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Three.
Stupid goddamn tears.
It took all my effort to fight the onslaught of tears as my resolve crumbled. He reached up and wiped them away with his thumb.
Two.
“I’m not the fucking emotional one in this relationship.” I smiled at him.
One.
“I love you, Melody Nicci Giovanni-Callahan.”
And we pulled the trigger.
THIRTY-FOUR
“Death ends a life, not a relationship.”
—Mitch Albom
LIAM
It took a cold son of a bitch to look the love of their life in the eyes and then put a bullet into their skull. I knew from the very moment we spoke about this that I wasn’t going to be able to do it. However, I was shocked that she also seemed unable to do it as well. She stared at me, her gun still raised and hot from the bullet she’d fired into the wall behind me, while my bullet remained lodged in the picture frame behind her.
Dropping my forehead to hers, we stood there for a moment as we breathed in each other’s scent. Were we weak for not killing each other, or did that make us strong? I couldn’t tell anymore. I felt dead inside, but I still had her and that was all that mattered.
“You didn’t give me a chance to say, ‘I love you too, Liam Callahan,’” she whispered.
I wanted to smile, but I couldn’t. This was the end. Pulling away from me, she turned to the computer. The numbers on the timer were all set to zero.
“We should go,” I said to her just as all the data started to scramble, and all the files on the drive were sent off to the various journalists.
“What the hell?” Mel muttered before sitting down.
“Mel, we need to—”
“The files are deleting themselves,” she whispered,
My heart took a thumping beat. “What?”
She tried to type, but the system immediately locked her out and the pages, the pictures, accounts, everything that he had on us, erased itself. It was like watching the end of a solitaire game where all the cards were spread out before they disappeared completely.
“Did you do this?” I asked her.
“No. There was nothing I could do. The program was beyond me—”
She stopped when a video screen popped up and all of sudden, there was Aviela with a large grin on her face and a glass of white wine in her hand.
“Having trouble there, Father?” she snickered. “I wish I could see your face right now. Oh my, you must be ready to explode with rage. You probably want to beat the hell out of me. Stab me a few more times, lock me up in a hole until I behaved accordingly. It’s a shame; you have most likely killed me by now. Physically killed me at least. But I don’t care, I’ve been dead for a long time and I’ve taken your shit for even longer. I may not be strong enough to destroy you, but I damn well will not make it easy for you to obliterate my daughter.
“That’s right—if it came down to her or you I will always choose her. You thought you could somehow change that? And I let you believe that I didn’t care, I shot her, almost killed her family members, just so I could have this one moment. This one victory. Everything you’ve ever made me collect on her is here. My life’s work—the only scrapbook I have of her—and I’m erasing it. There are no copies to be made, I’ve code stamped them all to delete when this went off. Do your own fucking dirty work, you sick, stupid son of a motherfucking bitch. Checkmate, Daddy.”
My mouth dropped open as she raised her glass to him—to us.
“I’ll see you in hell,” she said as she drank the entire glass. “Oh, and one more thing, if you’re in your office, you really should leave, I’ve got a few explosives ready to go off in that goddamned place. If you make it, tell my baby I said hi…and that I’m sorry I had to hurt her.”
With that, she was gone, and I wasn’t sure how to react. Melody sat back in shock, as her eyes roamed the computer screen while the files kept on deleting themselves and everything was wiped clean. She went to click on the video again, but a sudden and violent explosion went off, causing the windows and the walls around us to crack.
“Mel, we need to go!” I yelled as the ground shook violently beneath us. The foundation of the building was no doubt giving way.
“Give me a second,” she said, as she took her phone and hooked it up to the processor.
What the fuck could she possibly be doing now?
Rushing to look outside, I saw the authorities below already clearing the block.
Another loud explosion echoed throughout the building, causing whatever hadn’t yet fallen, to crumble to the ground.
“Mel—”
“Let’s go,” she said as she took off her heels and moved to the door.
The moment she opened it, thick, heavy, grey smoke encompassed us. Electrical wiring hung from the ceiling, as parts of the walls collapsed.
She ran through the aisle when the floor underneath her suddenly gave way.
“Mel!” I jumped forward, and grabbed onto her arm. “I didn’t let you live for you to go and get yourself killed!”
“I didn’t ask to be saved, you ass! Let me go. We can get out this way.”
Rolling my eyes, I did as she asked and let go without giving her any warning. She fell hard against the desk below her.
“Goddamn it, Liam!”
“Sorry. I was too busy being an ass,” I snickered as she rolled off the desk and I jumped down.
I got to my feet only to be punched in the jaw.
“Bitch!” I snapped as I wiped the blood from the corner of my mouth.
“Stop your whining, we need to get to the stairs.”
Grabbing her arm, I pulled her into me and kissed her. My fingers wound their way into her hair as she gripped onto my neck.
“This isn’t over,” I told, her as I took her hand and ran. I placed my arm over my mouth, trying to keep as much of the ash-like smoke out of my lungs as I could.
We made it into the stairwell and down one flight when the ceiling caved in behind us.
“Is anyone there? Help me, please!” a man called from a level down. His leg was broken; snapped at an odd angle and bleeding.
Mel looked to me, annoyed.
We can just leave him.
“Someone help!” the man begged.
“We can use him to escape,” I whispered. After all, we were still surrounded by almost every law enforcement agency. They’d be wondering why we hadn’t left the building during the initial evacuation.
Mel moved to him, and pressed her thumb against his neck until he blacked out.
“He doesn't have to see us to help us,” she said.
Good point.
Placing his arm around our shoulders, we made our way down the stairs. His legs dragged with every step we took, but there was a price for being saved, right?
“Three more!” a fireman yelled, as he rushed to us. We both kept our heads down, and stared at the gravel as they came to us.
“Sir, ma’am—”
“We’re fine, but he’s hurt badly,” Mel said as they wrapped blankets around us.
“Is there anyone else in there?” a police officer yelled over the loud sirens and growing crowd that had gathered to watch the building burn behind us.
“We couldn’t see anything. We got lost and trapped, and we found him as we were trying to get out,” I yelled.
