Children of Vice (Children of Vice 1)

And as I drank, watching them as they watched me, something clicked.

Ah…so this is power, I thought.

Power. Influence. People feared and respected stuff like that. I knew that…

I’d just…never experienced it…

No. That w

as a lie. I had experienced it every time they’d thrown me into that dark cell, every time they’d patted me down, or when I’d lost a fight, or when the judge had thrown me in here, or when the shitty lawyer they’d given me had thrown me to the wolves, and when my dad had lost his life.

I’d experienced power and influence.

I’d just never had any myself.

Now I did.

So I took comfort in their fear. Because it meant one thing…the Callahans really were as powerful as everyone used to say. I could keep my promise.

They’ll pay. I swear it, Daddy.

FIVE

“She had not known the weight until she felt the freedom.”

~ Nathaniel Hawthorne

IVY

“Ms. O’Davoren.”

“Ms. O’Davoren?”

“Ma’am?”

“Huh?” I lowered my gaze from the sky above me and focused on the lawyer, Avery Barrow he said his name was, standing in front of the black Mercedes in his suit.

“I understand. It’s just the sky…but after years of seeing it through windows or wires it doesn’t seem like just the sky anymore?”

I didn’t reply, stuffing my hands into the pockets of my old hoodie they’d returned to me. He took a step to the side for me, and the driver of the car opened the door for me to enter. Glancing back at the fences behind me once more before closing my eyes, I counted to five and opened them again…

This isn’t a dream.

“Whenever you’re ready—”

“I’m ready,” I said softly, sliding into the backseat of the car, expecting him to follow, but the door closed once I entered.

Instead, he walked around to the passenger seat while the blond-haired driver got behind the wheel.

“Is there anything you wish to listen to?” he asked, and I looked at the lawyer, who texted on his phone.

“He’s talking to you, Ms. O’Davoren.”

I glanced back at the driver, who met my glaze in the mirror briefly, waiting. Shaking my head no, I watched as the prison building shrank in the background…the fences stretched out. It wasn’t until we got to the four-way stop did it finally come to the end, and I felt really…

“Yes, ma’am,” the lawyer spoke into the phone. “Thank y—”

He stopped abruptly, obviously hung up on, and scrolled through his phone again.