Vicious Minds: Part 3 (Children of Vice 6)

“I know what you are thinking,” my father spoke from beside me as I watched them pour dirt on the open graves.

“What am I thinking then?” I asked.

“How to get revenge,” he replied, his voice barely over a whisper. “How to make them pay for this…make them pay for using your mother, too.”

“Someone has to.” I bit my tongue to keep from yelling.

“Don’t you get it?” he asked. “The world will make them pay as it has always made this family pay. Look around you. Look at how many Callahan are buried here. Not one of them died a natural death; not one of them had peace. They paid.”

I did look around. And I saw them all. Names of people I didn’t even know but with the last name Callahan anyway.

“I do not have time to wait for the world, Dad.”

“You don’t have time to take it into your own hands, either,” he shot back. “You’ve always wanted to be the leader. Wanted to correct the injustice you think was done to us. That had my father lived, I would have led after him and you after me. You think old man Sedric stole it from me.”

“You were young—”

“I was smart,” he cut in. “I made it clear I wouldn’t fight Neal or Liam. Why? Because I wanted to live a long life. I wanted to see my kids grow up. I didn’t want to pay for our lives with my own. Old man Sedric didn’t steal anything from me. I made a choice, and in the end, I am the last one standing.”

“And because of that choice, they used your wife as a pawn and then disregarded her. So, was it still the right choice?”

“Yes, because she would never have been able to become my wife if I had chosen to fight. You wouldn’t be here. Neither would your sister. I wouldn’t trade the life I had with your mother for anything. And what she wanted for you, what we wanted for both you and your sister, was to get you out.”

I frowned, feeling my fist tighten. “You really don’t believe I can do it, do you?”

“I know you can do it. I’m scared of what doing it will cost you. Will I have to bury my son? It was your mother’s greatest fear. We did our best to keep you out of this family’s struggle because we wanted better, we wanted you to be better. Wyatt already has a grip on your sister. I will fight it till my last day, and I will fight you because I can’t lose you, too.”

My head snapped to the side to look at him in rage. There was a dark ring around his eyes that he covered with slightly tinted shades. He faced forward, though I was sure he knew I was looking.

“You—”

“You asked Helen if she was still dating Wyatt because you wanted to know if you killed him would she care. Yes, she would. And she is so distressed lately I fear she might hurt herself. And while you are smart, Ethan and Calliope are smart also. They will kill you the moment they sense you are betraying them. Do you want to live like that? Worry if your family will kill you or the people who hate your family? Let it go, son.”

No.

I wouldn’t.

“If you are not the head, you are the tail. If you are not the wolf, you are the sheep. The only way I can make sure they never treat us like sheep is to become the wolf—”

“No. Become the human, Darcy.”

“Killian,” I corrected.

He shook his head. “Killian is the wolf. Darcy is the human. I know what I named you. Be the human. You want to become big enough, strong enough that Ethan never uses you or any of your loved ones again. You want to a be wolf against someone who was raised as a wolf, thrives as wolf? You can’t win in this game. In this arena, you need to survive as a human, not an animal fighting to be the head, fighting against others, fighting to the death every day. Ethan’s path will always and forever be painful and bloody. No matter how smart or wise any of them are, none live long, happy lives. I don’t want that for you.”

I bit my tongue again. “There is no other arena—”

“Your mother had one in mind.” He chuckled, looking over to where her grave was. This was the first time he’d come here since her funeral. “She once told me that she could never beat Melody in anything, but maybe, just maybe, she could get her son to outshine hers. To live forever in history, and not in the shadows…” He casually looked over to me and placed his hand on my shoulder. “That her son would one day become President Darcy K. Callahan of the United States of America. Something no other Callahan could ever do, even when they wanted to.”

I looked into his eyes for a long time, and then the corner of my lip turned up. “Mom never dreamed small, did she?”

“Nope.” He smiled and hung his head as he inhaled slowly. “Honor her, Darcy. Make sure they always remember her. Make sure her name goes into history and overshadows the rest of us. If Melody can get her daughter a kingdom, we can you one, too.”

“Presidents have term limits.”

“True. But they are forever honored just the same.”

I frowned. I didn’t want this talk. I wanted vengeance, I wanted blood. I wanted…my mother back. Glancing over to her tombstone, I swallowed hard.