Children of Ambition (Children of Vice 2)

“When you push her like this—”

“I was her!” Mommy yelled, pushing Daddy away when he came close to her. “I hated my father for pushing me, too. I was miserable as a kid. I don’t even remember ever being a kid—”

“Exactly! Why would you—”

“Because if not for my father, I would be dead!” she screamed. “Dona was born a Callahan and a Giovanni. That’s two strikes against her. She was born a female; three strikes! She doesn’t get any more, Liam. That’s it. Being born our child and a female, she gets the short end of the stick. I know this. The only gift I can give her is fearlessness. So, no matter what, she knows she has the ability to protect herself.”

Daddy put his hands on his face and took a deep breath, “I understand, baby, I do. But you can’t make her super-girl in one day.”

“I can’t teach her anything without someone complaining!”

“What does locking her in an art gallery teach her?”

“Ugh!” Mommy moved like she wanted to strangle him but just took a deep breath, too. “I wanted to teach her to think beyond what she sees in front of her! I asked her how many people were in the painting and she said seven. I wanted her to realize there were eight! The person who made it. The person who saw the big picture. The creator of it! I wanted her to understand the most important person is the one who creates situations! I want her to know she can create the world she wants for herself and not just accept whatever it is she’s been given! And before you go on about, why I didn’t explain that to her, I would have but she began to whine, yell, pout, and stomp her feet like a spoiled brat. Then you came along and rewarded her with bloody ice-cream! If Ethan or Wyatt had acted like that, would you have done the same?!”

“I—”

“No, you fucking wouldn’t!”

“Can you just let me speak, goddamn it?!”

“No, because you say stupid shit that annoys me when you open your bloody Irish mouth! If all she becomes is pretty and useless, it’s on you, Liam!” She grabbed the door handle and her eyes snapped to mine. I wanted to run away but I couldn’t move. I was stuck there. “There she is; go buy her a pony, Super Dad.”

SLAM.

“Donatella, come here.”

I didn’t want to, but I opened the door and stepped into their room. He sat on the bench in front of his bed so I had to walk around to get to him. It was weird because he didn’t look at me once, he just kept looking at the carpet.

“Daddy?”

“Sit,” he told me and I moved to sit next to him. He blocked me and pointed to the spot on the ground in front of him. Sitting at his feet on the floor, I crossed my legs and looked up at him. He stared and stared, and so I stared back, opening my eyes wide to make sure I didn’t lose.

“Hey!” I yelled when he faked throwing something at me and made me blink. “That’s cheating!”

“That’s life,” he laughed. “Besides, that’s what you get for just staring at me all bug-eyed.”

“You weren’t saying anything.”

“I was thinking. Now, hush.” He pointed and I crossed my arms but kept my mouth closed. “Your mom said you were acting spoiled.”

I opened my mouth to say something but he gave me The Look so I didn’t.

“Donatella, do you know why I love your mother?”

I looked to make sure I could speak before saying, “You always change the answer!”

“No.” He smiled. I loved when Daddy smiled like that, his eyes looked like they were laughing, too. “I just find new reasons each time.”

I took a deep breath, “What’s the reason this time?”

“Because she is so selfishly in love with herself, she never once doubts her choices.”

“Huh?” I tilted my head to the side to look at him, and he laughed at me.

“You won’t understand this until you are older,” he said, and I could tell he was serious when he sat up, leaning in front of me, “but all the things your mother puts you through are so you’ll have strong heart.”

“A strong heart?”