Cathy Yardley - Enslave: The Taming of the Beast

Contents My life is over!Twelve-thirty that night, Jelenas husband, Henry, still wasnt home yet.Several hours later Dominic walked toward the guest suite, nervesNadia. Come with me.You missed a spot.Find something to use against him.Jelena! Get the fuck down here, right now!Jelena wandered through the crowd, forcing herself to loosen herWhy wont he trust me?Jelena sat in the lobby of Alexiss bordello with grimImpressive performance, Alexis said to Jelena.Nadia was surprised she didnt get pulled over on herHell be fine. Isnt he always? Hes the most untrusting,Nadia was sitting in a different lobby of the sameJelena walked into Phillipes house. He was having a party;
My life is over!Nadia Bessonova tried not to roll her eyes as her youngest sister, Irina, wailed. She shot a quick glance at her elder sister, Jelena. Jelena was the picture of patient suffering, listening intently to Irinas tale of woe.Its been over a month, Jelena finally said, her voice soft and modulated. It cant have gotten worse, Irina darling. Well figure something out. She paused, then added hesitantly, You might want to keep it down. Deidre is trying to get some sleep, and with the baby comingIrinas nose wrinkled at the mention of their stepmother. Always Deidre, she muttered. Jelena, why cant I stay at your house? Youve got more than enough room in that mansion. Irina cast an irritated glare at Nadia. Its too crowded here. I cant turn around without tripping over someone, and forget about privacy. Its as bad as being back in the Ukraine.Hardly, Nadia said, her irritation rising. Irina had only been a child when they had truly hit rock bottom in the Ukraine. Nadia hadnt been that old, but she could still remember it clearly: the freezing cold, the packs of wild dogs roaming the streets. Sharing a three-bedroom house in Las Vegas is better than sharing a single room in Kiev. It could be worse.Dont give me your well work through it, well survive it speech, Nadia, Irina said sharply in Russian. Youre not the one whose wealthy husband just dumped her for an eighteen-year-old Chinese girl, fresh off the boat.He married you when you were an eighteen-year-old Russian girl, Nadia pointed out. Really, how surprised could you have been?Irina yowled in protest, and Jelena stepped between them. This is getting us nowhere, she said, her voice sharp and imperious as only extreme confrontation tended to bring out in her. We need to focus. Thanks to Irinas prenuptial agreement, our family wont be getting the monthly stipend from him.Bastard didnt even let me take the jewelry to pawn, Irina muttered.So, Jelena continued practically, we just need to figure out a way to make up the difference.Nadia nodded, sighing. Especially with the baby on the way. The family survival depended on them.Irina looked shrewd. Maybe your husband, Jelena Now it was Jelenas turn to sigh. I will ask, she murmured. But the tension etched small lines at the corners of her eyes, making her look older.You just dont know how to handle him, Irina sniffed. If he were my husband, Id screw him like crazy until hed do anything I wanted, then show him who was really boss in the household.If he was your husband, Nadia muttered, hed be changing the locks after picking up his mail-order bride catalog.Irina glared.Nadia, hows fathers import-export business doing? Jelena asked, quickly changing the subject. He acted like the caviar alone would make us some money.Its not going quite as well as wed hoped, Nadia said, pushing aside the gnawing fear that had been eating at her for months. But thats about to change, apparently. Papa said something about getting a big influx of money, by the end of the week.Really? Irina looked hopeful. Nadia could almost see her developing a wish list in her head. Or, rather, a shopping list.Jelena, on the other hand, narrowed her eyes suspiciously. Did he say from where?No.Jelenas eyes widened. He wouldnt, she breathed. Not again.Of course not. Nadia fidgeted, wandering around the sparsely furnished living room. He promised.The doorbell rang. The girls were on their feet. Jelena asked, glancing at her watch, Its ten oclock at night. Were either of you expecting anyone?Nadias stomach clenched. Nothing good ever came from late-night visitors. Either it was business associates of her fathers, who were angry about something, or police showing up to cart him off to jail. Neither choice was appealing.He swore hed stopped stealing cars, she thought despondently. Why do we keep believing him?The doorbell rang again, insistent.Ill get it. Nadia strode to the front door, looking out the peephole as her heart started to hammer with dread. The outside light was broken: she could barely make out a looming shadow. She swallowed hard.The doorbell rang a third time.She went to the small table in the foyer, where she normally dropped her keys. Opening the drawer, she pulled out a Beretta nine-millimeter, holding it behind her back. Then she opened the door with her other hand, keeping the chain latched.Can I help you?The shadow was immense. His