Vicious Minds: Part 3 (Children of Vice 6)

“Whatever,” Uncle Neal stated, rising so I could get more space as Sedric came with my medical bag.

I wasn’t sure when he had left to get it, but I was grateful. “He’s going to die and pay for this shit.”

“You all are crazier than me,” she scoffed.

“It’s the first family rule,” Sedric replied, handing Helen her glasses and tool kit as she looked over the bomb. “You kill for family. You die for your family—because you can’t trust anyone else.” He, Uncle Neal, and I said simultaneously, causing us to glance at each other.

Yeah, we really were some insane fucks, but I’d rather die with these insane fucks than any other insane fucks.

CALLIOPE

I’d seen strong families fall apart more times than I could ever count. I’d even be the reason those families fell apart. Throw in a little lie here, a secret there, strip them of their money, kill a key family member, and all those “families” turned on each other like savages. It was easy to puff out your chest and talk about how great your family was when everything was perfect, when you had money, when you had power, when you had respect. However, in tough times, they were all the same—broken, greedy, selfish people stuck together because of blood.

I was sure the Callahans were the same. Over the last year, I was proven right. The way they all had turned on Ethan, the way they doubted him, making their own plans. How ready they were to kill me. All I could think was, “Ah, so even the great Callahans are no different.” I was sure one of them had betrayed us. But I couldn’t think clearly. It didn’t really matter right now. So, I told them to leave. I didn’t want Roman to have the last laugh. I didn’t want Ethan to come home to his whole family gone. He’d kill himself instantly. Everything he had worked hard for—gone. I’d be the woman who led his entire family into hell. That truly was the thing of Greek tragedies.

They needed to go.

I would never leave our daughter.

So, they needed to go.

But they refused.

Instead, Wyatt was monitoring Gigi carefully. Helen was nose deep into the bomb; each time she tapped a wire, my heart shook. The rest of them could have gone. They were useless in this, but they stayed as some sort of moral support. It was fucking insane. At least they could have gotten Evelyn out, the older woman had been through enough, and Ethan cared about her the most. However, she sat down, eyes closed, refusing to be moved, with Mina putting ice to her head and Nari petting her hand. Neal and Sedric stood just off the bed, watching in case Helen and Wyatt needed anything.

This wasn’t a game.

The timer didn’t stop.

They left or faced death, and yet they all stayed as if I were holding them hostage.

“Fuck,” Helen snapped.

“What?” I said, rushing back to the bedside to look over Gigi. “What is it?”

She sighed. “It’s a two-man dead switch lock, with no red wire cutter—”

“In English?” Wyatt asked.

“There is no way to defuse the bomb. The only thing we can do is take it off her—”

“That’s still good enough,” Sedric said.

“Yeah, if I had a second pair of eyes and arms,” she snapped at him. “Even if we did, it’s has a pressure sensor. Which means someone is going to have to hold it the moment it unlocks and then—”

“What did I tell you about panicking?”

We all looked to the door as Declan, thin, raccoon-eyed, sickly Declan, who could only stand because Killian held him up, came into the room. Now the whole gang was here! What was up with these people?

“Dad!” Helen sat up, staring at him, wide-eyed. “What are you doing—”

“Don’t worry about me.” He forced a smile. “Focus. I would offer my hands, but they are a bit shaky. Wyatt, you help her. There are two switches. She will focus on one and you the other. I’ll be the eyes. Your hands are sensitive enough; it’s like surgery.”

It was the most any of us had heard him speak in the last year. He looked us over. “Do you really have time to be staring?”

“Right,” Wyatt switching to move over where Helen was by Gigi’s neck.

Killian walked his father over to the bed. However, before Declan made it, he looked at me, and I prepared for another round of insults.