Vicious Minds: Part 2 (Children of Vice 5)

“It’s such a pretty day outside, don’t you think?” She cut me off and focused on the road.

“I won’t tell him if you—”

“Wyatt,” she said in a low voice and looked back over at me.

Just like that, I felt like a child all over again. Exhaling, I just nodded, no point in pushing her. I wanted her on my side, not annoyed with me.

“You are right, it is a nice day,” I said, looking out the window at how bright the sunlight was and how clear the sky was. It wasn’t too hot or too cold today. Just perfect enough for everyone. “I’m going to marry your daughter on a day like this.”

I heard her suck her teeth and I glanced back over to her to find her glaring at me, so I just smiled back. “You promised you wouldn’t get in between. That’s fine. But you didn’t promise to be blind, deaf, and dumb. I’m not a child. I will say what I need to say, and that is that. I am in love with your daughter, Helen Callahan. I’m going to marry your daughter, Helen Callahan. Uncle Declan might be pissed. Other people might find it weird or disgusting, even though we aren’t related by blood, but I’m going to do what I’ve always done—whatever the fuck I want. So, you can tell Uncle Declan to keep going, to keep trying to make me feel bad, but I won’t.

“In all honesty, I love you both, but I don’t give a shi—I don’t care. I don’t care what your feelings or reasons are. It doesn’t bother me in the slightest, but it bothers Helen. Unlike me, she actually cares what other people think, especially Uncle Declan. So, he might think he’s doing it for her good, but he’s just hurting her.

“I made a promise to Ethan that I wouldn’t leave him again. But if I keep seeing her frown or flinch or hear her try to apologize to me because of it, I will break my promise to Ethan. You and I both know Ethan will not accept my leaving a second time. Which means I’ll have to fight my brother. And you know I’m a bit crazy like that, so I will. It will all be because of you two. Isn’t it better that we look at this like grown-ups instead?”

She didn’t say anything for a moment and just focused on the road, a deep frown clear on her lips. Finally, she opened them to say, “I want to say you’ve grown up, Wyatt. But that look in your eyes reminds me of the little boy who came into my room hiding from his mother, demanding that I be on his side.”

“I’m still demanding it,” I muttered. “And this time, I’m not hiding from anyone.”

“So, nothing has changed with you.”

“Nope, what about you?”

“Nope,” she said back and offered me a look.

I grinned and just looked back out the window because, just like back then, I knew she was already on my side.

Now I had to just think of a ring…Which made me think of the red diamond Ethan had given to Calliope. He might have done it to further his cover story, that she was his true wife all along, but why did that seem off? And most importantly, what the fuck was with this damn year? Were we all supposed to be with someone before the year was over?

Ethan and now this Calliope. `

Dona and her fancy prince.

Helen and I.

How did so much change so fast, and why? It was some freaky shit now that I thought about it. It was like all the stars were trying to align.

Or maybe it was our parents?

Or maybe God was trying to do something. Who knows.

“Aunt Cora, do you believe the rapture is coming soon?” I asked her jokingly.

She huffed. “With our track record, let’s hope not. Why?”

I shrugged. “It’s just been a crazy few months.”

“You’ve been gone a while. For our family, this is normal. You’ll get used to it again,” she replied.

I shook my head. “I know what it’s like for this family. But it all seems different this time. Like controlled chaos. Ethan has Ivy, and they go to Boston and destroy our enemies there. At the same time, Dona plots to take care of the Italian enemies back here. The moment Ethan comes back, Dona finds a prince and runs off with him. But then Ivy dies, and I’m left in charge just like Dona was…Helen and I…and just like that, Ethan comes back home to a daughter and a new wife? A ready-made family? It’s like one of those videos of the elaborate domino sets. You knock it over, and it looks like chaos. Then when it’s done, it’s a perfect image you weren’t expecting.”

I stared at the light for what felt like forever, watching it shift from red to green, and as it did, I couldn’t help but wonder. He wouldn’t…Maybe it i

s our parents? Maybe they planned it all…but Mom cried…When I was in the hospital, she had wept over me. This couldn’t have been her. It put us through too much; it was too risky.

“Wyatt, what are you trying to say?”

I snapped out of it, meeting her eyes. “I…I’m saying…I don’t know. I’m just saying this feels odd.”