Vicious Minds: Part 3 (Children of Vice 6)

“Good news, he’s not abandoning the family,” Liam smirked, his shoulders relaxing. “Bad news, I have a feeling he’s setting us up again with one of his heavenly plans.”

“I thought you weren’t going to follow me?”

He dropped his head to the side, looking at me lazily. “When have I not followed after you, even too my doom sometimes. Oh, what a curse this love is.”

I rolled my eyes, walking up the stairs, wanting to see more of this son I had brought into this world—a child who had turned into a ruthless, cold-blooded killer. Our children were the greatest extensions of ourselves. They existed because we existed. Our morals often shaped their morals. He was what I had made him to be…and yet, seeing him like this was still odd. I had seen him from afar a thousand times. He had done things that had me so proud of him, hearing how the Italians respected and feared him…made me feel…good. Yet, for some reason, with him here now, addressing me, lecturing me, it didn’t feel the same. Now that the worlds had finally and fully collided, I didn’t feel like the proud mother watching over her son. I felt like an intruder getting in his way, and I didn’t like that shit one fucking bit.

“This attack was a distraction,” Ethan spoke commandingly to the three men standing outside the door of his wife’s hospital room.

When they heard us enter, they turned back, guns already up, but they paused seeing us.

“They are also a distraction, ignore them for now.”

Liam chuckled. “That son of a bitch.”

“Glad to see you are amused. Is the bitch you are referring to, me?” I ignored his answer, focusing on Ethan, who did not pay us any mind.

“Siena, or whoever is pulling strings on her behalf, wants us to believe they are attacking now.”

“When your enemy is far, make them think you are near,” one of the men replied.

Ethan nodded. “Exactly. What happened yesterday and today have sped up everyone’s plans. The game has shifted. Siena’s goal isn’t to just destroy my whole family. She also wants to take everything we have built. That means if they still believe Calliope is on their side, they needed to take her, and if not her, then Gigi.”

“Why didn’t they send more people?” another one of them asked.

“Because they don’t have that many left. So, the distraction here is to make us leave. Make us want to go somewhere we have control. Normally the rules of my family state that if there is impending danger, we lockdown in the Callahan house.”

“That’s where they will send all the rest of their people for a final attack,” the third man spoke, and Ethan nodded.

“Yes,” he replied, glancing back over his shoulder. “I brought Gigi out here with me. Once the manor is on lockdown, it is nearly impossible to enter. We could go back and defend it. But my family is not in the frame of mind to defend our home or my daughter at the moment. So, I need you all to go with them and protect them. Italo go back to watch over Killian—”

“With all due respect, boss,” Italo said spat bitterly, “we joined hands with Calliope to get revenge on the Orsini family, not sit around and protect yours. If they are weak now, I am going for the kill. I’ve waited a decade for it.”

“We’ve all waited,” Ethan snapped. “You waited a decade? She has waited her whole life. Do you want to be there at the very fucking end? Fine. I do not give a fuck. But we are not at the goddamn end right now; we are in the final act. There are still pages to go. So, you will do as I fucking told you so we can all get what we’ve waited for. Unless you all know where to go and how to do it without either Calliope or me? If so, get out of my fucking face and go do it. Please, that would be no skin off my back.”

They were silent and did not move.

“As I thought,” he snapped. “So, as I was saying, Italo, you will return to Killian’s side before he gets any smart ideas. Dino, my house, let Uncle Neal know, the rest of them are useless. But they should listen to him. Make sure they stay vigilant.”

He wasn’t leaving this to Wyatt again…that trust was broken worse than before.

“Vinnie.”

“Back to wining and dining? No problem.” The man smirked.

Ethan shook his head. “I’ve worked too damn hard to make my family the subject of speculation in this city again. We have an image. I need that image and not one of my wife being gunned down outside of a museum.”

“And how do I fix that?”

There was only one distraction from blood.

“By becoming this city's sniper problem,” Ethan said, giving him a phone. “There is only one distraction from blood, and that is more blood. It can’t just be my wife. It needs to be her and a list of rich, influential men and women in the city. You do not have to take them all out…”

“But just enough that it looks like Mrs. Callahan was just the first in a string of terror attacks.”

“If we are doing all of this, who’s going to be protecting you, Gigi, and Calliope?”

“Two old dogs who don’t know how to quit.” Ethan looked straight at us. “You two can call me boss.”