Ethan is whispering something in Gregory’s ear. Gregory is even quieter than usual.
I glance back at them, and I know Greg’s quiet misleads people into thinking he’s the safe one, but he’s not. He’s the most sadistic, if you ask me. I mean, if there are degrees. Can sadism be measured in degrees?
“We decide together,” Ethan says to me. He’s repeated this mantra for the last forty-eight hours.
“I decide, little brother.” He’s twenty-five, three years my junior. Gregory is twenty-four.
“She’s all of ours,” he says, sounding like a fucking toddler who doesn’t get his way.
“No,” I clarify, and I’m trying to be patient because really, I can’t blame Ethan for being the way he is. “She’s mine.”
“She’s only yours first.”
“Give it a rest, Ethan,” I say.
“Sebastian.” My stepmother’s heels click over the hardwood. “Don’t fight with your brother. You know I don’t like to see that.” She goes to Ethan, touches his cheek. “You’ll all have your turn with the Willow whore. They’re resilient.”
Her loathing of the Willow women is so obvious, a part of me wishes the chosen girl luck because she’ll need it to walk out of the Scafoni home when her three years are up. It’ll take someone with a spine of steel to survive my stepmother, never mind my brothers and me.
“Why do you hate them, Lucinda?” I ask, enjoying my power over her.
Truth be told, she probably hates me as much as the Willows, but it doesn’t matter. I may not be her biological son, but I am master of the Scafoni family. My father is dead, I am the eldest, and I have no intention of letting anyone rule me or usurp my place, especially not Lucinda.
“They’re whores, Sebastian. There to serve a purpose. Remember that instead of turning on your brothers. Family first. Never forget it.”
“You don’t have to remind me of that, Lucinda. I just wish I understood your hatred of them. I mean, what are they to you? You’re not a Scafoni by blood, after all.”
This irritates the fuck out of her, and that fact makes me grin.
The library doors open, saving her from having to answer.