"Cheers," they both said before knocking back the brandy along with me.

I stared at my glass and then back at Declan. "What is this piss?"

"Apparently it was a gift from the mayor?" He made a face. "Or some sick joke."

Annoyed, I sat back up before walking over to the bar for a real fucking drink. "Now that Mel has taken care of our Bella Vista problem, have you come to a decision with the new drugs?"

"Why are people these days always obsessed with what's new? Huh? What happened to the classics-meth, heroin, crystal? We got half-cocked wannabe scientists mixing shit they know nothing about and handing it out to people with a shiny sticker that says 'new' for idiots to gobble that shit up." I hated stupid people who thought they were smart; there was no reasoning with them.

"Idiots or not, they are still buying Blphine by the handful. All the dealers are asking for it, and if they don't get it from us, they're going to get it from someone else," Declan added when I sat down.

"No loyalty either," I muttered before taking a drink.

Neal shook his head. "You want loyalty from junkies, gangbangers, and dealers?"

"A man can dream can't he? You don't see McDonald's having to make new shit up to keep people in line. Everyone wants a classic Big Mac. It doesn't matter if some new startup has some super deluxe shit, at the end of the day, the Big Mac is home."

"Are you drunk already?" Declan laughed along with me.

"What did Mel say?"

I groaned, pinching the bridge of my nose. "Don't even get me started with that woman again. I don't tell her shit and she tries to kill me. I fill her in and she tells me to do whatever I think is best. Either she wants to drive me insane or she has lost her mind, maybe both."

"So what you're saying is you're even crazier about her than you were when you first met?" Declan teased, a smug grin on his face.

"Do you hear that Neal?" I leaned forward with a finger on my ear. "Coraline broke a nail, shouldn't you be off running to buy her a goddamn spa to add to your collection? There is already the Coraline Restaurant on Main."

"And the Coraline flower shop on 37th and Stonewall," Neal jumped in.

"The Little Coraline Boutique on Madison and Richard-"

"Both of you shut the fuck up," he grumbled, a little bit embarrassed.

"Aww brother, are you blushing-"

"Neal don't even fucking come for me after buying Mina a star," he snapped at him and almost I died-no really, I couldn't stop laughing. I had completely forgotten about that.

"She's into romantic shit like that."

"A fucking star. At least my wife can visit the places I bought for her," Declan added. Meanwhile, I tried to calm myself down.

"Oh, laugh your ass off at us, but at least our women allow us to buy them gifts," Neal stated.

I shrugged. "She has the best gift of all: me. Just look at this face."

They both groaned.

"What? I'm like Christmas, the gift that keeps on giving. Besides, my Mel doesn't want stars or boutiques...she wants power, and I gave it to her. She's the ruler of the state and next she'll be president. What tops that?"

"Was it you who gave her all of those things?" The door opened as my mother entered, now dressed in casual black pants and a button-down shirt. She always wore black unless we were going out; she'd never stop mourning our father. Her brownish-copper hair was now highlighted with gray hairs. "I'm pretty sure Mel would argue it was a team effort."

"Ma? You eavesdropping on us now?" I said, putting the drink down to go to her.

"It's hardly eavesdropping when you all are so loud. I never thought I'd see the day where all my boys would be sitting around drinking and talking about women." She kissed both of my cheeks.

"Correction, we were drinking before we started our conversation...kinda." Neal smiled, hugging her as well, along with Declan.

"Don't stop on my account. I just wanted to let you know I'll be screening new nannies for the children tomorrow along with Coraline."

Remembering the morning made me tense again. She patted my arm. "Don't worry, no one will harm my grandbabies."

"Thank you, Ma."

Nodding, she moved back to the door. "Oh, and as good as all your gifts are...they will never top your father's, even if Mel becomes president."

We all just stood there for a moment, letting her words sink in before I turned to face them. "What did Father give her that we don't know about?"

"Maybe she's bluffing?" Neal said, and I rolled my eyes.

"Maybe she's being just as cocky as Liam here and means we are the best gifts she ever got?" Declan said; it was plausible, but I wasn't sure.

Damn it, now I really want to know.

"Anyway." I sighed, sitting on the edge of my desk. "We will not sell Blphine. Our father, his father, our great-grandfather, all of our family has stuck to the classics; I won't be the one to diverge from that path."

Declan ran his fingers through his hair. "You do know this means the triad will have a hold here. And once that happens-"

"They'll try and fight us out...if they are dumb. I don't give a damn how popular their shit is, it took us decades to get to this point and there is no way in hell they can tear us down so easily." Empires weren't built in a day. I was not ignorant to what this meant, I just wasn't going to lower myself to sit with dogs. "When the Tiyng family starts to walk on two legs instead of four, we'll kill them."

"All right-" Neal started to say when there was a knock at the door.

"Enter."

O'Phelan stepped inside. "Sir, your wife requests you meet her in the basement. She is with Madam Coraline."

I glanced over to Declan, who shook his head tiredly.

"Mina?" Neal questioned.

"With the kids, sir."

"Then I will join her." Neal finished off his brandy before putting the glass on the table. "You two have fun with that."

