I’m out to conquer the world.”

~ Jarod Kintz

MELODY

“Five.” I kissed his nose

“Four.” He kissed my forehead

“Three.” I kissed his cheek.

“Two.” He kissed my chin.

“One,” we said at the same time before kissing each other deeply.

“Happy New Year,” I whispered into the darkness of our room.

“Happy New Year, love,” he whispered back.

Hearing the fireworks go off pulled me away from him, much to his protests, but I did want to see all the effort Evelyn had put in. Grabbing my robe, I stood at the window taking in the sight of all those celebrating like drunken fools.

“You know they say the first year of marriage is the hardest,” Liam said, kissing my shoulder.

Groaning, I leaned into him. “We’re still in the first year.”

“Really? I swear it’s been longer than that.” He laughed, trying to untie my robe, but I slapped his hands away.

“Control yourself. We have a meeting, remember?” Despite the fact that I wanted him as well, this was important.

“You’re starting the year off wrong.”

“You’ll forgive me, now put on pants.” He was such a pain sometimes.

“You put on pants.” He glared at my bare legs.

Rolling my eyes at him, I threw him his pajama bottoms. “I can wear whatever I want! So let’s go, the family is waiting.”

He frowned but wore his stupid pants, following me out of the room and into the study. There sat the whole family, along with Senator Colemen, Olivia’s Father, who looked very confused about why he was here.

His whole demeanor changed when Liam took a seat in his chair while I sat on the desk.

“Thank you all for coming,” Liam said to them coldly. “As you all know, it’s been a stressful year. However, that’s what happens when you take over a state.”

“And now that we have the state eating out of our hand, we want the country.” I smiled at them all.

“How do you plan on doing that?” Sedric asked, leaning into his chair.

Liam and I grinned before Liam spoke. “You run for the highest office in the land.”

Declan coughed up his drink. “You want to run for President?”

“Hell fucking no,” Liam replied. “Senator Colemen does, and we’re going to support him one hundred percent.”

Senator Colemen’s eyes widened as he gaped at us. “You want me to run for President? Have you lost your mind? Is this a joke?”

I glared at the idiot. “No, this is an order, or did you forget who has been funding all your other campaign events?”

“You’re going to run for office, and you’re going to win,” Liam said as fact. “And then you’re going to work for us.”

Senator Colemen shook his head. “That isn’t possible. Not only am I part of an unpopular party right now, but I’m divorced and have only been in the Senate for a few years.”

“Why are you under the impression that we’re asking?” I stood, turning to face him. “You’re running for President, you will be the President of the United States of America, and you will also work toward our best interests.”

“As for your wife,” Liam said, paging Adriana who opened the door to reveal the ex-Mrs. Coleman.

“Mom?” Olivia gasped quickly, rising to give her a large hug.

“There, look, a wife. And by coming back together, you will prove you can work with both parties, blah blah blah . . . you have a ready-made family with a lot of connections and deep pockets. When we say you’re going to be President, we mean you are the next Commander and Chief. ”

“We want the country and the world. Truthfully we wanted it yesterday so don’t try to get in our way,” I told him.

“It took even God six days to create the world, Mel. Let’s not get ahead of ourselves.” Neal acted like this was a joke.

“We may be all powerful, but we are not God. We do not want to create the world, we want to own it.” Liam rose from his chair. With the end of the fighting, and wars, we could finally do what we did best—make money. We had a whole shipment of drugs pouring in, and we needed to focus on the business.

By the end, we would be untouchable, and what better way to do it than having the President of the United States in your back pocket?

LIAM

When they all left, only Declan and I remained in the study as the sunlight slowly started to creep in through the blinds as it rose over the forest. A new year, a whole new brand of problems, and I wasn’t sure how to even begin to tell Melody.

“Check it again, Declan,” I commanded pouring the brown liquid in to the crystal glass, this was just . . . fuck.

“Liam, I’ve checked more than ten dozen times in the last two weeks. Nothing is going to change the fact that—”

“Don’t you dare fucking say,” I snapped, squeezing the glass. “If you say it with that much conviction then it’s true. And if it’s true, I’m going to be the one who has to explain it. I do not want to fucking explain it.”

“Liam, it’s time we face this head on. You know it. I know it. It’s time Melody knows it.”

Easier said than done. I pinched the bridge of my nose and cracked my knuckles trying to ease the tension through my body.

“We’ve been so happy, Declan,” I whispered, staring at the sun as I drank slowly. “She’s been happy. How do I tell her that everything she knows is a lie?”

He paused, taking a deep breath as he walked up beside me at the mirror. “It’s better that she hears it from you, than finds out on her own.”

He handed me the folder once again, and I stared at the woman with short black hair and warm olive skin. Standing tall and proud with her sunglasses on.

“They look so much alike.”

“They are alike Liam, and all the evidence shows Vance was right. There is much more to this than we knew. Not only that Aviela Giovanni, Melody’s mother, isn’t dead, but that she’s been behind it all. She wants to kill not only you, but her own daughter.”

“And Orlando knew?”

“He did what you’re trying to do now and protect her. But I doubt that’s going to work much longer. Aviela Giovanni just entered the States.”

And just like that, I could feel the floodgates of hell beginning to open.

“May God have mercy on all our souls when Mel finds out.”

 

Thank you for your purchase. Please long onto Amazon.com or Goodreads.com and leave a review for this title. We would love to hear from you.

I would like to thank all the ruthless people who made this book possible. From my Internet readers and best friends—to my publishing house and editors.

You all are absolutely amazing.

I know if it weren’t for you, I would have never made it to this point.

All of you have made me feel incredibly special!

Ruthlessly Yours,

J.J. McAvoy

Just a 20 something year-old-girl

screaming from behind a computer screen.

About the Author

J. J. McAvoy first started working on Ruthless People during a Morality and Ethics lecture her freshman year of college. Two years later, she is an insomniac who has changed her major three times, and is a master in the art of procrastination. If you ask her why she began writing, she will simply tell you “They wanted to get their story out.”