Vicious Minds: Part 2 (Children of Vice Book 5) Read online

  Olivia Callahan: formally Coleman, was the beautiful and ambitious wife of Neal Callahan as well as the daughter of President Coleman. Her jealousy of Melody and her frustration at her husband’s lack of desire in being head of the family leads her to betray the family and making a deal with Ivan DeRosa. When this is found out, she is strangled by her husband Neal but does not die only loses consciousness. It is only when she wakes up does she realize that Melody had her buried alive. She suffocates and dies in her coffin.

  Davina Callahan: the only daughter of Sedric and Evelyn, as well as Liam’s twin sister. She died in the womb as a result of Evelyn being run off the road by Fiorello Orsini near the end of the Irish and Italian wars. Her brother Liam survives, but her death sends Evelyn into a deep depression for years.

  EVERYONE ELSE

  The Giovanni Family:

  Orlando Giovanni: Melody’s father, the previous Don of the Italian. He was euthanized by his son-law, Liam, due to the severity of his colon cancer. He was called Iron Hands.

  Ignazio Giovanni: Melody’s grandfather, the father of Orlando. He died at sixty-one after being diagnosed with stage four colon cancer. Melody’s mother, Aviela, had been poisoning him with arsenic.

  Francesco Angelo Giovanni: the first son of Ignazio, the older brother of Orlando, uncle of Melody, and died at twenty-six. He was murdered a year before his father by Melody’s mother, Aviela, with arsenic.

  Emilio Giovanni: Melody’s half-brother, whom Orlando allowed to grow up as Emilio Esteban Cortés without him, hoping he’d learn to fight on the streets. He came to Chicago and challenged his sister for the control of the Italian Mafia. He was Chicago’s mayor for a short period. He was shot in the head by Liam. It’s because of him that Melody feels compelled to finally walk away and fake her death.

  The DeRosa Family:

  Aviela DeRosa: the mother of Melody, lover of Orlando, and daughter of Ivan DeRosa, who was abusive and manipulative to her most of her childhood. This led her to her having mental issues and complex loyalties. She did the bidding for her father, as well as kidnapped and drugged her daughter. Melody strangles and kills her. Later it is revealed that Aviela betrayed her father and sabotaged his plans to take down the Callahan and Giovanni family.

  Avian Doers/ Ivan DeRosa: the father of Aviela and grandfather of Melody. He was also the director of the FBI, which tried to limit the power of the mafia families while ruling over them both secretly. He had Sedric killed. After being betrayed by his daughter, Liam has Ivan cremated alive to avenge his father.

  The Affini/ Orsini Family:

  Fiorello Orsini: the grandfather of Calliope Callahan and the great grandfather of Giovanna. He once was the right-hand man for Orlando Giovanni. Two of his three sons were killed by Sedric Callahan during the Italian-Irish Blood Wars. In return, he ran Evelyn off the road while she was pregnant with Liam and his twin sister Davina. He planned to kill her but was stopped by Orlando, as he and Sedric signed a truce to end the blood wars. He also cared for Melody Giovanni as if she were his own daughter and believed her marriage to the Callahan family only weakened her and what killed her in the end. He raised his granddaughter to go further, to be better than Melody ever could have been….so she could destroy the Callahan Family in his final act of revenge.

  Siena Orsini: the grandmother of Calliope Callahan and the great grandmother of Giovanna. She took care of Calliope when she was young in order to mold her into a weapon that could be used to avenge her sons, two of whom were killed by the Callahan family.

  Roman Affini / Michelangelo Roman Orsini: Adoptive father of Calliope Callahan and grandfather of Giovanna. He is the only surviving son of Fiorello and Siena Orsini. He changed his name to Roman Affini after the death and destruction of his family in order to live a normal life.

  Camilla Affini: the wife of Roman Affini, the biological mother of Calliope Callahan, who was conceived by rape. As such, she has always hated and abused her daughter, Calliope. She is also the grandmother Giovanna.

  Avena Affini: The eldest daughter of Roman and Camilla. Calliope’s half-sister. She is a fashion designer.

  Bellarose Affini: The second daughter of Roman and Camilla. Calliope’s half-sister. She is a supermodel.

  1

  I do not love you as if you were salt-rose, or topaz,

  or the carnations the fire shoots off.

  I love you as certain dark things are to be loved,

  in secret, between the shadow and the soul.

  I love you as the plant that never blooms

  but carries in itself the light of hidden flowers;

  thanks to your love a certain solid fragrance,

  risen from the earth, lives darkly in my body.

  ~ Pablo Neruda

  ETHAN

  TWO MONTHS AGO

  “Dolos,” she whispered as she ran her hands gently through my hair. I lay upon her naked chest, her breast beside my lips, saying nothing. She’d explain whatever craziness brought forth that word in her mind. “He is the ancient Greek god of deception, the spirit of trickery and guile. He is the master of treachery, and all things underhanded. Do you know who his soulmate is?”

  “Greek gods have soulmates?” I muttered, not bothering to open my eyes.

  “Of course they do. Why else do you think Hera keeps going back to Zeus?”

