Vicious Minds: Part 3 (Children of Vice 6)

His eyebrow raised. “Still jealous?”

“No reason to be jealous of the dead.”

“And yet, here you are.”

I wanted to punch his smug face. He brought my hand to his lips again and kissed my knuckles. “La mia anima, you know I was not myself. I thought you’d forgiven me?”

I pursed my lips and moved my other arm slowly for him to clean it, too. He chuckled and took it.

“That’s another reason; you make me laugh the most.”

“You don’t make me laugh at all.”

“My mother’s bullet hit you so hard you’ve become a bad liar,” he teased, and I couldn’t wait to be off this bed.

Rolling my eyes, I tried to ignore the burning in my chest. It hurt more now as I moved my arm. “If they are here, it means, they know the truth now.”

“Back to making plans?”

“It’s what we do.”

“Let’s do it after you get more rest,” he said, pressing the button for my morphine.

I stared stocked. “Ethan!”

“I will make time, Calliope, so just rest.”

I could already feel my eyes drooping. I didn’t want to sleep. I didn’t want to go back to my past. That hurt worse. All these years planning, it had kept me sane because it let me keep looking into the future. I made plans so I could get to happiness faster. So, I could get to just being worried about protecting him and our daughter.

I was so close.

“Calliope,” I heard his voice as everything began to fade. “You. That’s what happened. I’ve gotten so used to you; I can only come up with plans that involve you now.”

I smiled. “Me too.”

ETHAN

I watched her as the medicine set her back to sleep. She was in pain and pushing it down. I could see it clearly by the furrow in her brow. She was used to stuffing her real agony down. Calliope, the warrior. There were a dozen more reasons why I ended up in love with her. Curiosity was another one. When you are gifted or smart, things become boring or too easy. Calliope was always hard to decipher. Even when she was smiling or laughing, it was hard to know her true feelings or when she was acting. Even after all of this was over, I was sure it would take me years to decode her, to peel away every layer of darkness that had built up over the years.

But I wanted to. I was excited to see if she’d be the same or if she’d change when all the people who’d hurt her were dead. I wanted to see how she’d reconcile her past with our future. I was just so curious.

“You were willing to risk everything for her,” my father said from behind me.

His curiosity was becoming more and more of an annoyance. He was either asking questions or trying to get me to forgive Wyatt and the rest of the family, instead of reflecting on himself. Picking up the water basin, I moved back to the bathroom, and of course, like dog shit on my shoe, he stuck with me.

“Honestly, I didn’t really get it.” He went on watching me. “I know you love her, but I don’t actually feel the burning passion between you both.”

I dumped out the water. If I didn’t speak, he’d just go on. Years of him beside my mother made him a professional at the silent treatment it seemed.

“Just because we don’t love like you do does not mean we don’t love,” I answered, washing my hands.

“True. You two are weird.”

I paused, looking at him, and he grinned. “I didn’t risk it all on her; I bet it all on me. I let her have the power, the control, the freedom she never had with anyone else, and I knew she’d choose me in the end. And I was right.”

“So, you let her step on you and sat back as she terrorized this family just so she picked you in the end? It would have been easier just sticking with the first one.”

“If easier made me stronger, then maybe I would have gone that route, too. But it doesn’t. My wife wasn’t handpicked by my father with all the bells and whistles to make me great. It takes two people to run this family, and I needed the strongest person on my arm to do that. That is Calliope. She comes with a lot. But that means she can also handle a lot. But I rather take a punch by her today in public than lose everything tomorrow. I love her because I can rely on her—she doesn’t run or hide. Because she sees the big picture. She sees what everyone else can’t.”