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“Yes. I do. So stop feeling sorry for yourself and let’s go before she tries to leave us again.”
Taking the cloth from her, I wiped my face as she grabbed her purse.
“Where are we going?”
She didn’t answer, just walked out of the room. When she did, I noticed Mina hunched over a tablet and talking on the phone. Her head snapped up at us and she pushed the glasses on her face up her nose. Fedel stood beside her, also on the phone. They both looked to us as Cora walked over.
“We have a heart. Just work on finding the shooter.”
I wasn’t sure if I was still dreaming but I didn’t say anything, more just nodded for Fedel to do what she said as we walked toward the elevators.
“Cora, I’m not going to ask again, where are we going?”
“The cancer ward,” she stated, pressing the button for the elevators.
CORA
4:15 PM
There was a joke among the Irish that the Callahan’s became powerful by selling their souls to the devil. Whether they were born a Callahan or married into the family, the price was the same. Even though it was said over pints of beer and laughter, I didn’t think it was a joke—or at least, it wasn’t for me. When the elevator doors opened and I was once again back at the wretched cancer ward, watching as men, women, and children went by, their heads bald, their eyelashes the only hair on their heads, I knew I was going to pay for all the shit I had done or would do for the sake of this family…one day, if not today.
“Room 591,” I said to him, following him as he walked, almost ran, past each one of the doors down the hall. I didn’t make eye contact with anyone, just kept walking until we stopped right in front of the window, allowing us to look in.
He paused, his eyebrows coming together. “Who is this?”
“Does it matter?”
He didn’t reply because it didn’t matter to him, but he still wanted an answer.
“Imani Wilson,” I replied, watching her sleep.
“Your cousin,” He remembered, finally meeting my gaze. “I thought Declan had her sent to North Mount Psychiatric Hospital after she tried to—”
“Rub me?”
“Yeah.” It felt like a lifetime ago, Imani, her boyfriend Otis—who Declan had killed in my honor—the chaos that was my life right before I married Declan and realized the world was even more fucked up than I’d thought. “She has ovarian cancer as well…because of that, I had her moved to this hospital. She starts chemo in the morning. If she does, every cell in her body will be shot. The doctors say she is in perfect condition with the exception of her ovaries. She is AB negative, thirty, and I have a say over medical decisions; it was part of the deal for me paying for her treatment.”
For the first time since I had come into the hospital, Liam stood straighter, a small but evil smirk on his lips, his expression cold.
“Which means should she die, you have a say on who gets her organs or not,” he said it more to himself than to me, already reaching for the doorknob when I stopped him. “Cora—”
“I’ve handled it already,” I replied, nodding to the doctor behind the nurses’ station. He didn’t say a word to me, he just came up to Imani’s room and walked in.
“How?” Liam questioned me, watching as the doctor changed her drip.
How did I get him to break every oath he ever took? “Two million in gambling debts. That’s how coldblooded and ruthless people can be…” I had no room to judge him, though.
“I love this city.” The smirk on his face grew to a full-blown devilish grin.
I wished I felt worse. I wished I cared more about Imani, but I didn’t. If she died, the world would go on. No one would care. If Melody died…war would break out, and that didn’t just put Declan in danger, but our kids. No one else meant more to me than them, so if I had to do this for them, I would.
It’s a dog eat dog world, and I had sharpened my teeth a long time ago.
LIAM
4:23 PM
It took two minutes for Imani die, ten minutes for Cora to fake grieving before consenting, and another minute for them to come for Melody.
