by J. J. McAvoy
Create chaos and in that chaos, put a bullet in my skull.
How did she create that chaos?
Have men shoot up the place, not harm anyone but cause fear, cause people to run. She was either somewhere inside or outside, waiting for that shot.
“Did she just pour her drink on you on—” Dino asked.
“Code gray,” I whispered to him as I headed straight for the bathroom.
Entering, I pushed every door to the stalls open, checking the ceiling above me as well before moving to the sink, trying to breathe.
They had been silent for almost a year, too busy fighting for their lives. Now, all of a sudden, they had time to come after me? This was too fast. Again, the piece didn’t fit unless I thought back to my grandfather and why he wanted to speak to me.
Mala tempora currunt.
“They couldn’t have done it so quickly,” I whispered, looking at myself in the mirror. But then again, we were talking about Liam and Melody Callahan.
My fingers tapped on the surface of the sink as I took a deep breath, trying to connect the dots. Finally, quickly I dialed.
“You left in a hurry over a little champagne on your dress.” He answered.
“Mala tempora currunt. What happened?” I asked directly.
“We will talk after the ball—” His said in a hushed tone.
“We do not have time after the ball. I mean, I think Liam and Melody plan to kill me tonight. Something they shouldn’t be able to do because you are supposed to be sending people after them. What happened, Grandfather?”
“I’ll come to—”
“What happened?”
“It’s only the four of you left.”
I took the phone away from my ear. Twisting my neck as I could not believe that. “You are telling me, out of the whole business, two people, in their fucking fifties, killed dozens of our people in a year?”
He was silent, and all I could do was laugh. Hanging my head, I laughed so hard.
“I’ll come to you.”
“Oh, goodie, I cannot wait,” I said, lifting my skirt, pulling out my gun.
Who would have thought this moment would come so early? It was frustrating actually, being forced to rush or act based on someone else. But then again, I had to give Liam and Melody Callahan fucking credit.
They really were fucking badasses.
Why were my parents such shit and his so fucking amazing?
“Life really wasn’t fair to me,” I said, shaking. I was given a shitty hand at birth. Imagine how different everything could have been.
Dialing again, the phone rang on and on and on until I got to his voice message. So, I dialed again. Again and again.
“Calliope, if I don’t fucking answer the first time, it is because I’m busy,” Wyatt snapped on the other line.
“Busy with what? Setting us up?”
“What? You and Ethan both are—”
“I’m sorry, I’m kind of short on time, Wyatt. I did not call to hear you lie to me, so put your parents on the line.”
“Are you hearing yourself right now?”
“I am; are you hearing me? I am not an idiot. I have set up ambushes many times. I know what it feels like, the air changes for me, the hair at the back on my neck rises. All that special bullshit. So, I know what is about to happen. And if it does, you will live to regret every day of your motherfucking life.”
“You are fucking insane—”
“Will you swear on your precious family if I go out there that not a single gunshot will go off? Liam. Melody. One of you answer, I do not care which, just take the phone from your traitorous son.”
There was silence. And I noticed a shadow under the door.
“Who betrayed whom first?” An older man, Liam’s voice, I think.
“If you are speaking to me, that means your wife has a gun in her hand somewhere, right?”
“Are you scared?” He snickered. “You should be. She’s very upset, and when Mel is upset, the whole world burns.”
“She and her son have that in common, then. Not Wyatt, I mean Ethan. Just so we are clear. Wyatt is the reason I caught on so quickly. It’s always the small things. He needs more practice.”
“I thought you said you did not have much time? Or do you plan on hiding in the bathroom forever?”
The grin on my face widened. “You can see me? Good. I’d like you to call off your wife.”
“My son, and I mean Wyatt, is right; you are insane.”
“I don’t think any of you have the right to evaluate my mental health,” I muttered. “So, make sure to call her.”
With that, I tossed the phone onto the counter.
Just as I had thought, the moment I hung up, the doors opened and in stepped my grandfather, adjusting his cufflinks.
“I take it he’s not just going to call off his wife,” he asked, frowning. “So, what are we going to do? I have only two men outside. It’s not enough of us to fight our way out. They must have hired whoever they could off the street for this.”
“Have you ever wondered if everything could have been different?”
“Different how?”
I shrugged. “Just different. I wondered what my life might have been if you all weren’t my family.”
“Don’t talk as if you are going to die. We will make it—”
BANG.
The feeling of his blood splattering across my face was not pleasant. I reached up to wipe away the crimson stain.
“No, I will make it and stop wondering.”
6
“We hurt most who we love the most
Bad grammar, painful truth.”
~Andy Stanley
WYATT
I stared at the screen in absolute shock.
There were a dozen ways I thought this night would end. In eleven of them, Calliope died. One of them had her surviving because I thought Ethan would pull something none of us had seen coming. But no matter what, I had figured the first one to go down would be Calliope, and then after that, we would take out of the rest of her family. But instead, she had just put a bullet in the head of her own grandfather. The blood poured out of his skull over the marble, all the while Calliope stood over his body.
