Vicious Minds (Children of Vice 4)

“A simple note, a fucking smoke signal if you couldn’t find paper, and I would have—”

“The whole entire point of this, of Ivy, of Klarissa, is so that we could use one stone to kill all the damn birds. You don’t stop these traitors, then more will just keep trying!”

“I lost today, Calliope! No one knows it was you! It just fucking looks like I’m the son of bitch who can’t even protect his fucking grandmother! You made me into a greater fool than I already have been! I have bimbos fighting over me, my brother and sister are going off the rails, I do not need this shit from you.”

“You ungrateful little…I made you into a hero today!” she screamed back at me. She lifted her hands, gritting her teeth like she was going to shred my face with her claws.

“How is this heroic?”

“Everyone saw you carry your pretty fiancée out then rush back to get your grandmother! What do you think will happen when you go out and walk around? The reason why you have so many motherfuckers betraying you is because they have forgotten why they fucking need you! They forgot that power in the hands of anyone else could be worse! I reminded them! The Finnegan brothers will look like monsters.”

“The biggest monster wins—”

“No. The most loved monster wins,” she went on, having the audacity to be annoyed at me. “Everyone needs to remember that it might be the modern era but people are still and will always be savages! They need to fear you but still need to like you. They need to feel like you and your damn family haven’t forgot about them. The church dropped on your family just like it did theirs. You’re all on the same side now. Let them see that.”

There was no reasoning with her. None at all.

“Nice cover,” I whispered to her and she held her expressionless face. “I’m sure most of it is true, which is why it sounds so logical. But deep down, I’m also sure you did this out of anger. I ignored you yesterday—”

“Oh please, I am not that petty.”

“You are exactly that petty.” I knew her better than anyone else. “You saw everyone gather around Ivy, applaud her, congratulate her, and call her Mrs. Callahan. A woman who you said looked like third runner up at the local Miss Illinois Sweet Corn Festival captured everyone’s attention and lust…even mine. She didn’t seem just like Klarissa, and that pissed you off. In your anger you blew us up, and because you are smart you know what to say to make it seem otherwise. If you were talking to any other man, I’m sure your first excuse would have been enough, but I’m not like them. I am not going to stand here and pretend as though you did not cross a line.”

She took a step forward, her grey eyes glaring directly into mine. “Kill me then.”

“Do not push me right now, Calliope—”

“Do not bullshit me right now, Ethan. You can’t, and you won’t, because you love me and there are no lines. And even if you are right, my first excuse is still more than good enough. But hey, his majesty has spoken.” She gave me a sarcastic bow, even

waving her hand like a damn queen before lifting her middle finger to my face. “So I’ll step back over your imaginary bullshit line and give myself a well-deserved vacation from you. I’m tired of saving your fucking ass, anyway.”

She rolled her eyes and started to walk away from me and for some reason that pissed me off more than anything else she had said. She was taking a vacation? Saving my fucking ass?

She wants to get under my skin? Fine. I could do the same.

“I’ll be marrying Ivy today.” She froze before the double doors. I expected her to spin back and kick me in the face.

“Evviva gli sposi, (Long live the bride and groom).” was her only response as she left instead.

How could one woman be so good at pissing me off? Ivy and Klarissa annoyed me, but Calliope set my blood boiling. What the fuck?

How the hell could she nearly kill me and my sister, burn my grandmother alive, and have me feeling like the goddamn asshole? I didn’t do a fucking thing wrong!

I now understood that old Italian proverb: Never underestimate the power of a woman with Italian blood.

Chapter 16

“Lies require commitment.”

~Veronica Roth

Ethan - AGE 28

Chicago, Illinois

Sunday, August 20th

“Would you kill me too?” Ivy whispered.