Children of Redemption (Children of Vice 3)

“And you would know that how!?” I snapped.

“I was here!” She hollered back at me. “While you were fucking nurses and living it up in Boston, I was here fighting alongside your brother. Do you think you’re the only one who finds me convenient to vent to? You have no idea what your brother has gone through to get to where he is. How thin he stretched himself. I do. I saw it. Your parents built this family together. It takes two very strong people to run this business. He was lucky that he’s naturally gifted when it comes to running this family, but to say it never took its toll would be a lie. The audacity of you to think you can just take over and get your way. It doesn’t work like that.”

I laughed, crossing my arms over my chest. “You expect me to believe Ethan, my big brother, was a team player? That he told you his plans—”

“Yes,” she said it without hesitation.

I stared into her eyes but couldn’t see anything. They weren’t the same brown eyes I was used to. “You’re lying.”

“Ethan decided on Boston six months ago. I was the one who ordered the safehouse built. I also donated three extra ambulances for your hospital, knowing you’d more than likely be in one of them. Your old girlfriend, she didn’t have a shift that day. I hacked into the hospital system to make sure her shift changed. Don’t tell, Dona, but I also knew about Tobias. Ethan had a backup, too, if for some reason she didn’t follow through. He had another month before the poison would have killed, though. But all of that isn’t really anything to brag about. That’s child’s play in comparison to some of Ethan’s other plans. Is he a genius? Yeah, but he’s not God. He can plan perfectly, but someone still has to put the small pieces in motion.”

Who the hell was this, and what had she done with Helen?

Walking over to her, I stood face to face with her. Doing my best to keep calm, breathing in through my nose as I spoke. “Don’t stop now. Take the mask all the way off, Helen. Did he have you spying on me, too? Did you eat waffles with me in the morning and plan to stab me in the back at night?”

“I’ve never betrayed you—”

“Don’t you dare,” I sneered at her. “Don’t you dare soften your voice now. You knew what Ethan was planning. Apparently, you’ve known for years! Yet not once. Not once did you ever tell me anything. Did you ever warn me of anything? Or was I not supposed to feel it? You just admitted to betraying my trust, so excuse me if I don’t believe you now.”

She leaned forward, glaring at me. “If I ever betrayed your trust, it was to save your goddamn life, you ungrateful bastard. I wouldn’t have had the chance had you not betrayed your own damn self to begin with. Isn’t that why you’re going around like the big bad wolf now. To atone

for leaving us in the first place?”

My hand twitched. It was the first time in all of my life I felt the need to hurt her. Not just her, but Ethan. It felt like once again he’d taken something from me. No…showed me it wasn’t really mine to begin with. This was his world. I was just living in it, obliviously. How did the tables turn so quickly? Just last afternoon we were both laughing on her bed and starting something new with one another. Tempting each other. But apparently, I was the idiot who didn’t realize what was happening around me…again.

“Let’s not talk about this now,” I said, rising to move away from her before I really did hurt her.

“No, Wyatt,” she replied before I could even take a step. “I’m not done talking.”

“I’m done listening.” I walked toward the door, but before I could make it there, the door closed on its own. Not just that one, either. It seemed like the whole place went on lockdown.

Turning back around, she frowned at me, waving her phone in her hand. “When I’m done, I’ll put this app on your phone, too.”

Before I could calm myself, I was back in front of her face “Helen, I’m not joking with you anymore. What the fuck is wrong with you? Are you playing with me? Are you admitting that this whole time you’ve been playing me? You were supposed to be the good one! The one who rose above this, who wanted more than this life! You were supposed to be the black sheep in the field with me.”

“Why does everyone keep saying that as if black sheep are not still sheep!” she snapped back at me. “We’ve been trying to be good people to each other, pretend that we are different from other people in this family. But we aren’t, and right now, we can’t afford to be because our family is being attacked. I want to be open with you about everything. The good, the bad, the worst of myself. I want…I want fun, but I also want the type of relationship your parents had…the type mine have. I’m confessing that I’m all in.”

I didn’t know what to say to her. And she moved closer to me, reaching up to touch my face. “Show me your dark side, your worst side, too, because I’m all in. I’m on your side, and no one else’s, not even Ethan’s anymore. Just yours.”

She slipped the straps of her dress off her shoulders, letting it fall to a pool of green around her feet. I knew without a doubt this really was payback. Payback for all the times I forced her to confront me and my actions. She kept throwing one curve ball after another at me, and each time I had little to no time to adjust to her.

“You aren’t going to let me escape you, are you?” I whispered. “I didn’t realize you were so greedy, Helen.”

“I learned from you, Wyatt,” she replied softly.

Total surrender. That is what she wanted. That is what I had apparently taught her, and now I could see why so many people were pissed off at my selfishness…I gave them no other choice but to bend to my will.

I sighed, glancing down only to see all of her again. “Your nipples are hard.”

“It is a little cold…and I am naked.”

“I guess we aren’t making the play now—”

She kissed me, and the moment she did, my arms wrapped her waist, holding her to me as my tongue entered her mouth. Reaching down, I grabbed onto her thighs, lifted her up and moved over to the couch.

Seeing her like this, feeling her under me like this…it was like she was bewitching me.

“Fuck me, Wyatt.”