“This can’t be real,” I said as my father stared at the screen as well.
He wasn’t out there, because his shoulder blade had shattered from the stray bullet shot that had hit him. With his good arm, he reached for the remote and zoomed in, and we watched as Calliope lifted her head, took a deep breath, and moved over to the sink, taking a napkin to clean the blood from her face as best she could. After that, she picked up her phone and dialed.
I thought she’d call Ethan.
But instead, it was my phone that rang.
“It’s not fake,” my father replied, reaching out to me as I handed him the phone.
When he answered the phone, she immediately said, “Have you called off your mom…or wife? Which Callahan am I speaking to?”
“Why did you do this?”
“Because I am a loyal member of this family, of course.”
I scoffed, rolling my eyes, moving out the window. We were about four blocks from the museum but were high enough that we could see it, which meant my mother would still be able to see her from her sniper scope.
“If you think this will get us to trust you—”
“I do not need you to trust me, Dad. I just need you not to shoot me. So, would you like to know the truth now? Or would you rather keep firing in the dark.”
“How do we know you really killed him?” he asked her.
“There is a lot of blood on the floor. Don’t you have cameras? Can’t you see?”
“What is done on tape is deceptive.”
“If you want me to bring you his head, I’m going to need something sharper than my heels.”
She really was insane. Calliope sat on the edge of the sink, swinging her legs back and forth right beside her grandfather’s dead body. I knew the man wasn’t
her flesh and blood, but he’d raised her, hadn’t he? And in the end, when cornered, she’d used him as a shield for herself. This was the woman Ethan had fallen for? Did she have a heart at all?
“Well, Mr. Callahan...Ethan’s here.”
I stepped closer to look at the screen, and sure enough, Ethan stepped inside, looking down at the body before him and then back at her. She pointed to the phone.
“Your father is on the line, would you like to speak to him? I’m trying to get him to call off your mother. They planned on ambushing us…well me. They’d spare you. Either way, can you help me convince him?”
Ethan’s jaw clenched, and after a moment, he took the phone. “Mr. Callahan.”
“Son…your wife is bit…how should I say it? Not normal.”
“Says the father who was about to ambush his son.”
“Says the son who sent assassins to his father.”
Silence.
And Ethan nodded. “We all need to talk. Tell Melody to call it off. Then we will see who betrayed whom first.” He hung up after that.
“What does he mean by that?” I asked, looking to him, but he just kept his green eyes trained on the screen.
“I guess we will have to find out during this talk,” he replied, moving from the screen and taking out his own phone. He dialed quickly.
“What is it?” my mother’s voice came in low.
“Things have changed here, baby.”
I cringed for some reason, even at this age, hearing them talk to each like that was not something that sat well in my head.
“I’ve noticed. Why haven’t they come yet? Wyatt came out; that was the signal.”
“She figured it out.”
“Fuck! Did she leave? I haven’t seen anything. Ethan’s car is still parked outside.”
“No, she killed her grandfather.”
There was a pause, and my father looked into my eyes. We both knew it was never good when my mother didn’t react to things. “I spoke to Ethan on the phone. He’s saying pull back so we can talk.”
“And how do we know he’s really dead?”
He frowned. “She offered to bring us his head if we got her something sharper than her heels. But I really do not want the motherfucker’s head. Pull back, let’s hear what she has to say.”
“Okay.”
Something was not right with that okay.
“Okay?” See, even my father knew.
“I want to understand this, too. But we meet tonight,” she replied.
My father’s eyes narrowed, but he lifted my phone, connecting back to Calliope, who answered the call.
“She’s pulling off, but we meet tonight.”
“Deal. Thanks, Dad.”
This was not supposed to go this way. What was happening? What could possibly be the explanation they would have?
Let’s see who betrayed who first?
What did that mean?
Were we wrong?
No, we weren’t. She really did kill Aunt Cora. She had caused so much confusion and pain within the short time she had been with us. All of this was her fault. And now she was skating away because she’d killed her grandfather? No, she was playing at something. I watched as they exited the bathroom, new guards going in and locking the door behind them.
“What in the world could they possibly have to say?” I asked as they made their way to the front of the lobby, the doors being opened for them.
“We won’t know until we hear from them,” he replied.
“I only need to hear from one of them.” My mother’s voice came over the speakerphone; I hadn’t realized she was still connected.
“Mel…what does that mean?” my father asked slowly. “We’ve agreed, we will meet them—”
“I will meet with my son. The girl can go to hell with her lies and tricks.”
“Mel!” he yelled and then grabbed my arm. “Go stop her! Go!”
I shifted my balance on my foot as he shoved, but as I watched them come out of the building, I remembered Uncle Declan and Aunt Cora, and Helen and the rest of our family, and I couldn’t move any farther. “Why?”
“What?”
“Mom’s right. We only need to hear from Ethan. She killed family. Let her die.”
“What happened to saving Ethan?”
“We are,” my mother and I said at the same time.
