Children of Vice (Children of Vice #1)(61)

“That’s the point. You go round askin’ for McNardy and not the right McNardy you’re either a fed or an idiot. Both are grounds for your ass being handed to you one day when you’re walkin’ your dog.” I scanned through the rest of the paper. “Everything else ain’t that bad. It’s just you end up lookin’ like a hahdo boy from Milie, and believe me, you don’t wanna look like a hahdo boy from Milie.” I laughed.

“Translation?” Ethan asked.

Wyatt spoke up before I could. “A person trying too hard that comes from a rich neighborhood, aka Milton.”

“How long have you lived in Boston?” I asked him.

“Five years. After the first year you catch on quick, especially at the hospital.” He smirked to himself.

“Oh.” I could see that. “But yea,” I spoke to Ethan again. “People in this city don’t like showie. Everyone wants money, but they don’t want to see you with it. There was this guy, Jimmy, who lived across the street from us and he stole things. Nothin’ from anyone in the neighborhood, like jewelry shops and stuff. One of those things where everybody knew but nobody knew. His wife started showing off…buying things, real nice things and hiding them from him. Jimmy found out. Soon the whole neighborhood knew ’cause he chased her down the street with only one shoe. Not one person let her into the house when she knocked. My grandmother turned up the TV then.”

Wyatt frowned. “He killed her?”

“No. They are still together last I heard, livin’ in Back Bay,” I said, sliding the paper back to him.

“Thank you,” Ethan said, and he really seemed to mean it. He looked me up and down, a tiny grin creeping up on his face. “I must ask. Is the Boston accent going to be a fixture or only while we’re here?”

I didn’t even realize it just slipped out. “Do you have a problem—”

“B—Bos—” Hugh choked out, interrupting me, grabbing onto his neck as his face slowly turned purple-blue.

“No, actually, it’s a strange turn on.” He winked at me, which only briefly distracted me from the man falling out of his seat.

“Boss—”

Realizing whatever he did to Hugh had to have been prepared ahead of time, I couldn’t help but get annoyed. “Why make me go through all of this if you already knew he was f*cking with you?”

“Firstly, no one f*cks with me,” he said seriously and the man now gasping out for air behind him really hammered that point home. “Secondly, I wanted to see how much you knew about the darker parts of your city.”

“So you were manipulating me again?”

He shook his head. “I had no idea you were going to speak but went along with it. Truthfully, you killed my dramatic traitorous death scene.”

I pointed to the man now shaking on the floor of the jet behind him. “That’s not dramatic?”

“I told him to stop with those damn toothpicks,” he muttered, avoiding my question, and then looked over at Wyatt, whose eyes were closed. “You aren’t going to be a hero?”

“My shift doesn’t start for another two hours,” he replied, placing his headphones over his ears.

Ethan shrugged, reaching for his drink again. “Guess he’s shit out of luck then.”

Was it odd that I found this refreshing? It felt like a family to me. I liked them. All of them. Even though they looked at me weirdly, they never acted as if I were some wild animal as Ms. Lisowski did and people all through my life did. I knew I was sometimes a little bi-polar, even though I wasn’t actually. The warden had me checked. But still, I didn’t feel like I couldn’t be myself.

Catching my mood shift, Ethan said softly, “What is it?

“You know what I’ve always wanted?” I looked outside as we started to lower, splitting through the clouds hovering over the city. “I’ve always wanted to be a somebody, to prove they were wrong about me. The moment I got locked up I thought I’d dreamed too high.”

“Are you saying thank you to me then?” he said in humor, teasing me, but I wasn’t joking about that.

“I guess I am.” I left this city an ugly duckling and now I was coming back as a swan.





ETHAN


She was nervous yet enthusiastic, serene yet vengeful. I could tell she loved her city the way I loved Chicago. I didn’t know how I’d feel if I had to leave for almost a decade without knowing when I’d come back. Even more so if I had debts to repay. Part of me was so intrigued by the many, many, thoughts that might be crossing her mind at any given second. I wanted to know what she’d do next. I wanted to see how far she’d go. What her plans were or if she had any of them at all. I had no doubts about the level she’d go to if she needed to know. But still…

“We’ll give you both a moment,” she declared to the rest of the plane, grabbing her red coat and scarf from her chair and squeezing herself between us, mouthing ‘talk to him and be nice.’ Then she walked toward the doors of the jet with Lex. Greyson tried to stay behind, but the look she gave was apparently anything far more fearsome than myself because he didn’t even bother to double-check with me before stepping out with her.

“You have been married less than a day and she already has everyone under her thumb.” Wyatt stared blankly at the exit, his bag over his shoulder, before he turned to me. “Even you…does she even know—”