Vicious Minds (Children of Vice #4)(50)

I glanced down at the phone when she didn’t answer. She always answered.

Entering the suite, I placed the takeout on the table.

“Calliope?”

No answer. Either she was playing games with me, which she had no reason to, or…I headed down the hall and pushed the door open and there she was laying diagonally across the bed curled up into a ball.

She was sleeping, the strands of the platinum blonde wig she wore over her face. Walking to the side of the bed, I sat down and brushed the hair from her face.

“Anyone could have walked in on you,” I whispered and she lifted her hand, a cell phone in it, with the words ARRIVED on it.

“Hmm.” She pushed herself off the bed, rubbing her eyes before reaching under my arm and tugging at something on my back of my suit jacket. It was small thin circle. She clicked it and the words on the screen changed to CLEAR.

“You put a tracker on me?”

“No. It’s a motion bounce. The others are in the in hall. So if anyone came that was not you, I would know.” She pressed the sticker on the phone, yawned, and laid back down. “Where is the food?”

I don’t know why I bothered to doubt her anymore. I don’t even think it was doubt, actually. More like curiosity.

“Living room. I’ll get it.”

“No, stay.” She grabbed my arms. “Take your shoes and jacket off so we can cuddle.”

“Cuddle?” She said it with no shame. We cuddled now?

“Pali! (Hurry)” She waved her hands at me, apparently tired of using English or Italian to speak and telling me to hurry up.

Why was I going along with this? What was wrong with me? I took off my shoes and my jacket lying beside her across the bed. She turned, pressing her back against my chest.

“Am I the boss or you?”

She answered by lifting her shirt and putting my hand on her stomach. My eyebrow twitched, and I moved closer.

“Since you left, she’s been moving around like a big fish inside of me. Calm her down,” she ordered, obviously not very pleased with being the fish bowl.

“What language? English, Italian, Irish, or Korean since we are in Korea?”

“Are you making fun of me right now?”

I grinned, even though I no longer recognized myself anymore. Slowly I rubbed circles on her stomach, watching the lights of the city shine through the curtains. It was well after 2 AM, but it seemed people were still celebrating.

“You aren’t saying anything.”

“She’s my daughter. She’ll understand silence, just like her mother.”

She nodded and relaxed against me. “What does the rest of your family think of my remodeling?”

“Doesn’t matter. Renovations start in a week.”

“True. Do you like your room?” she asked. “Don’t get used to it. The bachelor pad is just a cover. I’ll be changing it later.”

“Yes, boss.”

“What is the work you wanted to talk about?” She changed the topic smoothly. She wasn’t slick nor was she trying to be.

“My brother is leaving for Boston in a few weeks. He wants to run away from our family, the Callahan name, and keep studying medicine there.”

She laughed softly and I could feel it against me. “Your brother is either not bright or lying to himself. I suspect it’s the latter. He must know there are more Irish people in Boston than in Chicago. He’s not running from the Callahan name—”

“He’s running from me,” I whispered, knowing that to be the truth as well.

“Exactly. But can you blame him? It must be hard living in your shadow.”

“You do it.”

“With the knowledge that I’m not always going to be in the shadows. I’m simply delaying my gratification, but I know it will come. He does not have that knowledge.”

That was also true.

“You want me to watch out for him? He’d notice anyone else.”

I paused, realizing that we weren’t on the page. “No, I wanted to use it to see if we could trap my parents. Harm him, forcing him to come home, and then get my parents.”

“It’s too much.”

“What?”

She shifted and turned over to face me. The contacts she wore now were blue. “I told you, do not rush because of me and this child.”

“I am not rushing—”

“You are.” She cut me off gently. “You are being greedy. You want everyone home. You want it done already. We knew this was going to be a long plan from the start. If shit goes wrong for Wyatt the moment he gets there, he’ll know it was you. Your parents will know it was you.”

“It doesn’t have to happen immediately. It could be—”

She shook her head. “It can’t happen at all. Let him go completely…well, seem like you let go completely. Be the big brother and watch from afar, clear the traps in his way and let Wyatt live the life he wants to live.”

“But he doesn’t want to live that life. I know my brother. He’s tired of living in the shadows. He wants purpose and he feels like he cannot have it by my side, but he can.”

“Exactly.” She nodded. “What happens to a person who walks down a road thinking there is gold but finds nothing? They have two choices. Kill themselves for being such a fool or turn back and go down the right road. You know Wyatt loves being a Callahan. You know he wants to be more like you. So let him deny himself. Let him lie to himself. Give him no excuse as to why he didn’t make it down the road and then he will have to self-reflect. He will make the choice to come back. You can give him a little nudge, but you can’t block him. Let him finish medical school, maybe even do part of his first residency. He will be bored out of his fucking mind.”