Page 1 of Ruthless Prince

Chapter

One

VINCENT

Iremember growing up somewhere warm … until I moved to New York and was forced to become accustomed to the cold. And my life was forever changed.

Twenty-Three Years Ago

“Are you all tucked in for the night?” my mama asks, pulling the covers up to my chin.

“I want another bedtime story,” I whine, my three-year-old legs kicking the blanket.

“I already read you one, Vincent. Time to go to sleep now.” She kisses my head—my pretty mama with her hair like gold. “I’ll see you in the morning.”

I snuggle into my sheets and quickly fall asleep.

And then a loud sound wakes me up.

Sitting up with a gasp, I clutch my teddy bear to my body and listen. What’s happening? All I can hear is screaming and shouting and loud bangs. I’m scared.

I crawl from my bed and shuffle into the living room. “Mama?”

And the sight before me terrifies me. A man I don’t know stands in my living room, holding a knife to my mama’s throat. My daddy is shouting at the man to let Mama go.

“Mama?” I scream, running toward her.

“Vincent, no!” she shouts back.

The man shoves Mama away and grabs me instead. “Your boy is even better leverage, Nico,” the scary man says. “He’s mine now.”

“Give me my son,” Daddy growls.

“I think not.” The man slowly backs out of the house with me in his arms. Mama tries following, but Daddy stops her. Why does he stop her? What’s happening?

“Let go,” I scream, struggling in the scary man’s arms.

The man laughs. “You’re not going anywhere, boy.” He shoves me into the back of a van then jumps in himself. The van speeds away before my parents can get me.

“Mama!”

“Your mama can’t save you now.”

I fall to my knees and cry, clutching the pendant around my neck. It was a present from Daddy so I would always know who I belonged to. I hold onto it for dear life.

“I’m Igor,” the scary man says. The van stops, and outside, I see an airplane.

“Where are we going?” I ask.

“To New York. You’re my son now, Vincent.”

“No! Mama and Daddy are my parents.”

“Not anymore. See, your daddy pissed me off by trying to snub me out of money, so I’m getting payback. And I’ve always wanted a son of my own.” Igor grabs my arm and forces me out of the van, pushing me to the airplane. I’ve always wanted to go on airplane, but Mama told me not until I’m older.

I try fighting Igor, but he eventually just picks me up, carries me onto the airplane, and sets me in a seat, buckling me up. “Let me go,” I whine.

A woman walks past us in a uniform. “Can I get you guys anything?”

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