Page 73 of The Unseen
“Well, what’s the sense of driving all that way only to start back a few hours later? I’m only trying to be practical.”
“Are you?”
“I’m nothing if not practical,” Dmitri replied. “Which is why I can’t help seeing the potential for profit in your sister.”
“If you hurt Tanya, I’ll kill you,” Valentina snarled. “She’s still a child.”
“Oh, I beg to differ. She’s a child no longer. I see how the young men look at her. She’s a woman, Valya, and a beautiful one at that. Murdoch would pay a fortune to lay his hands on her. He likes them young.”
“You heard me, Dmitri.”
Dmitri patted her knee, making her want to slap his hand away. “You’re adorable when you’re angry. Don’t worry, Tanya is safe.”
Valentina let out the breath she’d been holding and slumped into the leather seat of the car. Tanya was safe—but for how long? she wondered, as she studied Dmitri’s shadowed profile. For how long?
FORTY-ONE
DECEMBER 2014
London, England
Soft snow fell outside, the snowflakes twirling lazily against a pale winter sky. The London skyline was hazy, the pearly light of day slowly giving way to the dusky lavender of twilight.
Rhys leaned back in his chair and stared at Quinn, his eyes wide with disbelief. “He sold her virtue for twenty-five quid? Her own cousin? I’m not at all sure how our viewers will react to such a supposition, given that we have no physical proof it actually happened. It’s a rather sordid tale.”
“Do you really think Valentina was the first woman to be blackmailed into prostitution? And don’t think twenty-five quid is a paltry sum. Today, that would be in the vicinity of one thousand pounds. He didn’t sell her cheaply, if that’s what you’re implying. Timothy Mayhew must have wanted her pretty badly to pay that kind of money, and I’m sure he wasn’t the only one. Dmitri likely put feelers out to see who’d pay the highest price for Valentina’s virginity.”
“That’s unspeakable,” Rhys muttered, shaking his head in dismay. “I know what you’re telling me is true, but I find it hard to believe that anyone could be that depraved.”
“He wouldn’t be the first or the last to make a profit off a girl’s virginity. The practice is old and widespread. Have you ever heard of Mizuage?”
“And what’s that, when it’s at home?”
“It was a practice of selling a geisha’s virginity to a patron, for a very sizeable sum. They called it a rite of passage, when in fact it was nothing more than a way to make a profit. Mizuage wasoutlawed as recently as 1959. And of course, many bawdy houses in Victorian England made a big production of auctioning off the virginity of their youngest girls. The madams would parade the new girl before their patrons, whetting their appetites, then ask them to submit written bids. The highest bidder got the girl, and the house got a healthy infusion of coin.”
“I’ve heard of these things, of course, but I never realized how barbaric and demeaning these acts were. I suppose everything takes on a new meaning when you have a daughter of your own.”
“Are you having a girl?” Quinn asked, smiling at Rhys’s sheepish expression. He obviously hadn’t meant to give the secret away, but now that he had, he was beaming with paternal pride.
“I saw her on the scan. Oh, Quinn, she’s perfect. She looks just like Haley.”
“Have you got a name picked out?”
Rhys chuckled. “If Haley has her way, she’ll name her something outlandish, like Heavenly Starlight, or Rainbow Twinkle Posey. I think Ambrosia is also in the running.”
“And what’s your preference?”
“I’m partial to Sophie Elizabeth,” Rhys admitted shyly. “Sophie meanswisdomin Greek, and I have great admiration for Elizabeth I and II. Inspiring women: courageous, intelligent, and selfless.”
“Perhaps you’ll prevail.”
“I highly doubt it. Haley is so hormonally volatile just now, I’ll agree to anything to keep her from bursting into tears.”
“How is she feeling otherwise?”
“She’s well. She’s actually extremely disciplined,” Rhys replied. “She does antenatal yoga every morning. She’s joined a walking group for expectant mums, and she watches her diet religiously. All baking ingredients have been consigned to therubbish bin and I’m not allowed to even think about anything that might be high in carbohydrates and sugar. There are certain words I’m not allowed to utter.”
“Such as?”
