Vicious Minds: Part 3 (Children of Vice 6)

“Was raped, yes. But who do you think did it? Let me stop asking questions. You all are shit when it comes to figuring things out. Him. Fiorello Orsini raped her mother,” Ethan said, and I froze.

“What?” Liam gasped out more, shocked than me.

“Again, with the what? Let me repeat. That is not her grandfather. He is her father. She lied when she said she wasn’t a real Orsini. She is, and she’s wanted to kill Fiorello for years. She just couldn’t until she took down the rest of their organization, or at the least crippled it. Calliope worked every day to get him to trust her so she would know just as many people as he had working under him. A pig like that doesn’t even trust his children. Yes, I said children.” He nodded. “Dino, Vinnie, Italo…all his by different women. I wasn’t just letting her pick the people who protected this family for no reason. There were clues; she left them all along the way. But again, you just thought you were right and I was a weak child under a woman’s control. Had you waited one more day, just one more day, I would have told you all of this and asked you to help me finish the job. Now…seeing as how this family no longer trusts me, seeing as all of you but Nana betrayed me, you all can go fuck yourselves twice over. You aren’t my family anymore. None of you. I deal with Siena and the rest alone as always.”

And just like that, Ethan walked out.

I shook my head, rising from my seat to the body, unzipping the bag, I made sure it really was that old bastard. Taking my knife, I slit his throat; the blood was dark as it poured out. It was really him. This wasn’t some lie or trick, it really was him, and that girl really had shot him dead.

I thought back to that little girl at seven.

“You’re like a queen,” she said.

“Sure, I’ll take that,” I said.

“Then, I’ll become a queen, too.”

“There is only one queen of this kingdom, little one, and her last name will always be Callahan.”

“I’ll be that then.”

“I doubt it. My son can’t marry someone so weak she’d cry because someone made fun of her mother.”

“I’m not crying, though.”

That little girl wanted to protect her mother but also wanted power. I had wondered why they hadn’t just given the girl up for adoption after her mother’s rape. How could her husband stand by and let that girl live with him? How could he stand by and let her be abused, either? Now it was clear. He didn’t give her away because he couldn’t. Fiorello raped his son’s wife and forced his son to keep the daughter…why? Why? The man was a pig, but why do that your own child.

To punish him. The answer came to my mind.

He was the one who was supposed to get revenge for his brothers, but he had refused. He was supposed to do what Calliope was trained to do—build a family, blend in, and then strike. However, he became accustomed to having a happy, peaceful life outside of the family feuds. So, his father punished him for it…punished his wife for it.

Calliope.

He couldn’t get rid of her and did not stop his wife from hurting her because he hated her, too…his half-sister hidden as his daughter.

But how did Calliope find out?

I didn’t know. But it didn’t matter…she had found out. Which meant she knew the greatest enemy, the person who destroyed her life, was also the one who gave her life. If she wanted revenge, the person she would go after wasn’t the Callahans at all. It would be her father.

She played along. She made us all believe she was out to destroy us to convince one person. She did it so well it worked, and he came to trust her because she acted so loyal.

“Fuck, she used us.” I gasped, holding on to the steel bar hanging by my head. “She had us clear the field so she could fire her shot at her father, without retribution from the people who worked for him…that way…”

“That way, she gets everything,” Liam said, limping up beside me, holding his wound. “She rises to power, she avenges her mother—or herself really—and no longer has any ties to her former life as an assassin.”

“Three birds one stone.” I nodded.

“And Ethan let her do this.”

I looked at Wyatt, who stared at me with…with panic on his face. “He let her do this because it was in the best interest of the family to get rid of the Orsinis and anyone else who might be working through them to get revenge. There was no way we could have fought them all if they came at once like they came after you all. Last year our family was already stressed due to the issues with the Italian and Irish families. If we had to deal with her family, too, we would have been taken out instantly. He sat back and let her stone the birds because he needs the birds dead, too, without dragging the family anymore into it. He also wanted you all out of his hair so he could rule the family. They spent the last year regrouping, rebuilding family connections to the city and the families, strengthening the business while you all fought.”

I nodded as I saw the picture unfold in front of me. “So, when her grandfather—I mean father asked for a body, to prove her loyalty, she chose a family member she knew was dying but hid that to trick her father. Cora’s death earned Calliope her father’s trust and our distrust. From there, all she had to do was tell him we were trying to attack her, and her father would protect her because he believed she was his puppet.”

It was a plan within a plan within another plan.

I knew he wasn’t so weak. I knew it but…still. For him to go this far.

“I fucking hate these two.” Liam groaned, pinching the bridge of his nose. “Who the fuck thinks of something like this? How many years does it take to do this?... Actually, hold on. Why did they draw this out over so long? Just so she could figure out how many people worked for her fucked-in-the-head father?”