AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“I’m fine.”
“Mel.”
DAMN IT!
I was going kill him. I didn’t care what he had. That night, wherever he was, I was going to kill him and deal with whatever happened next.
LIAM
“Again.”
I watched as she lit up like a Christmas tree, electricity flowing through her body, her hair rising away from her body.
“Stop,” I ordered, and when they left her, she slumped in her chair. “Do you know there was a study where they asked regular people to electrify other regular people, with different voltage strengths? They started off with the weakest voltage and the person being electrified would give a quick groan or grunt but seemed okay. Then they told to raise the voltage and it seemed like those people were in real pain. Yet out of dozens of people involved in the experiment, only a handful refused to increase the voltage. Most of them just kept doing what they were told.” I waited for a second before nodding to Fedel. “Again.”
She shook for only a second before I said, “Stop…again…stop. You see, I think there is something in people that makes them innately susceptible to commands. Some people are just followers, while other people, a rare few, are born to lead. You weren’t born to lead, Liling. You thought you were, but you just aren’t the same. Is that why Emilio was able to get you so wrapped around his fingers?”
She cursed me in Chinese, not bothering to lift her head up. Two hours of this and she still wouldn’t speak; either she didn’t know anything or she would rather die than say anything.
“Liam.” Neal came into the room, turning his body away from her and holding the tablet out in front of him. “This was just published online.”
“What the fuck am I looking at?” I could clearly see Melody and Emilio, in her office, their faces so close together it looked like they were about to kiss.
“He’s starting,” Liling said, laughing behind us.
“The press is going to hound her—”
“If this is all he can do, then we are far too worried about him,” I muttered as I glared at the image.
MELODY
“So the interview will be in one of the conference rooms of the hospital, and after that you have the teachers association meeting at one, then the city board at three—”
“I thought I was taking it easy, coming in, shaking a few hands, pretending to actually be working.” I shifted in the back seat, Mina scrolling through the schedule in front of her.
“We can reschedule the teachers association meeting if you would like, but you need the interview; you haven’t done one in almost a year.”
Rubbing the side of my head, I nodded and lay back. For some reason, I had the feeling someone was watching me. I knew it was all in my head. I understood it was just a product of learning about Emilio bugging my office, but that still didn’t make me feel better. What the fuck was wrong with him? If he wanted to kill me, he would have done it. If he wanted revenge, he could have taken it in that one moment. There was some giant piece of the puzzle I was missing. It was like staring at the Mona Lisa with her smile gone. You know what’s supposed to be there and how it’s supposed to look, and yet it just looks off.
“We’re here,” Mina stated when the car pulled to a stop in front of the building, and luckily the press weren’t there that day. I said nothing as the doors opened, and I stood in the exact same spot where I’d been shot down only a month before. I felt a lot of things; I just wasn’t able to express what they were. The air was far too hot for April and heat waves rippled through the sky, a dramatic change from the weak weather and rain we normally had that time of year.
“Mel?”
“I’m fine,” I stated, walking forward. When I entered the hospital, I noticed that nothing had changed since I’d left—nothing but a banner that now said ‘Chicago Strong’ at the entrance.
“Governor Callahan, we’re glad to finally see you up and about. How are you feeling?” Dr. Fortmen came over to me with a team of doctors, outstretching his arm.
“I’m feeling like my old self again, thanks to you.” I shook his hand, looking at the rest of them. “Thanks to all of you. How are the children?”
“Follow me.” He led the way as we walked down the halls. “Four of the children are still here and we have kept them in the same room so they don’t feel isolated. Luckily they are recovering well, physically, but mentally, they still jump at any loud noises. One of the four tore open his stitches one night after a nightmare.”
“And their parents?” I asked, stopping at the door with him. Through the window I saw them, all sitting at their children’s sides. They looked exhausted, but that didn’t stop them from laughing and playing with them.
“I thought you said there were four families?” I only counted three.
“The Valentinos.” He moved across the hall to another room, looking through the glass at a couple with brunette hair. “They were the ones that lost their son and daughter. Their second son, Toby, survived. The kids were all together when the shooting happened. They haven’t left the hospital since. We’ve set up beds and even allowed them to use the showers here. At first, we tried to keep Toby with the rest of the kids, but his condition… He’s the one who ripped his stitches. Of all the kids, he’s recovered the best, physically, but between his nightmares and refusing to eat, sleep, or even speak, he’s making himself sick. He won’t speak to the child psychotherapist either.”
He was the only one not playing or laughing. He just sat on his bed, staring out the window. His parents talked but they looked like they were talking for the sake of talking and weren’t really saying anything.
