Children of Vice (Children of Vice #1)(6)
It was at that point I felt myself go on autopilot, standing beside her and making small talk I wouldn’t remember with people I could barely stand. Amused at how seamlessly I fit in with them…me, the man who said Chicago was rid of its beasts, while being the most beastly of them all. Amused because I could see it, the cracks in the elegance and nobility they’d all tried so hard to craft for themselves. Chicago was now home to the smartest people in the country…hell, the world…and the media praised us. Brutal, ruthless, Chicago now tamed. Ha. Tamed beasts were far scarier than wild ones…they knew exactly who they were killing and had the patience to wait. Yes, Chicago was still savage. It was just the arena of savagery that was changing.
“Mr. Callahan.” Toby nodded at me.
I fought the grin trying to spread across my lips, drinking the rest of my champagne to mask it.
“Ladies and gentlemen, please excuse me. No rest for us moguls, it seems.”
“You’re always escaping us, Mr. Callahan.” Senator Forbes pouted…it was ugly. “My daughter will be here any minute and she’ll kill me for letting you escape.”
“I’m sure I’ll meet her one of these days, Senator Forbes, and if she’s half as beautiful as your wife, I’m sure I won’t be able to miss her.”
“You are as good at lying as your damn father.” Senator Forbes laughed.
“Walter!” Senator Forbes’ wife scolded.
I kissed my grandmother’s cheek, whispering, “Call when you are tired of wasting time with these senseless idiots.”
“Of course, dear.” She smiled, not even a little bit fazed.
As I walked from her and toward the exit, Toby followed along with Grey and two other guards, the rest staying with my grandmother.
“What did you get out of this…Mr. Downey person?” I said once we got on the elevator.
“He still refuses to talk to anyone but you,” Toby replied, pushing the button.
“And here I thought you could be persuasive.”
“If I were any more persuasive he’d be dead.”
I didn’t reply because there was no need to once the doors opened. We walked through the gold and ivory lobby, not toward the front or even the back doors but through the restaurant. The whole place was packed, which I guessed I couldn’t complain about. More money for me. Once in the kitchen, the chefs and staff pretended not to see us as we walked to the back room. Naked and tied to the wall with an actual fish head stuffed into his mouth, was Mr. Downey.
“Welcome to Chicago, Mr. Downey. I hear you’ve been asking for me?”
IVY
There were many rules to surviving in a prison. The first, and the most important was keep all your holes shut. You didn’t see anything, you didn’t hear anything, and you sure as hell didn’t smell anything either. That was the easy part… What you had to do in order to keep the holes below the waist shut, now that was hard…often times dangerous. But I saw what happened to the girls who didn’t take that risk and I was not interested in being broken like them.
“Aww, aren’t you pretty? Wanna be friends?” Dallas, one of the bigger, newer female inmates, laughed like a wild hyena, grabbing another new girl’s chin. They had been processed together so I’m guessing that’s why she locked onto her so quickly. “Come on…it’ll be fun. Give me a little kiss.”
The girl tried to move from the cafeteria table, but Dallas grabbed her arm. I glanced over to the guards who, like always, pretended not to see anything.
It’s been thirty-seven days, they’re due for a reminder...but it’s mac and cheese day. I frowned back over at the golden dish that I could be happily eating, when Dallas’ voice reached me again.
“Believe you want to be my friend.” Dallas wasn’t looking at anyone else, which meant I’d catch her off guard. Thirty-seven days without an incident was pushing it, Ivy.
“Damn it!” I muttered then sighed stepping out of the lunch line bitterly. Walking over to their table and before Dallas could land her hot lips on the girl, I put my tray in between their faces.
“HEY!” Dallas smacked the tray.
“Leave her alone, Dallas. She’s just a kid.”
Dallas jumped onto the table, mostly because she needed to. Being four foot eight wasn’t going to even scare the cat in the yard, let alone me.
“What did you say to me?” she yelled at me.
“I said leave her alone—”
“Or you’ll do what, chica? Huh? You know who I am?”
I looked at the two other women…and I used that word sparingly…as they stepped up behind her. Rumor had it Dallas’ boyfriend was some real badass gangbanger on the streets. Good time to remember that one, Ivy.
“Yea, now you got nothing to say, do you, princess? You’re kinda cute. How’d you like to be my friend?”
The moment her short, stubby fingers pushed my head to the side, I grabbed her legs before she could blink and pulled her off the table, the back of her head hitting both the table and the seat. On the ground, I took my tray and shoved it into her mouth.
“Bitch!” One of the masculine two came at me, landing a kick right to my ribs, as I pulled the tray out of Dallas’ mouth and hit the chick’s eye, punching right into her throat and again into her nose.