“Everything I have done I did for him.”
“Delusional much? I’m sure Mac is going to be so grateful to you for trying to blow me up and for kidnapping me. I can just see him falling all over himself to thank you.”
James grabbed her face, squeezing her jaw. “That mouth of yours—how does he deal with it? Does he just fuck it quiet? Because that’s what I would do. There’s plenty of pussy out there that knows their place, but no, Mac had to go for you. A worthless piece of ass, but here you are, being his wife.”
“A piece of ass that you can’t keep your eyes off apparently.”
“You’re nice to look at, I’ll give you that, but you ruin it every time you open that rosebud mouth of yours.”
“Every rose has its thorns.”
Melina watched James closely. He was at war with himself, torn between his desire for her and snuffing out her existence at the same time.
“They do. The world won’t miss you, Melina. Not the one we live in. In time, my son will understand. Wives are always replaceable.”
“You’re a fool. Mac will never forgive you for this.”
James’ fingers trailed down to her neck and he squeezed tight. “What’s a woman compared to a boss’s seat?”
Power.
James wanted his son in power.
The innocent blood on his hands didn’t matter.
The collateral damage, it didn’t matter.
All that mattered was that James saw this as his big chance to make up for past mistakes. Now was his chance to give Mac the one thing he’d never been able to have before … respect. Damn anything and anyone that got in his way. Fuck Cosa Nostra and all it stood for. The only code James Sr. lived by was his own.
“If you weren’t such a despicable piece of shit, this might actually be touching. The absentee father rides to the rescue. Too bad this isn’t some fairytale.”
“Get up. I’ve had enough of your fucking mouth.”
Melina was roughly jerked to her feet and she gasped as the sudden motion made her ribs ache all over again. Her eyes widened when the barrel of a gun was pressed to the side of her head.
“What? Nothing to say now?” James asked.
“Make sure you don’t miss.”
“Trust me, I won’t.”
He cocked the hammer of the gun and Melina closed her eyes.
This was it.
No more Mac.
No more sweet kisses, dirty sex and passionate nights.
No baby.
She stifled back a scream at the last thought and then gunshots rang out.
Multiple gunshots.
The gun was lowered from her head.
“What in the hell?”
Melina opened her eyes as her father-in-law wrapped his arm around her shoulders, dragging her in front of him like a human shield. The sounds of gunfire hadn’t stopped and as James dragged her closer and closer to the door, she started to struggle against him. He wasn’t about to use her to save himself.
“Be still, you bitch.”
She kept struggling and just when they were about to cross the threshold, salvation appeared in the form of a blood-splattered, gun-toting Mac. He looked like the Angel of Death come to claim his latest victims. Melina’s eyes met his, but it was as if he were staring straight past her.
There was nothing behind his gaze.
It was empty.
Melina had seen him cold and callous, but she’d never seen Mac empty.
Terror clutched her heart in a vice grip.
“Son, what are you doing here?” James asked.
“I think the question you should be asking yourself is why you were stupid enough to leave tracks. If you’re going to do something, then at least do it right.”
Melina couldn’t see James’ face but she could feel him stiffening as he held her tight to his body.
“I wanted you to find out.”
Mac raised a brow. “Did you? Now that’s a lie if I ever heard one.”
James slowly backed away from his son, pulling Melina with him. “I wanted you to know everything. Everything I did to put you in the position you deserve.”
“You did nothing! All you did was fuck things up, just like you do best. You aren’t fit to shine the shoes of the men whose blood you spilled.”
“And what makes them so much better than me, huh? I drank. Big fucking deal.”
Mac laughed, a cold chilling sound that made the hair on her arms raise.
“If you think that was all you did, then you are more delusional than I thought but at this point I couldn’t give less than a fuck. I came for my wife and I’m not leaving here without her.”
For the briefest of moments, Mac’s gaze slipped to her and she saw a hint of the man she married.
And just like that it was gone.
The man without a soul was back.
“She’s not good enough for you, son. You see the way they looked at her—how they’ve talked about her. She’s replaceable, and you’ll move on.”
“What I need is the woman you’re holding at gunpoint. Give me my wife—I’m not going to say it one more fucking time.”
“I can’t do that son. One day you’ll understand.”
James pressed the gun to Melina’s forehead and she screamed.
Gunfire exploded.