You Don't Own Me (The Russian Don 1)

‘No. One of the men had a gun which he pointed at Marie’s head. We were so shocked and they were extremely efficient and professional. All the while they never spoke a word, and when we arrived at that house they kept their interaction with us at an absolute minimum. We knew there were girls in the other rooms because we heard them crying in the night. Once we tried to talk to them, but the men banged on the wall and we shut up and so did the girls.’

‘Did they ever … hurt you?’ my mom asks cautiously.

Daisy shakes her head so vigorously her brown curls bounce about like something in a shampoo advert. ‘No, never. In fact, they treated us quite well considering. We had food to eat, bottled water to drink, and when it was really hot they switched on some kind of fan that blew air through slats at the top of the walls.’

‘So how were you rescued?’ I ask.

‘Well, one day the men started scurrying around and talking urgently in whispers. Then they came in, blindfolded us, tied our hands, and put us into a van. Then they drove us to the edge of a little aboriginal town, dropped us off at the side of the road and drove off in a rush. We could see a town not far off so we just walked to it.’

‘Were you very scared?’ I ask.

She grins cheerfully. ‘Actually I wasn’t.’

That baffles me. I stare at her face, clean of all make up except for a good spray from some homemade aromatherapy concoction from a plastic spritzer bottle.

‘Why not? I would have been terrified,’ I tell her.

She looks at me calmly. ‘It’s called the universal law of action and reaction. When you live a life never hurting another being, you cannot be hurt yourself.’

My mom squeezes Daisy’s hand and tells her how brave she is, but I just sit back in the chair and shake my head in wonder at my sister. Here we were sick with worry and frightened half to death about what had happened to her, and there she was abducted, held prisoner by human traffickers, and merrily floating about in fairyland.

For a moment I wonder what would have happened if Zane had not intervened, then just as quickly I shove the loathsome thought away. May my sister always remain so innocent and blissfully ignorant of all the horrible things that can and do happen to millions of blameless creatures every single day. Her action and reaction universal law sucks big time, but she doesn’t need to know it.

I smile at her. ‘A fairy was sitting on your shoulder, Daisy.’

She smiles back. ‘A fairy truly was. That fairy’s name is Dahlia. Mom told me that you asked a friend to help. It was because of him that they got scared and dropped us off, isn’t it?’

I nod slowly. Yes, the law of action and reaction was truly at play. If only she knew how it all really worked in this big bad world.

‘What’s his name?’

‘His name is Aleksandr Malenkov.’

‘Thank him for me,’ she says with the biggest, sweetest, most adorable smile.

That night an email arrives from Aleksandr Malenkov’s solicitors. The attachment is a twelve page Non Disclosure Agreement. I sign it without reading it and the next day a courier comes to pick it up. That afternoon I keep my appointment at the clinic for the necessary blood tests, and since my period came early thanks to all the stress I also go on the pill.

The test results arrive in a week and I send them on to Zane. The next day I say a tearful goodbye to Mom and Daisy and catch a flight back to England.

Stella is happy to see me. She sits on the bed and provides me with a bossy but entertaining running commentary as I pack a small suitcase to take to Zane’s.

‘No, don’t take that. That makes your legs look like sausages. You have to take the red dress. That makes your boobs look twice the size they really are. Oh God, not that. It looks like you stole a tablecloth from a French bistro and stuck a belt on it. I was hoping you’d leave that behind for me, but all right, take that and the black ankle boots to go with it, etc. etc. etc.’

When the appointed time comes for me to leave, she kisses me on both cheeks. ‘I can’t believe you’re leaving me to go live with a boy,’ she wails in a baby voice, but her eyes are actually wretched.

‘One month will fly by in no time,’ I tell her.

‘It will for you. It won’t for me,’ she replies.

Yeah, reckless behavior…

Ten

Dahlia Fury

It is not Noah, but Yuri who opens the door for me. ‘I’ll take your bags up to your room,’ he says wearing a funeral director’s expression.