  “He’s the king of the gods, and you know how women like men with power.” The corner of my mouth twisted up as she became quiet. She was annoyed at me. I’d sidetracked her story. And so, she was no longer going to share. When her hand moved to withdraw from my hair, I grabbed her wrist. Slowly, I lifted my head from her chest, glancing up at her innocent sweet face. Her gray eyes glaring down at me only made her look more like the goddess she talked about. Her long brown hair was a wavy mess, sticking to the sheen of sweat that coated her body. Her pink lips were now red from our kisses and the wine she’d been drinking.

  I brought her hand to my lips and kissed it. “Who is Dolos’ soulmate?”

  “Apate. She is the goddess of fraud, treachery, and deception.”

  “Isn’t she just a counterpart? A female version of things?” I asked as I kissed the top of her right breast.

  “Aren’t that what true soulmates are?” she asked, wrapping her arms my neck. “The same but slightly different? A male and female lion are counterparts, both lions, just slightly different. Prefect for each other. Whole in each other…”

  Her lips were on mine and I did not know if I kissed her or if she kissed me first. But we were kissing, or battling each other with our tongues. Her body pressed up against mine, her nipples hard against my chest. That familiar desire that made me drop everything to come here, that burning need within my soul, to lose myself in her, to fall blindly into her was all that was on my mind. I reached for her hands but she would not have it.

  Before I even had a chance to react, she pushed me back and pinned me down in the center of the bed. Her hands were heavy on my chest as she held me down, her breast now above me, her legs on either side of my waist, her pussy directly on my cock. She stared at me, all but daring me to try and oppose her now. And since I wasn’t a stupid man, I did not dare.

  “You annoy me, Boss,” she said.

  “What is my sin?” I asked.

  “Breathing,” she answered. “Existing for me to love you.”

  “Then for that reason…you annoy me too.”

  She grinned, and that smile, the true one she rarely ever brought out, made her glisten, made me stupid and left me no other choice but to act. I grabbed her waist, flipping us both over and pinning her underneath me. Before she could utter another word, I spread her thighs and buried myself so hard inside of her that her back rose off the bed. I shuddered at how good it felt to be in her, how no one else felt as she did. No one else had me grasping for my breath and sanity as she did. I wanted to be slow and gentle…but her body made me greedy. Everything about her was like finally being able to breathe.

  So, I could
n’t stop.

  I couldn’t be slow and gentle.

  I held her waist, bring her body to mine as I rammed my cock in her, pulling out slightly only to thrust my cock back into her. Her pussy dripped for me, her moans a symphony for me. I was a man obsessed. A man possessed.

  “Fuck…Ethan…ahh…” Her voice broke with the waves of pleasure that took over. I lifted her whole body up towards me as I kneeled on the bed. I wrapped my arms around her as she wrapped herself around me. Her lips were on my lips as we kissed and fucked. Fucked and kissed and fucked more until she cried out and my body ached and trembled, coming in her as I held on.

  Maddening.

  She was fucking maddening.

  But not having her with me was worse.

  Slowly I released her to lay back on the pillows, both of us trying to breathe. My mind was a foggy haze. What day was it? What time? Where were we? What else mattered? Why wasn’t it like this every day?

  “You taste the sweetest right after sex, you know that?” she asked before she kissed the side of my jaw and neck.

  I said nothing, lying there like a drunk man getting drunker with each kiss she placed on my skin. She kissed the side of my neck, my shoulders, the top of my chest. I focused on breathing. I was in a weakened mental state when she decided to finally question me.

  “Why did you come to me tonight?” she whispered into my ear. “What happened?”

  So much happened and yet at the same time, nothing at all happened. It was the same chaotic bullshit as before and would most likely be the same tomorrow and every other day until my last day.

  “I shouldn’t have to come to you anymore Calliope.” I finally replied shifting my head to look at her. “You should be beside me now. It’s time to end this.”

  She sighed, slowly peeling herself off of me. She brushed her hair to one side as she lay beside me. In the dim light of the moon, I could see the small scars and cuts that littered all over her body; they were all very faded and very old. Others would probably never notice them, but I was not others.

  “Ending one thing only ever serves to start another,” she replied.

  “Then let’s start another already.”

  “You know it is not that easy.”

  “I know.”

  “We’re going to have to have a very good story to explain.”

  “I know.”

  “We’re going to have to lie a lot...a lot more.”

  “I know.”

  “We might even have to lie to each other, to get everything we want.”

  “I know.”

  “It’s going to be messy.”

  “I know.”

  “And bloody.”

  “That is the only way kingdoms are made.”

  “What if I need your blood for that kingdom?” she asked, and this was not the first time she had asked this, nor would it be the last. My answer would never change.

  “Then take it without hesitation,” I said.

  “And if you need mine?”

  “I will do the same.”

  “Without hesitation?”

  I nodded.

  And she brought her lips to mine, but this time her kiss was gentle and quick. She moved back and looked me in the eye, seriously this time. “What’s your plan, Ethan?”

  I smirked. “I’ll tell you mine if you tell me yours. What are your secrets, Calliope?”

  She didn’t answer—did that mean her secrets were part of her plans?

