Well, they weren’t boys.
The Salvatore brothers were men who wore their academy uniforms like armor fitted to their muscular bodies. They were tall, well over six feet, but Bastian had the most muscle. He looked like he could play football… if he wasn’t too busy getting high with Damian between classes.
Luca came out of nowhere, reaching down to fix his boxers and zip his pants.
“Where were you?” Bastian asked him.
“I put Stacey Carlton’s mouth to good use.” He winked, then his eyes landed on me. “Speaking of mouthy women, how is this one behaving?”
“She’s not,” Bastian said, annoyed. “But she’ll learn.”
“Yes, master,” I deadpanned.
Damian grinned, but it was sadistic. “See, she’s catching on already.”
“I have to get to class,” I told them.
Damian’s cocky grin switched to an irritated scowl in an instant. My heart pounded like a jackhammer as he invaded my senses. He smelled like a spicy cologne.
“Bash, walk her to class.” Luca raised his hand to beckon his brother. “Damian, I need your help with…” He lowered his voice to a whisper as they walked away.
Bastian clutched my wrist and pulled me down the hallway toward my next class. “We’re having a party this weekend at our estate. You’re our date for the event.”
Flicking my long curls over my shoulder, I rolled my eyes. “Sorry, I have to paint my nails this weekend.”
“I guess I didn’t make myself clear.” His fingers tightened around my wrist, squeezing so hard my skin burned. “You belong to us. Attendance is not optional. It’s time to play your part. Show us you’re worth keeping, and maybe we’ll make your life easier.”
That was a lie.
For the rest of the school year, they made my life miserable. I counted the days until I could escape Devil’s Creek. Unfortunately, freedom had a price. A price I could not afford.
My cell phone beeped with a text message. I swerved and almost hit a parked car as I read my brother’s words.
All the Devils are here.
Fear trickled down my spine.
Gripping the leather steering wheel, I floored the gas pedal and didn’t bother to text back. I blew through several red lights in a row. No matter how hard I pushed it, the car didn’t seem to go fast enough.
There was too much traffic.
Too many damn people living in this city.
I shared an apartment with my twin brother in Williamsburg, a neighborhood in Brooklyn. The Salvatores owned one of the tallest buildings in Manhattan. They controlled just about everything in the city and my life. It was a horrible feeling to know I would never escape them.
I had made it five years without them interfering with my life. They had kept their distance while I attended art school and began my art career. But now, it was time to pay for my freedom.
I pulled into the garage on Berry Street and parked in my reserved space. Still dressed in my café uniform, a short black skirt and red tank top, I rode the elevator to the top floor. My clothes smelled like coffee and paint, both occupational hazards.
I worked at the coffee shop around the corner for extra cash, so I wouldn’t have to spend any money from the Wellington trust. Asking my grandfather for money came with too many strings attached. So I sucked it up and waited tables, fixed drinks, anything to keep us afloat.
As the elevator doors opened, nerves stirred in my belly, twisting my stomach into knots. I strolled down the hall and walked through the open door of my apartment.
A wall of muscle blocked my path. All four of the Salvatore brothers—Luca, Marcello, Bastian, and Damian—stood in my living room, looking intimidating as fuck, dressed in black Brioni suits.
Luca and Marcello were biological brothers, with the same black hair and pretty blue irises. Except Luca always had a sinister look in his eyes, like he was seconds from snapping someone’s neck. Marcello usually looked as if he were in constant mourning.
The other two weren’t Arlo’s sons by blood, but he treated them as if they were his flesh. Damian was a psychopath. He would have been happy to paint the town red with my blood. As for Bastian, he was still such a mystery to me. I knew he had sick kinks like his brother, but he hid them well.