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"Anytiave him one last wave as he pulled out of the circular drive that rounded a string ofpark that tumbled down in front of the modern architecture The park used to be the home of every homeless person in the city, but when the city remodeled this part of the don area, they kicked the bums out and made this section classy and upscale The bums scattered further east to the heart of don and the no bigger than two bedrooible bachelors My mom loved this area because she felt hip and i a filthy, dirty, secret past

Just likebreath, I walked into theand took the elevator to the top floor, preparing myself for the worst The shiny elevator doors opened and I crossed the quiet, e two bedroom apartment that overlooked the park and don Omaha

I let nated for keys and other junk on the kitchen counter Mom had decorated the apartment completely modern chic, which , but expensive and looked nice

I hated it

Not that I would have ever expected my mother to pick out an overstuffed couch and comfortable throw She wasn’t one of those women that could curl up in front of the fire with a nice book She never stood still for ner heels that were permanently attached to her slender feet would have poked holes in any such couch by noay

Plus it’s hard to relax when you have a giant stick up your ass

But I did wish thatwas ivory and robin’s egg blue or so was breakable and easily stained The appliances were expensive; the electronics were state of the art, the ere floor to ceiling and the thread counts high hundreds And everything, every single thing was bought and paid for with soof lovers stupid enough to fall for her chars

Once the door was closed with a final click behindbreath; I was slowly suffocating in this posh prison, slowly fading away into the slavery I had been born into I set my backpack down on a narrow, Tiffany’s suede bench by the front door, and tossed htened eted with the he fully into the apartne permeated every inch of air around me He was man where there was usually only female, he was musk and rich earth where there was usually just floral and fruit Suddenly netized to the front door He was everywhere and I couldn’t make myself walk forward and et the hell out of here, to run But I was conditioned to repress those feelings, raised to ignore instinct and reason Hot tears pricked at the corners of my eyes, my nose twitched with the effort not to cry hysterically I was a wimp

"Ivy," Nix purred as he rounded the kitchen cabinets and ca s to move I was a coward and a hypocrite and a terrible, awful person But I couldn’t do anything but move toward him and step into his open arms I kissed his cheek, once and then twice on the other side He heldainst reeted in what I hoped sounded like a chipper, welco voice I mean, I heard the unmistakable tremble and crack in every word… but I just had to hope he didn’t

"Hoas school?" he asked He took a step back and I relished in the space between us I sucked in a sharp breath, but he was still everywhere, his scent, his cologne, his essence still clung to every bit of air aroundthe life out of aze and tilted my chin for an added illusion of confidence

"Despite what your et you into a different school if you wanted me to I know you’re unhappy where you’re at Just say the word, and you can join Exie and Sloane wherever they’re at Enough et you what you want" He finally released my arms to walk into the open kitchen and poured himself a drink from my mother’s intense alcohol collection

"Not necessary," I said quickly, too quickly He glanced back at me over his shoulder and his dark eyes studied ainstShe wants me at Central, so at Central I will stay"

Nix turned around and leaned back against the granite countertop, ar in his hand He was classically handsome with a tall, lean, muscular frame and broad shoulders His dark hair was perfectly tussled and cut exactly business- lashes and were as intense as they were sultry He was the perfect speci, sexy as hell and absolutely terrifying Women were drawn to him without reserve or caution, men feared hi reflex He was vividly evil, the worst kind of hu

And he controlledaboutpast, present and future

"I like that, Ivy," he paused to take ure from head to toe I stilled the shudder that threatened to rip throughit into the deepest, darkest part of my soul, the part he couldn’t touch "I like your obedience" His voice was low and seductive and I didn’t even want to think about what he could be referring to I couldn’t think about it The fear of as left unsaid haunted ht that spun around tumultuously in my head

"Where’s my mom?" I asked in a breathy, child-like voice I wanted to stand up to him so desperately; I wanted to shout at him to stay away from me, not to touchand demanded respect and I had been conditioned to react to his every breath since the moment I was born

"She went to see Honor," Nix explained turning his gaze to the floor to ceiling s across the room that led out to our substantial balcony A look of pure, unadulterated hate flittered across his face, and his eyes turned to pools of h the room as he let his emotions fill up the apartative energy, I found some solace in my situation I was a prisoner, trapped and held without permission But my sister, my little sister had an actual chance at life Nix hated that, hated her But without much of a choice, him and my mother tolerated Honor’s dictator of a father, with the hope that one day Honor would come into full custody of my mother

My mother, the renowned and somewhat notorious Ava Pierce, had followed her routine with Honor’s father to the last ounce of successful practice she did with every one of her conquests She found rich men on their death beds, exploited their loneliness and her exceptional good looks and then wiggled into the last will and testa breath It was her way of securing our wealth andchildren took an entirely more complicated approach however, and there was a ton of work that went into the process She couldn’t just pick anybody The speramut of criteria and qualifications in order to be considered a viable candidate and then they had to be near enough to death so that they weren’t an issue for h to father a child It was a disgusting mess of deceit and sin And somehow my s didn’t go exactly as planned He made a last minute miraculous recovery and when he came back to himself it was like my mother’s spell was coed to keep custody of Honor His gobs ofthe case saw to that Now my mother was only allowed supervised visits with his permission