Page 132 of Ruining Vanessa

“Uh… maybe? I loved the look on my old man’s face when you dragged me back to the townhouse, though.” Giulio leans closer to me and brings his fork to my mouth. “Vanessa, I don’t know why you aren’t eating. There’s a little white blob inside you. I think it wants food, too.”

I glance helplessly at Damien. Play along, he’d told me. Does that mean acting like nothing happened earlier? “I’m… a little sick to my stomach. The baby does that to me sometimes,” I say. “Not just in the mornings.”

Slayer eyes me, not looking convinced. “Maybe she just wants you to feed her,” he suggests.

“Food play. I like it.” Giulio rubs the skewered piece of chicken along my lips. “Is that what you want, Mama? To be hand fed like a pampered queen or a beloved pet?”

My stomach churns uncomfortably. I don’t know if I can keep food down. But I obediently open my mouth, taking the bite and chewing it. It’s tasteless on my tongue, but I swallow it anyway. “I can feed myself,” I mumble.

“Sure. As long as you do feed yourself,” Giulio answers with a lazy, terrifying grin. “We want the blob to get all the nutrients it needs, after all.”

I shudder, then force myself to take a bite of my own food. It’s all I can do to chew and swallow; I feel like I’m going to choke on the long noodles while I’m trying to force them down. I go for the dish Damien had picked, and the spice that explodes across my tongue awakens the hunger beneath the nausea.

I’ve eaten most of Damien’s dish before I realize what I’m doing. I can’t believe I’m suddenly hungry. I can’t believe I’m eating, when I’d just witnessed brutal torture.

At least it gets Giulio’s attention off me, though, because he’s back to sharing some anecdote from his college days. Slayer laughs about it, and Damien adds his own two cents and it’s all so, so normal while they’re anything but.

I slip into a daze, trying not to think about earlier. I find myself thinking of my sister instead. I wonder what she’s doing right now. Is she attending Victor Corvi and his men? Has she escaped them for a second time?

What kind of aunt would she be? She doesn’t like children, but surely, she’d like her own niece or nephew.

“Vanessa?”

I jerk at the sound of Slayer’s voice, blinking at him. He’s holding out a hand to me. “C’mon. Let’s go celebrate properly.”

I take it, even though I have a feeling I know what he means by celebrating properly, and I don’t like it. I don’t want it.

But Giulio and Damien are both watching me expectantly, all of their attention focused on me, and I swallow hard.

I don’t know if I can do this.

I don’t know if I have a choice.

Scratch that. I know I don’t have a choice.

“S-sure,” I say, fear lacing my voice. I let Slayer guide me to Giulio’s bedroom, the other two only a few steps behind.

The big open windows look out onto the city, which sparkles in the darkness like the stars it’s drowning out. I wonder if anybody has ever fallen out of one of the windows in this building.

Or if maybe Giulio helped them fall.

I flinch when Slayer puts both hands on my shoulders. “Let’s get you out of those clothes. We probably need to burn all of today’s wardrobe.”

He’s right. Not only is it “safer” for everyone, but I also never, ever want to see a reminder of today again.

Damien murmurs something to Giulio, and when I glance over, Damien kisses Giulio. Giulio leans into it, gripping Damien’s shirt and somehow leading the kiss despite being the shorter of the two.

Why can’t Giulio just focus on Damien forever?

Giulio breaks the kiss and, still holding on to Damien’s shirt, grins at me. “That get you revved up, Mama?”

Slayer pulls the shirt over my head and tosses it to the side, sliding his hand down to cup one of my breasts. “Her nipples are getting hard,” he says, kissing my neck. “She’d probably get off just watching the two of you fuck.” He grimaces, though. “But I’ll pass on seeing that again.”

“He’s just jealous it wasn’t him,” Giulio says to me, winking. He lets go of Damien to start pulling his own clothes off. “Hey, Damien, did I tell you about that time Slayer and I—”

“No, we’re not telling that story,” Slayer interrupts immediately.

“You don’t even know what story I’m talking about!” Giulio protests.

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