Children of Redemption (Children of Vice 3)

“Ethan!” I felt hands all over me.

“Let go! LET GO!” I screamed.

“STOP!” Sedric hollered, throwing me up against the shattered glass. His eyes were red and bloodshot as he glared at me. “You cannot break! DO YOU HEAR ME? We are all on the edge! We are hurt. You cannot take a break because we fucking need you to fix this! We need you, Ethan. We need you...urgh!”

His grip loosened as his body shook, overcome with grief.

I didn’t know what to feel anymore.

What to think.

I slid to the floor, realizing that everything I feared had come to pass…

I was Ethan Antonio Giovanni Callahan, the son who the ruined the family, who lost the kingdom, son of the former head of the Irish mob, Liam Alec Callahan, and former head of the Italian mafia, ex-governor Melody Nicci Giovanni Callahan…a disgrace to both.

I didn’t deserve to be their son.

If they could see me now they’d kill me and be right for it.

I’d broken my promises to both of them.

ETHAN – AGE SEVENTEEN

“You don’t smile anymore,” he said to me.

I glanced up from the book I was reading to look at him as he watched the sun set over the tree lines.

“Does smiling accomplish anything?” I asked, looking back at my book.

“It makes you more approachable.”

“I don’t want to be approached, so I guess it works out.” I flipped to the next page.

“So how do you plan on keeping the family together,” he questioned, taking out a cigarette from his coat jacket.

“With knowledge and power,” I answered.

“That’s only half of the equation,” he snickered, lighting the cigarette but not daring to smoke it. Instead, he just held it as it burned. “Love and family keeps the other half.”

“And this has what to do with me smiling?” I questioned.

“How does the family know you love them? That you are there for them if you never smile?”

“By the fact that I haven’t let them die, from their stupidity.”

“Ouch,” he said, and I looked to him again. “Harsh words. You think they’re stupid?”

“They are constantly acting like children. Running off to clubs and parties. Drinkin

g and messing around as if they don’t have things to learn. I clean up their messes—”

He laughed right in my face. Snapping my book together, I turned to him and asked, “Please, tell me what is so funny, Father? Maybe if I’m in on the joke I’ll be able to smile.”

“You think you’re cleaning up after them, but in reality, they are messing up for you.”

“What?”

“Wyatt. Darcy. Sedric. Even Dona when she is here…they are acting out for you. You made yourself the parent, and just like all kids, they want your attention. When do you engage? When you’re cleaning up.”