AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Nothing. I was just asking when Mom’s coming back.” He lied, and even I was shocked by that. He never ever lied to Liam. Liam’s eyes looked to me for a quick second; he’d caught it too, but he didn’t press.
“Well we will be back for dinner, so make sure your Uncle Neal is nowhere near the kitchen, all right?”
“Yep. Bye, see you.” He waved and hung up.
Liam then gave me his full attention and I rolled my eyes. “He wanted to make sure this would never happen again. He wanted to know what we were going to do, but he’s far too young to be worrying about what to do. He should just trust us.”
“No.” He shook his head, placing the phone into his pocket. “His mother was shot. He should be worried. He should want to know. It means he wants vengeance and won’t be satisfied by just trusting it will come.”
“Does this mean you’re on board with me going back to work?” I sat up.
“Don’t push it, I had to promise to have a nurse—”
“You didn’t!” I didn’t want some nurse checking up on me in my own damn house. It reminded me too much of Orlando, and I was not at that point.
“She will come check to make you are recovering fine and then leave, in and out in less than an hour. It’s either that or another few days here.”
I said nothing, which was just as good as agreeing. I needed to get back to work. I needed them, the world to know I wasn’t on life support or even scared.
“We should leak to the press what time I’m leaving so they can catch up to us,” I stated, and the look on his face—
“No—”
“Why? Because this bitch is going to take another shot? If I hide now it means I’m scared, that I crawled back home defeated. If the people of this city think I am unfit to lead, they will pressure me to resign. I worked too hard and for too goddamn long to be pushed out. I know you want me to rest. But I can’t…not completely. We have jobs to do.”
“We are doing it my way,” he finally said, and I knew there was no fighting him on it.
“Fine.” Just as long as my face was back out there, and the last thing people remembered wasn’t me being shot.
LIAM
We got sloppy. It was the effect of our own hubris. Who would ever take a shot at us? How could we let ourselves think like that? We had been on top for so long, our enemies were so beaten and broken that not once did we stop to think that maybe, just maybe, someone was looking down through a scope at us… Never once did I think about it; I was too wrapped up in enjoying my life. I didn’t even take Mel’s warning seriously about Liling and Emilio, and like always, when it came to these things, her instincts were right. I’d fucked up and that could never happen again.
“She doesn’t want the wheelchair,” Mina stated, coming out of the room.
“Of course not.” I scoffed at myself. That would be too fucking easy and my wife didn’t do easy. Everything was either hard as fuck or borderline insane; she had no ‘simple’ setting. I’d be fighting her to the end of fucking time.
But I prefer that life than a life without her.
“I’ve got it make sure everything and everyone is ready,” I said as I opened the door. When she turned back around to face me, her red lips in a hard line, nose flared, and arms crossed under her breasts, I thought my heart stopped.
She looked beautiful. She was always beautiful, but that day she looked especially so. She wore a casual white dress with a white blazer and tan hat. It looked like a stunning outfit, but in reality, every article of clothing she wore was bulletproof, as were mine.
“No to the wheelchair, it defeats the point,” she said to me.
“Pity you got all dolled up and we aren’t going anywhere; after all, we agreed to do this my way.” When I reminded her, she lifted her hands as if she were going to strangle me before taking a deep breath.
Walking slowe
r than usual but as gracefully as normal—apparently wearing heels was like riding a bike—she sat down in the wheelchair.
“You frustrate the bloody hell out of me, Mr. Callahan.”
“It’s a two-way street, Mrs. Callahan,” I said, moving to push her from behind. “I know you enjoy your speeches, but skip them today. Let them know you’re alive and well—”
“Who is my advisor, you or Mina?” She glanced up at me.
“Husband, advisor, sex toy—I’m a package deal.” I winked, forcing another smile even though I wanted to get her home as fast as possible. Things had been quiet after Ju-long’s death…too quiet, which meant they were up to something.
