You filthy cunt! Die! Just DIE!” She pulled her arm back and punched her one last time, until finally, I lifted her off of Olivia. Still enraged, she struggled out of my grip and smacked me hard across the face. With tears in her eyes, she glared at me.
“This is your fault!” she screamed at me, before pointing to Olivia, who now had a busted lip, a broken nose, and cut forehead. “You brought this trash, this snake, this evil whore, into our lives, our family. She wanted all of us dead and now she’s getting her wish. For once in your goddamn life, Neal Callahan, stop being a disappointment! I’ve always been on your side, I’ve always wanted what was best for you, and this is how you repay me? By destroying me? I can’t even look at you. How could you do this to me?!” She spat at my feet.
