Page 65 of The Unseen
Dmitri leaned back in his chair and stared at Valentina across the desk. Something was different about him, but she couldn’t quite figure out what it was—and then it hit her. Dmitri usually smiled when he saw her, but tonight his gaze was grim, almost predatory. She’d never seen him look this way before. “Mr. Mayhew is not interested in marriage either. He’d like you to come to his hotel room.”
“Pardon me?”
“Mr. Mayhew is married, Valentina, but his wife has had some lingering health issues since the birth of their twins ten years ago. She hasn’t been a proper wife to him.”
“What’s that to do with me?” Valentina demanded. An angry heat bloomed in her cheeks. Was Dmitri really suggesting that she go to Mr. Mayhew’s bed? He couldn’t be. She must have misunderstood. Cousin Dmitri would never condone such a thing, least of all suggest it. This was some ruse, surely.
“Mr. Mayhew liked you and would like to further your acquaintance. He’s ready for the next step.”
“The next step?” Valentina echoed, outraged by the euphemism. “What are you saying?”
“I’m saying that on Friday I will deliver you to Mr. Mayhew’s hotel where you will service his needs. Afterward, I will take you home and we will speak no more about it.”
“Are you mad?” Valentina cried, now truly frightened. If this was a joke, it had gone too far.
“No, Valentina, I’m not mad. But it is time you began to repay some of your debt to me.”
“What debt?” she sputtered.
“Do you have any idea how much I’ve spent on you all since March? Thousands. Dresses, shoes, hats, gloves, parasols, tutors, outings, and now Kolya’s school, the expenses for which I will have to shoulder for the next ten years. The war is over, so the milk from that particular cash cow has already begun to dry up. There’s money to be made off sex, and there are plenty of men who don’t fancy going to a whore. They want a clean, well-bred young lady who will make them feel like they are courting rather than indulging in some tawdry tryst. That’s where you come in. I have several associates who are interested in just that kind of an arrangement. A weekly meeting, pleasant and discreet. And they are willing to pay handsomely for it.”
“And what makes you think I would agree to such a thing?” Valentina demanded through clenched teeth. Her anger bubbled up like lava, threatening to explode and singe everything in its path.
“You certainly don’t have to agree to anything. I won’t force you. But if you refuse, tomorrow, I will put your mother and sister out of my house. I will stop paying the school fees, and you will go right back to where you started, living in squalor and scrubbing floors to earn your keep. And you will have to explain to your family why I had to ask you to leave. They won’t believe you, of course, and think that you’ve done something unspeakable to offend me. They’ll blame you. Your mother will end her days in poverty, your sister will never have a chance at a good marriage, and your brother will be nothing more than a soldier or a common laborer without the benefit of a good education. The choice is yours, Valya.”
“You’re a monster,” Valentina hissed.
“I’m a businessman. I need to see some return on my investment.”
“And what other return might you expect?”
“It’s your brother I want. I never had children of my own, and I would like Kolya to take over my business once I’m gone. He’ll be my heir. Isn’t that magnanimous of me? Just think, your brother, who will now never take his rightful place among Russian nobility, will be a wealthy, well-respected gentleman.”
“At the expense of his sister’s virtue.”
“You just said you have no interest in marriage. So why save yourself? For whom? You might as well use what you’ve got. You might enjoy it, you know. I think you have the makings of a sensual woman, Valya. Once you’ve overcome your silly bourgeois objections, you will come to like the pleasures of the boudoir. Besides, it’s not as if I were asking you to open your legs for some filthy, crass johns. The men I have in mind are attractive, clean, and well-bred. They don’t get what they need from their wives and would like to recapture something of their youth when passion with a beautiful woman was something they could still look forward to.”
“You’re despicable.”
“Perhaps. I will give you twenty-four hours to think it over. You can either agree to my terms or go out first thing tomorrow and start looking for lodgings you can afford. Oh, wait, you can’t afford anything because you don’t have a tuppence to your name. Good night, dear. Sweet dreams.”
Valentina stumbled from Dmitri’s study and rushed to her room, nearly colliding with a wall in her haste. Her heart was beating wildly and her extremities were ice-cold from shock. She locked her door and threw herself on the bed. She didn’t cry. She simply hugged her pillow and drew up her knees, making herself as small as possible. How could this have happened? How could she have underestimated Dmitri so thoroughly? He’d waited until they’d settled into his home and become accustomed to a life of comfort, and then sprung his trap. How could she tell her mother, who was finally beginning to regain something of her former vitality, and her overly romantic sister that they’d have to scrounge for a living?
They still had Valentina’s pearl choker, but Dmitri had offered to store the necklace in his safe, and she had handed it over without a second thought, trusting him implicitly. Even if he agreed to return it, the money wouldn’t last long—maybe a few months, and then what? And it wasn’t as if he even needed the money. Valentina had seen him open the safe. There were stacks of money in there. It was his security fund, Dmitri had joked, in case the banks floundered during the war. He was a wealthy man. How much money could he make by pimping her out? Surely not enough to make a difference. Was this some sick game, or were there others he was already exploiting? The thought had never occurred to her before this moment, but now she began to wonder. Could he be running some sort of discreet enterprise, using well-bred young women to service men who wanted to pretend they were visiting a mistress rather than paying a prostitute for sex?
Valentina buried her face in the pillow. Just over a year ago, she had been at home in Petrograd with her family, engaged to marry Alexei and dreaming of a future in which she’d be happy and safe. How could so much have gone wrong so quickly? Shewas only nineteen, but she suddenly felt three times her age. She’d experienced poverty, despair, and now she’d have to find out what it was like to lose the only part of herself she’d thought she’d always have—her dignity.
Hot tears soaked her pillow as she thought of Alyosha. Oh, how she wished she’d made love with him when he came to thedachathat summer. At least her first experience would have been with someone she loved and trusted, not a stranger who wished to buy her virginity. Timothy Mayhew had seemed so charming, so worldly, and all he’d been doing was sizing her up, deciding if she was worth purchasing. She imagined Dmitri would charge him a hefty fee. A girl was only a virgin once, after all.
Her hand went to her necklace. Alexei’s name meantDefenderin Greek. She wished he’d defend her now, from beyond the grave, but of course, there was no one she could turn to. No one at all. She was a young woman in a foreign land, with no marketable skills and no inherited fortune. She had to fend for herself, and she would gladly take her chances if it weren’t for her mother, brother, and sister. She couldn’t bear the thought of her mother spiraling into the abyss again, or Kolya facing a future with absolutely no prospects. A man needed an education if he hoped to make anything of himself. Kolya was only eight. He deserved a chance. And Tanya… She was so innocent, so romantic. She dreamed of meeting someone like Alexei one day and marrying for love. She’d always had a sweet crush on him, and Valentina knew that in some ways Tanya mourned him nearly as much as she did.
She wished she could throw some clothes into her valise and leave right now, but she couldn’t. She wouldn’t. Her family needed her, and she couldn’t take it upon herself to destroy the security they’d finally begun to feel after months of fear, desperation, and deprivation. She had to sacrifice herself for them, to insure their safety and comfort. As long as Dmitri promised to keep supporting them, she’d have to do his bidding.
Valentina didn’t sleep a wink that night, and by the time a murky dawn replaced the darkness, her decision had been made.
THIRTY-SIX
DECEMBER 2014