  “Trust me, Ethan. No matter. Can you do that?”

  No.

  “Okay,” I lied. The Dolos in me didn’t let me trust anyone to such a degree. But of all the people I knew, I cared for, I did trust her the most. Despite all the things I’d already figured out about her and despite the secrets she’d withheld so far. I had almost finished piecing together her secrets even with her silence. So, I wouldn’t press her. Time would tell how we made it through this.

  Maybe that was one of the reasons I loved her as much I did.

  The danger, the darkness in her was thrilling.

  What would happen when she was finally in my bed, our bed, in our home, in Chicago? Not in some random city, for some random “job?” What would it be like when I’d finally managed to get her where I wanted?

  ETHAN

  PRESENT

  Like chaos.

  She’d ripped through the house like the devil out of hell.

  She’d left the family damn near broken.

  And it was only her first night here.

  And after all of that, she had the audacity to sit cheerfully at the bathroom vanity, dabbing cream on her face, dressed in a robe and a white towel over her hair. Gigi slept quietly on our bed with little to no issue, her favorite stuffed dolphin tucked in with her.

  “Can I go sleep also, or are you planning on blowing up the house?” I asked her as I watched from a safe distance, whatever she’d drugged or poisoned me with from earlier still left me with a raging headache.

  She spun in her chair and grinned widely. “Me, blow up a building with your family inside? Never.”

  I merely rolled my eyes, pushing off the bathroom railing as I moved towards the bed. I kicked off my slippers before lying down carefully next to Gigi, trying to sleep. But, of course Calliope chose that of all times to come to me. And because she was who she was…she came and knelt directly by my bedside. Her elbows on the bed and her face right beside mine, I had no choice but to look to her as she grinned up at me.

  “You’re so happy I am finally here. I can see it. You are bouncing on the inside,” she stated, even though I was lying still, glaring at her.

  “Go to sleep Calliope. We have a lot of work to do in the morning.”

  “Admit it.” She leaned in closer.

  “Are you the child, or is Gigi?” I pressed.

  “Fine. Don’t admit it.” She kissed my lips before standing back up. “But don’t regret it. Especially when I am not being this nice to you.”

  I rolled my eyes before rolling over, placing my arm on Gigi and closing my eyes.

  She was right. I was bouncing on the inside, happy she was here. They were both here. But I didn’t like greedily basking in my happiness as she did. Not when I knew this was only the beginning of our story. The worst was yet to come.

  And when I said the worst…I meant her grandfather, whom I was almost positive wants revenge, my parents who are dead-set on ruling from beyond their graves, and the final act of Calliope’s plan, which she hadn’t told me yet.

  But what I knew what it had to be…either she was going to betray me or we were going to end up betraying everyone else.

  “Boss,” she whispered as she lay on the bed opposite our daughter.

  “La mia anima,” I answered with my eyes still shut.

  “We’re finally, truly, really here.”

  That caused me to open eyes. Her gaze was focused on our daughter.

  “Do whatever you need to keep it that way,” I replied and she shifted her gaze to me. I nodded once and she nodded back.

  I never wanted to love anyone as much as my parents loved each other; love was dangerous, it was blinding, it was chains on a person’s soul, heart, and mind. And yet here I was. Unleashing hell upon my family, my city, myself, all for a woman I should have killed five years ago. A woman crafted by her grandfather perfectly for me, a Trojan horse…how foolish had love made me? I could have chosen the easy road. I could have been with Ivy. Instead, I was here. Daring the gods.

  Whose side will you be on at end of this, Calliope?

  If I’m wrong, if it’s not mine…could I even stop you anymore?

  I could. But I don’t want to.

  So, let me hope I am not wrong.

  Let me hope this isn’t a Greek tragedy and I don’t have to kill my soulmate.

  2

  “No one can serve two masters;

  for either, he will hate the one

  and love the other,

  or

  he will be loya
l to the one

  and despise the other.”

  ~ Matthew 6:24

  CALLIOPE

  I could not help but stare at them. Ethan’s dark brown hair was a mess on the pillow. His eyelashes were unrealistically long, and our daughter was tucked under his muscular arm beside him, her hair also a brown frizzy mess. He appeared just as innocent and angelic as she did. My little family. How badly I wished all of this was simpler, that I could just lie down next to them and go to sleep, too. There were times, mostly times like these, I wanted to forget my past and give in to a happily ever after. But I was too smart for that. Happily ever after did not exist. It wasn’t the way of the world. Suffering, betrayal, pain, death, those were guaranteed. That’s why I liked the Greek myths. They felt more real. So, I knew that this wouldn’t end happily, and I was trying my best to prepare myself for it.

  “I’m sorry,” I whispered down to him before carefully dropping the poison into his ear.

  He did not even flinch. Like I said, Gigi got it from him. It took time, but when Ethan felt safe, comfortable, in his own element, he slept like the dead, too.

  Shifting, I took the vial with me and moved back to the bathroom. There, I got my other phone, several messages already waiting. It was the last one that was the most important.

  “Non nobis solum bait sumus.” Not for ourselves alone are we born, to which I replied: “Invita remanisit in vita,” and so she remained, unwillingly, alive…