XXX - 145 Enslave: The Taming of the Beast Read Online Free PDF Page A

father’s little sideline business ventures? The kind that landed him in the Gulag back in the old country?”
She didn’t answer. She didn’t have to.
“No. Absolutely not.” She could see the tension coil through his body. “I told you when we got married, Jelena. I’ll give them money every month, but I don’t want to have anything to do with your Dad’s criminal activities. I can’t afford to have that kind of shit attached to me. You know that.”
She cringed. “But…but Nadia…”
“I don’t care if they’re calling it import-export, I’ll bet that she helps him steal those fucking cars,” he muttered. “You’d have been better off leaving the bunch of ’em back in Moscow.”
“They’re family,” she lashed out, with more venom than she’d ever displayed. “My father made sure we survived. Without family loyalty, we have nothing .”
Henry started to say something, then obviously thought the better of it, looking at her face.
“Look, Jelena, I know how much your family means to you, but I’m not going to dig them out of a hole I’m sure they got themselves into,” he said, and he was so patronizing about it—she wanted to slap his face. “Maybe, I’ll increase their stipend, okay? Another hundred bucks, yeah. Okay, two. But I can’t do more than that, and I don’t want you to ask me to. Not ever again.” His voice was firm.
“It’s more serious than that,” she said. “Nadia’s with this man, this horrible man…”
“What, did he drag her off?” Henry said, looking skeptical.
She bit her lip. “Sort of…”
Henry’s cruel laugh cut her off. “Jesus. Another deal. Hey, it worked fine for you, right? You’re lucky you got me. Don’t worry. He’ll probably trade her in after a few years. She’s a tough kid.”
“You know people. You’ve got connections,” she pleaded, desperation clawing at her. “You could help her!”
He frowned, as if he couldn’t believe she’d continued talking, against his express wishes. “I said no , Jelena. That’s final.”
With that, he retreated into the bedroom.
I’ve done everything you’ve ever asked me. I’m the perfect wife. I would be the perfect mother if you’d let me have children .
Anger, dark and viscous, bubbled through her.
I earned my family’s money .
She followed him silently into the bedroom. He was down to just boxers and socks. He still had a nice physique, considering being somewhere in his fifties and having a high-stress desk job. He still had his hair. He put his glasses down on the nightstand, finishing the last of his Scotch with a flourish. She floated beside him, barely dipping the mattress as she got on her side of the bed.
He shut the light out, plunging her into darkness.
She’d learned to love him, strangely enough. At least, she’d thought she loved him. But she’d married him because he promised her he’d get her family out of Russia, away from the theft, and the dogs, and the crushing poverty. She’d done what her family required, and she continued to go through with it.
For my family …
She felt Henry’s hand on her shoulder, stroking it perfunctorily before reaching down to cup her breast.
“Come on,” he murmured, and the scent of alcohol permeated him. “You wore my favorite lingerie. No sense wasting it, right?”
Instead, she turned away from him.
He growled. “Like that, huh? You don’t get what you want, you think you can cut me off?”
She never had before. She felt her stomach knot.
“Well, then, fuck you Miss High-and-Mighty!” His voice was disembodied in the darkness, like an angry ghost. “If this is the way you’re going to be, maybe I need to rethink our little contract , huh?”
And with that parting shot, she felt the bed creak as he turned his back on her.
She swallowed hard, feeling tears edge out from the corners of her eyes. She knew that he didn’t love her, not the way she’d read about in romance novels. But she thought he’d at least be someone she could