Children of Vice (Children of Vice 1)

“I know you too, Tobias.” I reached up, brushing the loose strands of his brown hair. “I know you’re exactly the man I need, but won’t accept because you lack the status to stand next to me. I know you’re aware that the only reason you can grab my arm is because I’m letting you. And most importantly, we both know the only reason you count on my love for my brothers, which as you say, eclipses my aspirations, is because deep down you’re painfully aware that if I asked you to choose…if I asked you to betray the man you considered to be your brother, you’d do it. You’d hate me for making you do it and you’d hate yourself because you’d love me even afterward.”

He flinched, his whole body like stone, as he scowled at me for simply speaking the truth.

“Donatella C. Valentino. It has a beautiful ring to it, doesn’t it? Italian for brave and strong, which also suits me perfectly, but then again you knew that, didn’t you? It is your name, Tobias.” I verbalized his own desire, his own ambition, owning a woman who was out of his league.

Fuming, his nose flaring, he squeezed harder. “Do you truly believe that I’ll be in love with you forever? That I’ll do this with you forever?”

“Yes,” I said without a shadow of doubt. “Atoms shall be infinite. The sun will rise in the east and set in the west. Time will go on in perpetuum. And Tobias Nikolai Valentino will always love me. Whether he’ll be with me or not is completely up to him.”

“You know that isn’t true!” He sneered, baring his teeth at me.

“Just like you know that is your problem not mine, and I will wait for you to sort it out. Now release my arm before I get upset.”

The look in his eyes was so heated, so furious. If they could, they’d burn a hole in my face.

“Last warning.”

When he released me I walked out the doors simply saying, “Exactly why my name is still Donatella Aviela Callahan.”

NINE

“I am not a saint, unless you think of a saint as a sinner who keeps on trying.”

~ Nelson Mandela

IVY

Coming out of the bathroom, I expected to see the maid who’d come to help me, but she was gone. Instead, Ethan stood in front of my bed, dressed only in silk black pajama bottoms, allowing me to see his bare chest, the perfect definition of…well, fucking gorgeous. Every single inch of him was toned and smooth as if he were carved out of marble just for me to gawk at.

Walking to him, I sighed. “I thought we had said everything that needed to be said—”

“Ivy.” He placed his finger on my lip. “Stop fighting.”

That single touch paralyzed me…I couldn’t move. I didn’t want to move. My mouth parted and my body leaned in as one of his strong hands cupped my ass, the other my breast.

“Say it,” he whispered before biting the top of my ear.

I knew what he wanted me to say, but I couldn’t bring myself to do it. Instead, I reached out, touching his chest, which felt so cold under my fingertips and yet made me feel so hot at the same time. He kissed down my neck, his tongue hot as he licked my skin, his hand squeezing me…we just met. We shouldn’t…but goddamn it I wanted it so badly. I needed it badly.

“Please…” I swarmed in his arms, the aching between my thighs the only thing driving my mind at the point.

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“Say it,” he demanded again, lifting his head up, his lips just hovering over mine. “The moment you say it…you can have everything.”

“I…” Before I could get the words out he was gone.

“Ma’am?”

“Ma’am?”

Eyes now open, I stared up at the face of an older woman, maybe in her late thirties or early forties, with brown eyes staring back down at me.

“Good morning, ma’am.” She smiled kindly, moving back as I sat up, running my hands through my hair.

It took me less than a second to remember where I was. It wasn’t hard as the room I sat in most definitely wasn’t a jail cell.

“There is mass this morning, and normally the family skips breakfast, but I was told to give you something light, to last until afterward,” she said, placing the tray on top of the bed over my legs.