Vicious Minds (Children of Vice #4)(66)

“How’d you know?” she asked.

“My wife to be is very dedicated in making sure our family is…safe.” I said, putting the gun on the table. “She killed Teagan. She’s now killing everyone, but I thought you should know who went down first because of your treachery.”

She shook her head. “Why is it so hard for teenagers to listen?”

“Doesn’t matter now. I would have found him later and killed him anyway.”

“He was your godson.”

“Your point? I would kill my brother if it meant protecting what matters to me.” I told her, and it was then that Calliope came in, covered in blood. Her eyes narrowed as she looked between us.

“Am I interrupting tea time?”

“She gets sarcastic when she’s annoyed,” I explained to Grams, who never looked away from her.

“Another Italian, I see. And here I thought you were really considering Moretti’s daughter.”

“Don’t you think you’ve insulted me enough for one night?” I asked her as Calliope took a seat at the head of the table. “Do you want to tell me why now?”

She laughed hard and coughed. “Why? Ethan, my boy. Logic doesn’t apply here. Rule or be ruled: it’s all that governs us. I’ve been ruled over for the last 89 years. I have watched my family, my friends, and my loved ones bend their heads to your family. How long do you think your family can stay at the top? This is not going to end with me. Other people are hungry for the power your family flaunted for decades. They’re hungry for their time to lead and rule. You can’t fight us all.”

“I don’t need to,” I reminded her. “I can make you fight each other. And when you’re all done, I’ll come back and you will remember that my family was not just given this position, we built it. Body by body, blood by blood, drug by drug; we fought, we skimmed, we sacrificed to get to the top. It’s in our DNA now. We don’t know how to be any other way. We’d rip this world to shreds before we’d ever go to the bottom. You won’t live long enough to see it, but very soon, people will know what it means to cross me.”

I lifted the gun from the table, pointing it at the kitchen closet beside her and her eyes widened.

“They are just babies, Ethan!” she bellowed.

I fired into the closet and she screamed, moving to get up, but Calliope already stood behind her with her machete at Grams’ throat.

“Why are you screaming, Grams?” Calli whispered, her lips at her ears. “You’re the one that killed them. You cross the mob, and mob crosses you. You includes your family and everything you ever cared about. It’s the oldest rule in the book. You knew that and made your choice anyway. Screaming now just makes you look like a sore loser.”

Her eyes never left the closet, staring as blood poured out from underneath the door. Setting the gun back down, I told her, “My massacre of your family has only just begun. I thank you in advance for being my first lesson to others.”

Calliope tilted her head to me and I nodded. Slowly she pulled the blade across Grams’ neck and let her go, allowing her to fall on the table. I stared at her body and Calliope walked to my side, tossing her leg over mine and sitting on my lap. She leaned in and kissed me. Closing my eyes, I kissed her back, letting her take my rage once more. I gripped her hips and she moaned against my mouth. Breaking apart, she put her forehead on mine.

“If not them, it would be us. It would be Gigi,” she said gently.

“It was never a choice.” I leaned back on the chair. “My family or theirs. How could there ever be a choice?”

She agreed. Sitting up straighter, she took off her vest and passed one of her smaller knives to me. I took it and held the tip over a candle on the table, watching the tip blacken and then bringing it to her shoulder. Her jaw set, she took a deep breath, but I didn’t move yet and she looked back to me, confused I lifted my eyebrow…she knew what I wanted to know.

“You are…” She exhaled and moved to take the knife from me, but I held it back. She tried to get up, but I held her in place. She glared at me, and I gave it right back to her.

“Who is he and what is the purpose of the date?” I put the knife back to the flame.

“The jealousy was cute the first two times, but now it’s irritating.” I waited for her to continue. She rolled her eyes. “It’s not a he. It is a me. It was a date with myself. For my night off, I bought out my favorite spa. I planned to soak in a eucalyptus Dead Sea salt bath, have a hot stone massage, maybe a scalp wash and massage too, then a rooftop dinner in peace. It was going to be amazing. Are you happy now, you green-eyed brute? This cut into my scheduled me time.”

I picked up the knife and cut into her skin before using my hands to apply pressure, digging in the blade. She gritted her teeth and gripped my shoulder as I finally took the shard out.

“Fuckers.” She frowned, taking the bullet from me. “If they are going to attack us they could at least invest in decent fucking bullets.”

“Let’s burn this place down and go,” I said to her, taking the gun from the table.

“We can part ways here—”

“You’re staying me with me tonight.” Her eyes narrowed, clearly questioning who I was to order her around, meanwhile, she’d do the same thing. Bringing her face to mine again I kissed her lips softly. “It’s been a while since we’ve had we time.”