Vicious Minds: Part 2 (Children of Vice 5)

She eyed me carefully. “Okay, what happened today, Ethan.”

“After watching my business assets burn, I was pulled over by a cop. No, I was pulled over by my father, who was pretending to be a cop.”

Her eyes widened. “Your father? He came to you? You spoke to him?”

I nodded.

She shook her head, confused. “For them to come out and expose themselves—only something dire would cause that. You can make the money back from the drugs.”

“They weren’t concerned about the drugs,” I explained as I brushed my hand over her neck. “They were concerned about you.”

“Me?”

“They apparently have proof you are betraying me. That this has all been one long game to destroy this family,” I said, now gripping her neck with the same hand she’d just wrapped.

She didn’t even flinch as my grip tightened. I could feel the blood rushing, her pulse beating.

“I told you not to keep secrets. So, Calliope, how do you plead to these charges?” Once again, I found myself held hostage by her eyes. I wanted to be angry at her. I wanted to yell in her face. I want to choke her with my bare hands, but I couldn’t.

I was the one holding her by the throat, yet I was the one trapped. Maybe she knew that, which was why the corner of her lips slowly turned upward.

“I plead guilty, Boss.”

What?

CALLIOPE

His eyes widened in utter shock. He was shocked, and his grip on my neck loosened.

“What? What did you just say?”

“I plead guilty—” In the blink of an eye, his strength returned, his grip like iron around my neck as he slammed me back onto the couch, his body hovering over mine.

“This is—”

“I…plead…guilty…I…plead…innocent.” I struggled to get the words out against his hands. “I…plead…the…fifth.”

“Does this look like a good time to mess with me, Calliope?” he sneered.

I grinned despite the furious look in his eyes and the rising dizziness that came from lack of oxygen. “I’m…not…messing with…you. I won’t…fight…you. You decide…here. Now…If I’m guilty…if you believe them…kill me now and…get it over with…Save your…family.” Talking so much was actually making this much more painful.

The fury in his expression didn’t vanish, nor did his grip change. I stared up at his green eyes like they were jewels in the sky, waiting.

“You don’t think I would. That’s why you want me to decide. You already know my choice. So, saying this isn’t a risk for you.” He frowned, pushing me down harder, and I just smiled more.

“I…can only hold…my breath…for…so…long…Ethan…”

He leaned down and kissed my lips once before whispering, “I think you are guilty.” Just like that, his other hand wrapped around my neck, adding pressure.

My vision spotted, and everything slowly darkened. “Love…you…both.” I’d never thought about that until now. But if I had to die, then this was exactly how I wanted to go…the life squeezed out of me by the hands of my lover. It was poetic.

I could feel my mouth moving, but I could no longer hear myself, and a second later, my vision collapsed into darkness.

ETHAN

She laid there completely still. Her eyes finally shut, freeing me. Leaning over, I kissed her neck. Her skin was so warm under my lips…the blood still rushing in her veins. Slowly, I rose off her, mindful of the glass I’d broken before I lifted her into my arms. Her head slumped to rest on my chest. Walking forward, I gently set her onto the mattress, tucking her under the sheets on her side of the bed then moving to my own.

Lying back on to the pillows, I stared up at my ceiling, trying to think of something to distract myself from what I had just done. And there should have been a thousand things to hold my attention, like the current state of my city, who was going to fill which positions. I could have thought about how I was going to recover my losses from today. Hell, I hadn’t spoken to my parents in almost a decade—that should have had priority in my mind. But instead of any of those options, the only thing that went through my mind was the fact that I had choked my wife until she was unconscious…because I loved her too much to kill her.