Children of Ambition (Children of Vice 2)

Her rise to power as Crown Princess of Monaco has just begun.

The spin-off

of

the spin-off…

SNEAK PEEK AT CHILDREN OF REDEMPTION

PROLOGUE

“I am as my creator made me...”

~Minnie Smith

WYATT

I knew exactly when it happened…

When the monster inside of me woke up.

I was different from my siblings. I’d always known that. I didn’t know how, but I knew I was different from them. Whether they would admit it or not Ethan and Dona, were the real twins in our family. Yes, Dona and I were close, in fact there were times I had a feeling she’d need me or she’d have a feeling I’d need her; twin telepathy, as it’s called. But at the end of the day, no matter how close I was to her, in my mind, Dona was my sister, but she was Ethan’s twin…not mine. The reason why I’d never tell her that was the reason why I knew I was different.

Ethan and Dona were children of Machiavelli, masters of manipulation, champions of cunning thoughts and actions. While I knew how to manipulate and on occasion was cunning…I hated it. They loved deceiving people, loved watching as people fell into their traps. Like the Greek gods, they found amusement in watching people come to tragic ends. They were the eye of the storm…while I was merely a chaos monster. Like my father did for my brother, he gave me The Prince to read as boy. Out of respect for him I read it…once I finish however I chucked it out the window, along with The Art of War, the 4

8 Laws of Power, Crime and Punishment. The pile of books that been tossed to the sky from my window before plummeting back to earth never to enter my room again was enough to fill a small library.

Why?

Too many fucking words.

And I don’t mean that in the Neanderthal ‘I do not like reading’sense…but in the ‘why the hell are there so many goddamn books on power?’ sense. Why? Power has always been simple to me…people want to do whatever the fuck they want to do, but can’t because they fear retaliation. So they seek a position that allows them to do just that…a position that allows them to fuck others and never get fucked over in returned. It was for that reason Ethan and Dona plotted and schemed…I on the other hand did not like it. I don’t see the world like that.

Yes, I like everyone else, whether they admit it or not, like power.

And yes, I, wanted to do whatever the fuck I wanted, and I always did; because unlike other people I did not fear retaliation, I welcomed it.

When I was younger, my parents, my siblings, even I thought there was this softness in me…that the reason I didn’t connect to power or manipulation like Ethan and Dona did, was because I was kind, or merciful…in my family that was akin to being born with a tail. So I worked hard, I pushed myself, all to prove I was just as ruthless as my brother and sister…until one day I realized I wasn’t kind, I wasn’t merciful.

I was fucking bored with it.

Why fight people who can’t fight back?

Why manipulate people who could never do the same to me?

Those thoughts came to me when I was sixteen because that was the first time I’d ever fought a real opponent…a chaos monster just like me.

My father.

WYATT - 16 YEARS OLD

His fist collided with my nose so hard, the blood came down like a broken faucet, and when I stumbled as I reached up to stop the flow, his foot collided with my chest. Down on the ground, he kicked me all the while screaming down at me.

“How much longer are you going to be such a little bitch?!”

I’d never heard such rage in his voice, and in that moment, his words hit me stronger than his boot in my rib. I felt it and it sent chills down my back…it was fear. I heard someone call out to him and he stopped, but not before bending down, grabbing me by the hair, and lifting my head up so he could see my bloody face.

“Your weakness will get your siblings killed one day. If your mother was alive, she’d be ashamed of you.” He stared down at me, his green eyes glaring in frustration and anger.