Children of Vice (Children of Vice #1)(34)

“I have to give it to Ethan. He sure knows how to pick his women.” She smiled, taking out her red lipstick. “Look at us, we’re beautiful.”

“I wasn’t aware Ethan was into polygamy.” I smiled, washing my hands. “But then again there is only one ring on the two pairs of hands here, so…you must be mistaken about whose woman you are.”

She glared, and I could have sworn her eyebrow twitched. Calming down, she forced a smile. “Keep the ring. I can buy my own rock. At the end of the day, you may be his…but the moment shit hits the fan, as tends to happen in the Callahan family, he’ll realize you aren’t strong enough to be his woman.”

“And you know how strong I am how?” I dried my hands and faced her.

She placed her lipstick back in her purse and turned to me. “You’re right. Excuse me. I don’t know you. I know me. I know what Ethan and I are. When his mother died, I was there. When his father died, I was there. And after making love to me in ways you can’t even imagine, until the sun came up, he told me he was glad he always had me. I also know, a girl with traitors for a family, isn’t hardly worth even the purse you’re holding. O’Davoren…nothing but a bunch of—”

I couldn’t help it. I punched her right in the nose and when her head jerked I grabbed onto her neck, throwing her up against the wall, squeezing tightly until she kneed me in the stomach so hard I let go, backing up. She moved to slap me, but I grabbed her wrist.

“We should stop before this ends badly.” I smiled at her, squeezing tightly. “I apologize for almost snapping your neck, but…Klarissa, if you step in front of me again and open your slutty mouth about either Ethan or my family, I won’t be so gracious.”

She glared, ripping her arm back. “Or we can have this out like any Callahan women should.”

“And you know what about being Callahan?” Donatella stepped into the bathroom, dressed in a dark navy pant suit, walking to the counter where she pulled out a tiny bottle of lotion. Her eyes looked at us through the glass. “Well, Klarissa? What would any Callahan do?”

“Dona.”

“Donatella. You aren’t family. If you wish to address me, it is either Donatella or Ms. Callahan.” She snapped at her. “And for the record, we Callahan women don’t fight over men. What a waste of time to fight over what we already have. I, however, don’t see anything wrong with hurting anyone who hurts my sister.” Like a wolf she moved to stand in front Klarissa, who would have taken a step back had Donatella not grabbed her chin. “You aren’t special. He knew you were waiting and even after sleeping with you, even though he’s close with your father, he still chose someone else. Why? Because you mean nothing to him. And if he knew you were in here trying to cause trouble in his name, to undermine him like this, what do you think he’d do?”

When Donatella let her chin go Klarissa closed her eyes and when she opened them tears were being held back by sheer willpower.

“I’m sorry. Please, let’s drop it.”

“I was just here to powder my nose.” Donatella shrugged, walking toward the doors again. “I didn’t see anything, so he couldn’t possibly hear anything from me.”

When she left it was just Klarissa and me.

And when she didn’t speak I did.

“Aren’t you going to apologize?” I said to her, walking back to grab my purse.

Silence.

“I guess not.” I watched as she headed out.

“It won’t happen again,” she said, hovering right outside the door. “I’m sorry.”

“No, you aren’t…but you will be—”

BOOM!

My body flew back into the wall, the heat from the blast along with the smoke pouring into the bathroom from the hall…the hall I could clearly see now that the door was gone…no, not gone…shattered on top of Klarissa’s body…a piece of wood in her thigh. Pushing my body off the ground, tissue, ash, and pieces of the wall fell off me as I got up. Reaching for my ears, I felt the blood but didn’t believe it until I saw the crimson liquid on my fingertips. The ring in them didn’t stop until I slowly moved to the door.

“…help…me…” I heard her voice.

Turning back to her, I watched as she reached out to me. I stared at her for a long time. She looked like a beautifully broken American Girl doll.

“No.”





ETHAN


“Where is she?” I asked Donatella as she stepped down the church steps toward me.

“Who?” She pretended not to know. Pushing up off my car, I stood in front of her, which only made her roll her eyes. “She’s having a chat with Klarissa in the ladies’ room.”

God damn it, Klarissa. “She and her father are both the same,” I muttered to myself, moving to the stairs when she spoke again.

“Let her handle it, Ethan. She’s not a child. Besides, she’d already got a good punch in when I entered. I highly doubt she’s not dealt with worse—”

BOOM!

Instinctively, I grabbed Dona, pulling her toward me and down, covering her head with my arms.

“Oh my God!”

“HELP!”

“FIRE!”

People screamed all around us, and for a brief second I felt a very familiar feeling, a moment of déjà vu as the chaos unfolded around us. Rising to my feet, I stared up at the flames coming out of the church, the bodies stumbling out, tripping over each other as they tried to escape, not caring as they pushed and trampled each other to save themselves.