Vicious Minds (Children of Vice #4)(88)

He fucking did what? I was ready to put a bullet in his skull but he just went on talking.

“Abducted is a harsh accusation! We went on a small trip—”

“You took my daughter out of the country without telling me. I am her mother, her guardian. That is abduction. I’m disappointed because you promised me you’d never let me down, remember?”

Did he really abduct her? I couldn’t tell by her tone.

“I promised I’d never betray you unless the circumstance made it impossible not to,” he explained.

“Do tell. What circumstances would cause you to do this? I’m all ears.”

So am I.

“I have Alzheimer’s,” he replied. She went silent and so did I. “Seems like I’ll be joining your grandmother in that rocking chair soon.”

“Ethan.” She said my name and I glanced at the phone, realizing this was it. He did truly abduct my daughter. “I’m positive you’re listening, so hear me very clearly. I’ll be in Chicago in six hours.”

“Calli—”

“Your disease, Grandfather,” her tone was gentle and calm, “is not a good excuse for this. And it means I can no longer trust you with my daughter.”

“I look forward to seeing you, Calli.” I hung up the phone on her and my gaze shifted to the man I was very tempted to kill, but I’d leave him till Calliope and I could talk about this clearly.

“You should get more men,” he muttered, pulling out a flask from his coat pocket and taking a long swig. “Because the two out there won’t last half of a second.”

“Should I call the national guard?” I asked emotionlessly, even though I knew he was more than right.

“Can you?” he asked seriously. “If it was your mother, and you were taken away as a child, how many men do you think it would take to stop her?”

“There will only ever be one Melody Nicci Giovanni-Callahan,” There is only one Calliope Callahan, and both of them were not to be crossed.

“I see your pride won’t let you accept this, so I’ll tell you. I’ve been dying to tell someone…Calliope is part of the i Libitinarii.”

I could tell by the way he grinned at me, from the pride his voice that as it was clear the old fool really just loved the sound of his own voice and seemed to want to let all her secrets out. What he didn’t know was that despite his stupidity, he had been a great help to both Calli and I…well at least to me. Both of them were now here much earlier than we’d planned. I’d take it no matter how it came to pass.

It was now time for my family to meet the only woman on this planet crazy enough to make me love her.





WYATT





“You’re fucking with me,” I whispered but he didn’t say anything. Instead he opened the black box and pulled out our father’s favorite brandy—Camus Cuvee—from the silk cloth inside and I knew then. “You’re not fucking with me. The mother of your daughter is a part of Italy’s former secret intelligence murders, i Libitinarii, created by Mussolini. The same i Libitinarii the Italian government has sworn on every bible, church, Pope, and saint has never really existed?”

He poured himself a full glass without ice and took a seat behind his desk. He kicked his feet on top of the desk and took a sip. I glanced over at my uncles who sat quietly on the couches. Across from them were our cousins. Darcy simply shook his head at me and Sedric’s mouth dropped open. So I went on.

“And she’s on her way here because her senile grandfather kidnapped her daughter to bring to you because he wants you to take responsibility for your fucking actions despite the fact that this woman apparently isn’t a fan of yours.”

“I think it’s more about him getting to be part of this family again. He was a big fan apparently,” Ethan answered, drinking again.

What the fuck? How the fuck was this real life?

“What happens if she asks for her daughter and doesn’t want to stay?” Darcy asked, and Ethan paused, looking up from his glass. I prepared to duck.

Ethan’s grip on the glass tightened. “Why would you ask me such a stupid question? My daughter is staying where she belongs. That is here. That is all.”

“Ethan, other than the fact that this woman kills people for a living and she is coming here under the belief that someone stole her daughter, we know nothing about her,” I stated, trying to see if maybe I understood wrong or maybe he knew something he wasn’t yet sharing.

“She kills people. We kill people. We already have something common.”

“We sell drugs. That’s different from assassination,” I reminded him, not sure what the hell was going through his mind. It was like he was in his own little world. Which wasn’t out of the character for him, but I’d never seen that look in his eyes before. It was like a storm was brewing.

He laughed, and he finally focused on me; “Why do you sound scared? It’s not like you, brother. Don’t you want to know who wins this showdown? Mafia versus Assassin. It’s like a movie.”

Maybe he was having a mental break? It was just too much for one day and he couldn’t process it?

“Just so you know, in the movies when it starts raining outside and an assassin is on their way to your house, that usually means you’re not making it to the next movie.” Sedric told him.