The Golden Locket (Unbreakable Trilogy, Book 2) Read Online Free PDF Page B

thing my brother ever did was bundle me off to boarding school before I realised that he was in it up to his neck. But he failed in the end, because I saw it all when I came home that night. Gustav Levi trussed up in leather chaps and muzzle, bringing a horsewhip down on Margot’s sweet little arse.’
    ‘I don’t want to hear any more,’ Polly shouted. ‘Rena, make it stop!’
    I started moving towards the two men.
    ‘You can’t shock me, Pierre. When Gustav confided in me about the horror show his marriage, his
life,
had become, we were in the chalet in Lugano. I had already found Margot’s punishment parlour or whatever she would call it, her room of pain, but it was mostly empty because all the equipment had been shipped to London. He told me he was obsessed with her from the moment they met, but once they were married that changed, because the rougher and more demeaning her demands became, the sicker he found her.’
    ‘The effect on him was pretty sick, believe me,’ Pierre growled, his teeth biting down into his dry lips. ‘That wasn’t my brother. It was a weak, addicted loser.’
    I could feel Gustav’s eyes boring into me, but I refused to look at him. He’d pitched me into the middle of a battlefield with no armour. He’d kept the details of that horrible night from me and I only had a few seconds to prove that I could handle it. If I couldn’t, we were finished.
    ‘I reckon that was Margot’s handiwork. That’s how he saw himself, too. But he’s the old Gustav Levi again now. Your rock.
My
rock.’ I took one more breath because any minute now the tears were going to take over. ‘I look like the kind of woman who would be attracted to a weak, addicted loser?’
    ‘Who knows? You could be as bad as he is.’ Pierre’s eyes, those dark lasers so like his brother’s, were steadier now.
    I decided to plough on until someone stopped me. ‘Don’t sneer as if I know nothing, Pierre. I’ve seen the dominatrix films in the old house in Baker Street.’
    Pierre raised his hand in protest. ‘That “old house in Baker Street” was my home! The place Gustav said I could always feel safe. I wasn’t a baby, I didn’t need to be wrapped in cotton wool, but I didn’t deserve to feel threatened either. Everyone needs some kind of haven when they’re a kid, don’t they? Except he turned my haven into a knocking shop.’
    A rush of familiar, icy helplessness swamped me. ‘I know exactly what you’re talking about, Pierre. I never had a haven when I was growing up. The only time I felt safe was when Polly was with me.’ I paused. I had no idea if this was championing Gustav’s cause or making everything ten times worse, but I couldn’t stop myself now. ‘So I understand why you thought your world had ended. But Gustav has just told you he was fighting for you. Fighting to put a stop to all the madness.’
    Pierre was the first to speak, and it was as if he hadn’t heard a word I was saying. ‘Well, he fought so hard that Margot had to run to me for help.’
    ‘Help?’ I shook off a restraining gesture from Gustav. ‘I bet it was
her
favourite horsewhip he was forced to use! The long black one? He was turning the tables on her. She’d been humiliating him beyond endurance and the last straw was–’
    ‘When she threatened to involve you in her sordid games!’ Gustav’s voice as he interrupted was strangled with fury. ‘She goaded and goaded until I lost it. I couldn’t let her steal you from me. I had to show her, once and for all, who was boss.’
    Pierre snorted. ‘By whipping your wife to kingdom come?’
    ‘Margot loved all that! The harder the better. She didn’t need anyone’s help. You’re the lucky one, because you had a brother who tried to protect you from her!’ I darted towards Pierre, my fingers out ready to scratch him.
    ‘Protect me? Oh, he’s good at that!’
    ‘Serena. My warrior queen. This is my battle, not yours.’ Gustav moved towards me. Letting me take