Vicious Minds (Children of Vice #4)(81)

“You should be apologizing me,” I said to him as I opened my bag, pulling out a vial and a syringe. I filled the syringe, tapping it once, the red liquid coming out before I pushed his head to the side and injecting it in his neck.

“Forgive me, I’m not in my right mind right now,” he whispered with a smile on his face. He reached up touching my cheek with his bloody hand. “You’re like an angel.”

“Are you dying or high?” I couldn’t help but kiss his lips gently. “Your parents are outside. They’re in disguise. Your father is playing firefighter and your mother a doctor.”

His eyes widened, and his jaw cracked to the side. I nodded, knowing what he was going to say.

“I got photos. You are right. I know you knew you were right, but now there can never be even the slightest doubt. They are alive. So what do you want me to do?”

“Let…them go…everything is a bit messy now,” he said softly, starting to drift off.

“I understand.” A reunion with him bleeding out on the ground was not how he wanted to meet them. I took his hands, kissing them. “Fine. But Ivy fucked up.”

“Kill her,” he demanded, closing his eyes.

Before I could say anything, I heard the door and got up, hurrying to the closet.

“Ethan!” Ivy screamed as she dropped to her knees next to him on the brink of tears. I rolled my eyes so hard I thought they’d fall out of my head.

“Ethan, look, I got him. I got Wyatt. Ethan, open your eyes, come on. Wyatt, help him!” She went on with her crying.

How Ethan managed her voice was beyond me. He really convinced her he loved her.

I looked at Wyatt who was frozen with guilt. Luckily, he got over it quickly. Bending down next to him, he mentioned taking Ethan to a hospital and I put my hand on my head.

Wyatt, when are you going to be who he needs you to be?

“Then fix him! Save him!” Ivy screamed. That’s what she did, screamed and cried. It was pathetic. “Did you forget who you are? Who he is? He’s a Callahan! You’re both Callahans. How bad will it look if he goes out like this, barely hanging on? He knew you’d be out there. He told me to find you. So, I did. Shot…and…ugh…” she cried. I bit back a groan.

Nice speech.

“Ivy—” Wyatt stopped when she rested her head on Ethan’s chest…his bleeding chest. Bloody fucking moron.

It took me a second as I watched through the small crack in the door. She was hunched over in pain. “Shot, bleeding, in pain, and having a miscarriage, I found you. So save him, please…please, Wyatt, please. Save him, please,” she begged, back to crying.

If it wasn’t serious, if it wasn’t for the fact that I was waiting for these two…chicken heads…to fucking do something to save the man I loved, I would have laughed. Miscarriage? She thought she was pregnant?

No, Ivy, that pain you are feeling is the early stages of sepsis. You’re dying. I’m using the man who you think you love to kill you. The poison I’d instructed Ethan to give her plus the stress was causing her bleeding, among other things. If she’d gone to a hospital, she’d know that. But I knew from the first time I saw her in jail that she didn’t trust or like hospitals, so why not use that to my advantage?

I listened and watched, ignoring the pounding in my chest. He’d be fine. He had to be. I hadn’t given him permission to die yet.

“For some reason his blood has thickened. It’s the only thing keeping him from bleeding out. Was he taking anything?” Wyatt asked her, and I nodded as if he could hear me. Like I said, he didn’t have my permission to die.





Chapter 17





“A queen—a queen who bowed to no one, a queen who had faced them all down and triumphed.”





~Sarah J. Maas





CALLIOPE - AGE 26

Boston, Massachusetts

Wednesday, September 20th





“You didn’t kill her,” he stated, his annoyance and confusion clear in his voice.

“I didn’t.” I glanced up from my tablet as he came into the kitchen. His blood, now dark red and starting to dry up, was still on the ground. He stood shirtless with a bandage wrapped around his stomach, and he limped slightly as he held his wound. Getting up, I walked over to him and he said nothing, putting his arm over my shoulder. I tried to help him walk forward but he took the opportunity to hug me instead. I stood still for a second before hugging him back tightly, trying to avoid his wound. Taking a deep breath, I let go of him.

“Why didn’t you kill her?” he asked as I helped him to the dining chair. “I was expecting to wake up to her body and instead she’s convinced she’s had miscarriage which I have no doubt is impossible.”

Reaching into my black bag, I pulled out a baggie with red pills and handed it to him. He didn’t even ask what they were or even for water. He popped them into his mouth and swallowed. I took a seat across from him.

“I didn’t kill her because of Wyatt.”

His eyebrow rose, waiting for me to explain.

“Wyatt’s fragile now. He needs to be focused. If I killed her, he’d be more worried about you than doing what he needed to do. I hate to admit it, but Ivy helped give him the push he needed. He feels bad for her. That works to our advantage,” I answered, which only made him frown.