eyes gleamed, but everything else about him was masked in shadow. Im here to see Mikhail Bessonov. His voice was warm, deep and enveloping, like a mink fog.May I tell him who is here?Tell him Im the owner of the rose, he said. Hell understand.If you could just wait here She knew it was rude, but she didnt know the man, and didnt trust his cryptic message. She shut the door, tucked the gun in the waistband of her jeans at the small of her back. Then she hurried to her fathers bedroom, knocking softly.Her father opened the door. At sixty, he still looked goodgood enough to land her stepmother, who was only thirty. He was in pajamas, his reading glasses halfway down the bridge of his nose. What is it?She glanced over. Deidre was asleep, the large bump of her pregnant belly protruding against the covers. Theres a man, she whispered. He said hes the owner of the rose. He wants to talk to you.The rose? Her father frowned with irritation. What rose? What theThen, suddenly, he went ghostly pale.Dear God, he breathed. Hes here? Already?Papa, what is it?Where? Her fathers voice shook. Where is he?I left him on the doorstep, she replied. IWeve got to get out of here, he said. Are your sisters downstairs?Yes, she replied, fear now flooding her bloodstream with adrenaline. ButThe doorbell rang again.Her father rushed to his pregnant wife. Deidre, wake up, he said, shaking her. Weve got to get out of hereThere was the sound of a door crashing open. Deidre woke, startled. There was a scream. Nadia sprinted for the front door. When she got there, she stopped. The man was standing there, beside the broken latch, in front of her sisters. Jelena and Irina cowered in the corner, holding each other, staring at the intruder. Nadia got a good look at him, and froze.He was enormous. Easily six foot five, the man seemed to take up the entire foyer with his broad, muscular frame. Even in his tailored suit, there was something almost feral about him: an aura of leashed violence, just waiting to be released.Then there was his face.Angry red scars crisscrossed from his forehead, across his right eye, down the right side of his face, punctuated by a deep gash down his cheek. His eyes were a light, piercing color that seemed to hover between gray, then sea foam green, then a pale, clear blue. He stared back at her.Hasnt anyone told you staring isnt polite?His voice sent a shiver down her spine. He sounded urbane, sophisticated, bored. But there was anger beneath his words, a muted fury that singed her. She took an instinctive step back.Her father hurried out in his pajamas. I didnt know, her father said quickly, practically gibbering. Shed never seen him scared, not even when the Russian police had taken him to prison. I swear to God, Roddy never told me who the car belonged to. Not until it was too late.Perhaps you should have done a little more research on your own. Besides, Ive already had words with Roddy. The sentence, casually spoken, silenced her father immediately. Nadia sensed that the man had had more than words with her fathers friend and fellow car thief, Roddy Templeton. She wondered, abruptly, if Roddy was still alive.You got the car back, then? her father said, his voice hoarse but hopeful.Unfortunately, no. Now the anger bubbled to the surface. I hope you got a good deal of money, Mikhail, because that car was worth more to me than anything else I own. He paused. It was certainly worth more to me than the life of a sniveling, stupid thief who chose the wrong man to fuck with.The tension in the room nearly suffocated Nadia. This man was danger embodied. He wasnt here to chastise, or call the authorities. He was here to do some damage.She couldnt allow this to happen.She felt the cold steel of the gun barrel, nestled against her spine. Slowly, she reached behind her.Unless youre positive you can kill me before I can reach you, the man said, his eyes glowing, think very carefully before you draw that gun.Nadia paused, her hand in midair. She was a decent shot, and a nine-millimeter round was nothing to sneer at. But he was possibly too large for it to actually stop him. There was also the possibility she might miss.She waited a long second. Then, slowly, she put her hand back down at her side.He continued staring at her, as if sizing her up. His eyes gleamed, and his scars twisted. He seemed to be smirking.What are you going to do? Nadia asked. Kill him? Kill all of us? Over a car?He seemed surprised. Her father, on the other hand, was appalled. Nadia! he barked. The man took a step closer to her, his presence overwhelming her senses. He stared down at her. Dont I frighten you?Does it matter? she countered, not flinching, not even taking a step back, even though her neck craned painfully to look up into his eyes. What do you want?Nadia, her father hissed, stepping in front of her sisters, his eyes wild. This is Dominic Luder. If you knew who he waswhat hes capable ofNo, no, the man interrupted, without breaking eye contact with her. In the first place, it wasnt simply a car. It was a 1958 Ferrari Testa Rossa, in its original red.