He meant watching our wives most likely sparring in the ring. It wasn't hard for me to watch-Melody always won-but Declan, he hated to see Coraline take a hit. Even after all these years, he refused to get into the ring with her, which only pissed Coraline off, but there was no changing his mind.

"Well let's go," I said, already walking toward the door. "It won't be that bad."

He snorted. "Last time she had to get stitches, Liam."

"Mel felt bad." It was wrong to smile, but I couldn't help it. It was thrilling to watch her fight.

"You don't understand," he muttered when got on the elevator. In truth, I didn't. Coraline wasn't complaining and she had become a great fighter. It wasn't like she never got Mel back, it was just that Mel was better.

My wife was better.

MELODY.

Her fists were fast.

Her eyes were focused, clear, like a tiger.

Her movements were solid, not wasting even a single motion.

Coraline had come a long way. She wasn't just a good fighter, she was a great one. She was someone I actually enjoyed being in the ring with because no matter how badly she got knocked down, she got back up and pushed back harder. The harder she pushed, the better I became, also. It almost made me feel sorry...almost.

She swung her arm and I twisted to the side, my fist colliding with the side of her jaw, her whole body falling back onto the floor.

"Cora!"

I paused for a second to see Declan staring wide-eyed at us...and in that one second Cora sideswiped my legs, sending me to the ground. I tried to roll away but she was already on top of me. Bringing my fists up to my face, all I could do was defend myself until she slowed. Opening my arms, I took a punch to the face in order to grab both her arms, twisting us over onto the mat and pinning her down.

"Damn it!" She hissed when she tapped out and I let her go, wiping the blood from my nose. "You took the hit to lock me into place?"

"What's one hit when you win the battle?" I smiled, pinching the bridge of my nose.

"One of these days I swear I'm going to beat you in at least one round. That punch doesn't even count because someone interrupted." She made a face as she rolled over to look at Declan, who only threw a towel at her before offering his hand.

"It counts." Liam grinned, grabbing on to the ropes. "Mel got distracted and she paid the price for it, just like she would have in real life."

"Are you lecturing me on my fighting skills right now?" I replied, standing back up even though my legs were sore. We'd only been at it for a little under an hour but Cora had been aggressive since we'd gotten into the ring.

"Are you done hitting my wife now?" Declan called up to me, which caused Coraline to roll her eyes.

I pointed to my nose. "It was a two-way street."

"Hear that?" Coraline smiled, elbowing him. "Your wife is a badass."

He poked her side and she winced in pain. "I'm in awe of your badassery, sweetheart. Now let's ice."

"I'm not a child Declan, I'm fine." He ignored her, wrapping his arm around her and leading her toward the sauna.

Cora glanced over at me, shaking her head, but let him be the overprotective husband he was. Even so, I knew she secretly enjoyed how much he doted on her.

"We could be like that if you weren't..." His voice trailed off when I glared at him. Moving to the corner of the ring, I grabbed my water bottle and towel.

"Well, Mel, I'm down here...are we fighting, too?" he questioned, already pulling off his tie.

I shook my head. "I asked you here to talk to you."

"Talk to me? In a ring?" His eyebrow rose. "All right."

"As of tomorrow, Dona and I will start training...seriously."

Five.

Four.

Three.

Two.

"Define seriously." He frowned, arms crossed as he stared at me with no hint of humor in his tone or eyes.

"As serious as my father was with me."

"No."

"Excuse me?"

"No," he said again, moving to get out of the ring as if that was all and I was supposed to just bow down to his orders.

"LIAM CALLAHAN! Don't you dare move!"

"MELODY CALLAHAN, I have nothing else to say about this. My daughter is not going to be put through hell. No. End of discussion."

This motherfucker has lost his mind.

"Your daughter?" I repeated; he didn't even look at me, just shook his head. "Our daughter! She was in me. I gave birth to her. I can still remember how she felt on my chest the day she was born. I remember how many hairs were on her head. Don't you dare bark at me as if I'm insane or as if I will willingly harm our daughter just for the hell of it."

"Then why are you doing this? She is protected-"

"By who? You? Me? Her brothers? You have already taken Ethan under your wing, and Wyatt's already target practicing. I know you love Dona to the moon and back and around the earth ten times but putting her in a bubble isn't enough! My father loved me enough to train me."

"Your father knew you would be alone! Alone. Melody, you thought your mother was dead. Your father was dying. The rest of your family was gone. All you had was yourself! Your father made you into a weapon because it was the only thing he could do for you. I understand, but I also understand how it destroyed you! You've been fighting for so long you don't know when to stop! When we first met you didn't even know how to love. Even now you can't move five feet without exerting your dominance. You never feel safe. You struggle with being a wife, a mother, and everything else. You are constantly struggling! And I love you for all the effort you make. I love you for all your scars, but I love Dona too much to let her struggle like that."

It felt like he had punched me under the belt. I couldn't figure out what hurt more: the fact that he thought I was more broken than he was or the fact that he really didn't see the world as I did. We had always been on the same page...now I wasn't sure.

But I could hit below the belt too. "You talk about my family like you don't know yours."

"What?"