Vicious Minds: Part 3 (Children of Vice 6)

She pouted.

“No,” I repeated.

“Grandma, you are no fun.” She huffed angrily.

“I know. I am very mean. So, stop coming around me!”

“No!” She stuck out her tongue at me before running down the hall. And when I heard a snort, I looked out the door to find Liam trying not to laugh.

“She has such a strong personality. She reminds me of both Dona and Wyatt wrapped into one.” He chuckled.

“Is that why you spend all your time teaching her schoolwork during the day?” I muttered, grabbing the towel to dry my face.

“Yes, it reminds me of a much simpler time. Plus, she’s adorable and sweet,” he added.

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“Her mother…” I froze, trying to get her damn words out of my head. “I dislike her.”

“You would have disliked anyone Ethan was with,” he admitted. “I hate Dona’s husband, too. But you told me to get over it, cuz it was the best we could do.”

“She knows I can’t fucking kill her. She’s hiding behind Ethan! I want to cut her tongue out,” I snapped and kept rubbing my face, ignoring his jab about Gabriel. The man was a prince; what more could we ask for? “She knows a lot about our past, Liam. Her father couldn’t have told her all of that, right? Where did she get all of this information—”

“Melody, why do you keep thinking Ethan would not tell his wife about his past, our past? She is his wife.”

I froze, staring at him.

“I know,” he whispered. “We’ve spent our lives acting on our own. We were our own bosses. Only sharing with family. And family was only determined by us. It’s weird. We haven’t technically ruled the family in years. And yet only now do I feel like I’ve lost the power, which means Ethan’s right. This whole time, we’ve been in his way and caging him. We aren’t in control anymore, Mel. We are foot soldiers now. That means, even if you don’t like her, you have to rest in knowing that the boss chose her as his wife.”

I looked at him as if he were crazy. “Who the fuck are you? When did you have this epiphany?”

He chuckled and leaned into me. “We might not be the bosses anymore, but we are still family. Ethan won’t come to us. So, use Calliope like she tried to use you. Get close to her. She likes talking, then let her talk. Learn what you want from her.”

“We aren’t here to be friends. We are here to kill her family...at least that is what I thought, but our little brat of a son won’t share his plans with me.” The moment I said it, he stared at me. And I realized once again…he didn’t have to share his plans with me. Which meant if I wanted to know, I had to get Calliope to speak. Oh, how I hated this. Frowning, I looked back up almost to the point of desperation. “Can’t you do it?”

“Gigi likes me. I’m teaching her Irish history. And she’s telling me a lot about what we’ve missed over the years. She’s my mole. So, you work on her mother, and I’ll hang out where I’m wanted.” He winked, and I threw the towel at his face.

Fine.

I’d be fucking nice.

I hated being fucking nice—it was exhausting.

But apparently, I had no other choice.

13

“Life brings with it strangeness

and surprises and upsets.”

~Patricia Cornwell

CALLIOPE

He was quiet.

When I woke up this morning, he was already sitting by my side, just watching over me and Gigi, who slept next to me. He’d helped me freshen up in bed in silence before getting me breakfast, which was porridge and some crackers…aka bland. But I said nothing and ate, watching him as he watched us. Gigi had stayed asleep through all of that, and I had the feeling someone, most likely Liam had let her stay up early into the morning, so she was now a snoring lump beside me.