I pulled back my arm, watching closely. Ethan kept her close to him; there was no clear shot…none until someone called their names. It looked like Fatimah Gupta. She rushed out, calling for Calliope, and she turned back slightly.
BANG!
The sound echoed even from here, and Calliope fell to the ground like a house of cards.
“And, so ends the war…” My mother voice rose in joy.
“Let’s hope so…for all of our sakes,” my father replied, putting down the phones.
I couldn’t wait to tell Helen.
CALLIOPE—MINUTES EARLIER
When he stepped into the bathroom, his eyes looked back to me wide in surprise. I wanted to tell him, but his father was still on the line.
“Your father is on the line, would you like to speak to him? I’m trying to get him to call off your mother. They planned on ambushing us…well me. They’d spare you. Either way, can you help me convince him?” Because I was really fucking tired of being in this bathroom with my grandfather’s body like this.
Ethan’s whole body tensed at the mention of his parents…no, not at his parents but what they had planned to do. Finally, he reached for the phone and spoke into it. “Mr. Callahan.”
His eyes met mine as he spoke. “Says the father who was about to ambush his son.”
He shook his head, keeping quiet again before adding, “We all need to talk. Tell Melody to call it off. We will see who betrayed whom first.”
He hung up, and I wished he hadn’t so we could at least hear what they were saying on their end. He didn’t seem to care too much. Instead, Ethan walked over to me and looked me in the eyes. He stared down for a long time, and the longer he stared, the more it felt like he could see right through me. Reaching over, he brought my head closer and kissed my forehead, then stepped away to call for a clean-up crew.
Hopping off the sink, I followed behind Ethan, lifting my dress so it did not get caught in the blood. That would be a dumb mistake.
Then my phone rang.
“She’s pulling off, but we meet tonight.”
“Deal. Thanks, Dad,” I said inside the hall.
As Dino and Vinnie went inside, they both gave me a look, and I smiled. So, did they.
“Calliope,” Ethan called to me.
“Coming,” I said, taking his hand and following him. “They want to meet now.”
“Of course, they would.” He smirked. “I told you they do not understand.”
“But you did. You knew from the start, didn’t you?”
“Not the start. You made it very hard.” He smirked, taking our coats from the welcoming staff. He helped me into mine before we stepped out into the chilly air, the wind howling through the city as always. He squeezed my hand as we rushed down the stairs.
“Mrs. Callahan…Calliope, wait.”
Fatimah, for love of God, let me breathe! She was always right on my ass, ready to kiss it. “Fatimah, right now is not a good time—”
BANG!
I didn’t know what hit me.
I just knew I was hit.
And I couldn’t feel Ethan’s hands anymore. I couldn’t see him anymore. I stared up at the dark sky, and when I tried to breathe, I couldn’t—all of me…all of me hurt.
“Calliope!”
Ethan?
“Calliope!” His head was over mine, and I could see him again.
I tried to speak, but no words came out…but I could see him.
“Calliope, la mia anima, relax, okay, relax, you’re going to be okay.”
I didn’t feel like it.
“Calliope!”
Everything was foggy�
��cold and foggy, and I wondered where Melody was. This was a perfect shot. A brilliant shot.
But she didn’t win.
Ethan may not have known from the start, but he knew. He knew, in the end, I was going to kill my grandfather because I had chosen him a long time ago.
“Ethan…”
“Shh! Don’t talk! Don’t talk!” he yelled at me. “We are going to be fine.”
I couldn’t see him anymore.
I couldn’t feel anything.
It was just cold and dark now.
I didn’t want dark.
I wanted him…I wanted Gigi.
Instead, I heard another voice: “Don’t fight, kill. Don’t wait, kill. Strike first, or you will die, Calliope.”
CALLIOPE—AGE 14
“Wake up!” she hollered at me as she lifted my head up by my hair.
I could barely see her through my swollen eyelids. Gasping for air that barely made it through my lips and into my lungs, I made to say, “I’m up.”
“No, you are not. You are still lying there like a pitiful sack of shit.” She tossed my head to the side, allowing it to drop back onto the ground.
I wanted to stay here.
On the ground.
It felt safe here.
“Kick her!”
And he did!
They kicked so hard that my body slid on the ground, and I felt something crack. I bit my lips from crying out in pain. I bit so hard that I could taste the blood.
“How many times do I have to tell you, Calliope? The only time you are safe is when you are attacking! Lying there won’t end it! So fight!”
“You told me not to!” I cried out.
She told me to take the hits! I was fucking taking them. I was doing what she fucking asked! I was doing it! I was—”
“Kick her again!” she screamed.
I heard the heavy footsteps as they came to me. I felt fear crawling up my body, wrapping around my throat, like a snake…squeezing…squeezing.
No! My mind screamed, and I sat up, grabbing his foot before it collided with my body, tossing him onto the ground, to jump on him, and I punched his throat over and over again before jamming my thumbs into his eyes with all my might. I couldn’t hear his screams. I couldn’t hear anything.
