Children of Vice (Children of Vice #1)(68)

They screamed, but I just turned around. There was an old man holding on to a cane with one hand, his black and brown dark dog barking at us, making them jump.

“She said a boy lives down here.” Rory pointed down at the window. “She told us to come see.”

The old man frowned. “Sorry, ladies, there isn’t any boy—”

“YES, THERE IS!” I screamed at the top of my lungs. Why didn’t anyone believe me? “He’s been here—”

“Sweetheart, I think you’re a little confused. I’d know if someone was living in my own house. I just sold it yesterday and had the whole place cleaned the day before that.”

I didn’t know why, but I started to cry.

“A bet’s a bet!” Rory reached for my ears, but I ran. I ran as far away as I could, climbed over the fence, and kept running.





IVY


I don’t know how I ended up on the kitchen floor, but I just sat there with my knees tucked to my chest. Ethan sat quietly beside me and began to confess.

“My brother, sister, and I came to Boston with my uncle Neal when I was eleven. My parents wanted us to be safe while they were handling some issues back in Chicago. However, when we got here, we were attacked. That’s how my uncle lost his leg. We came to this house in the middle of the night. It was pitch-black and they told us to stay in the rooms, stay away from the windows, and don’t talk to anyone. I didn’t listen to any of those rules,” he whispered softly, and I just squeezed my legs tighter. “Your father and another man would often sit in the kitchen or move to the living room, keeping watch. I got bored waiting around day after day, so I snuck into the basement.”

“Where I snuck off during school,” I added. I picked that place one day after seeing this fat cat fall through the window. I laughed so hard at it but went to make sure it was okay. I started to stay because I thought it was close enough to my house that I was safe and that my dad would stay away because he was allergic. “That’s when I met you.”

He nodded. “We hung out down here day after day for a week.”

“Until you just disappeared one day,” I said angrily. “I crawled inside and waited for you to come down, but you never did, so I went up, just as my father was closing the door to the cabinet. He yelled at me for being here. At first I didn’t say anything. I thought you were skipping school too. But when you didn’t come back the next day I thought something had happened and tried to ask my dad, but he said no one lived there.”

“I didn’t know it then, about the growing issues between Boston and my family,” he replied, taking my hand. “I didn’t know your father was putting everything on the line by protecting us.”

“So when I babbled about the boy in the basement—”

“Your uncle figured it out and bombed your father’s car, killing your mother.” He nodded, and I couldn’t breathe…I tried to pull my hand away, but he didn’t allow it. “He begged my parents to set it right. And we helped him kill your uncle. Cillian and Elroy killed your father in revenge and not just for that, they wanted to follow their father’s dreams, making the Finnegan family the new Callahan family. And now they want my head—”

“A…” I tried to speak, but I couldn’t. I hurt. I hurt so badly my whole body began to shake.

“Ivy!” He grabbed me when I began to choke, but I didn’t know what I was choking on, my guilt, my rage, the pain, or was it all burning me alive from the inside out. “IVY!” He grabbed the sides of my face, now kneeling next to me. “Breathe! It’s not your fault.”

It was, though! I shouldn’t have pushed! I should have kept my mouth shut. I knew my father was hiding something back then. But I just didn’t want to be called crazy anymore!

“Come on, breathe, okay? Please.” He kissed my lips quickly. “Breathe, baby.”

Inhaling and exhaling, blinking the tears in my eyes away, I tried to push away, but he held on again. He wouldn’t let me move.

“Breathe in.” I did. “Breathe out.” I did.

We were like that for God only knows how long before I could finally speak again.

“Wyatt’s right. It never ends—”

“WYATT IS WRONG!” he hollered into my face. “The problem is not us! The problem is never us! The problem is those who want to be us! Your mother’s death is not your fault. Your father’s death is not your fault. It’s Keegan’s! There is always a beginning and it started with him. But the ending comes from us. Don’t put your rage anywhere else. Don’t let your need for vengeance burn out. We came here to kill them all, remember?”

I nodded, still crying but nodding, holding on to his wrist as he held on to my face. “You were my first friend, you know? That is why I wanted everyone to know.”

“You were the first and only girl I ever loved and the first and only girl to break my heart,” he whispered back, putting his forehead on mine.

“I thought you didn’t want to love anyone.”

“I said I didn’t want to be obsessed, not love.”

“And yet after all these years I’m still the first and only girl you ever loved. Isn’t that obsession?”

He frowned and this time when he tried to pull away I held on tighter. “Till I was seventeen I wasn’t with anyone. Then you started to date Pierce Donoghue. When I found out I was so pissed, so jealous…I slept with six out of seven girls on the cheerleading team during homecoming week.”