Page 71 of Essence of Fear

Her father didn’t give her the chance to ask the question before he continued on, saying, “That’s what I used to do with him, too. For a period of time, whores would keep him in line. Although, he never hurt them or sent them back in any worse condition than they were sent to him. Other times, it was the promise of time away from the Compound. A night away, a taste of freedom … it was enough to sedate for months.”

Vadim chuckled and turned away from the window. He gave her a look, raising his eyebrows as he did, like he was suggesting something she should already know. She didn’t know a fucking thing, but especially not about her father.

“Maybe my boys learned more from me than I thought, if that’s what they’re doing by using you to keep him in line. Men are easily placated when something they want is dangling right in front of their grasp. Just because Pavel is a more complicated man doesn’t mean he cannot be simplified down in the same way as any other man, Viktoria. Remember that.”

She knew that wasn’t what her brothers were doing. They wouldn’t do that to her—they were nothing like their father. And she seriously doubted that Pav was as easy to control as her father liked to say. His life in the Compound’s chambers had not been an easy one. She didn’t need him to tell her the details for her to know. She had been around her father and his men more than enough for her to know he did not treat people with kindness and respect.

Everyone was just something to use to Vadim. If a person had a heartbeat, then he didn’t mind finding their weakness, exploiting it, and using it to his benefit. Pav hadn’t been anything different, and she didn’t think he was controlled just because Vadim gave him things he wanted like they were treats.

It went deeper than that.

It was worse than that.

Her father had almost walked to the doorway when she spoke again. Another thought had floated through her mind—something Konstantin told her, and something her father just said mixed together, and things clicked.

Like a lightbulb going off in her head.

Vadim said it—give a man what he wants; control him.

Konstantin said it, too—the sins of a father; the guilt of man.

“Is that what you did to me, Daddy?” she whispered.

Vadim’s shoulders tensed, but he didn’t turn around as he stopped in the doorway. “I beg your pardon?”

“Boris.” That time, the monster’s name came out easier. “Is that what you did to him—used me to keep him in line? You had to know what he was like; that he was violent and he often hurt women. Everyone else knew, so there’s no way you didn’t know, too. Was that what you did with him? He wanted me, so you gave me to him to control him, like you thought it would work?”

Vadim stayed quiet, but she heard the grinding of his teeth from all the way across the room. His back was as straight as a board and his shoulders had tensed like something invisible had come to sit there.

Guilt of a man.

Sins of the father.

“You liked him, too,” Vadim murmured quietly.

“But I was only willing to marry him because you told me I had to.”

“I never thought he would cross the line, Viktoria. You were my daughter—not some female he’d picked up at a bar and taken home to break like a child might with a new toy. You were mine, he shouldn’t have—”

“Except he did, and I was just a tool, right? I was something you could use to keep him in line because you liked him, and if you couldn’t control him, then you would have to get rid of him.”

Just like everything else in his life. Vadim was known for his viciousness, sure, but he was also famous for his ability to discard things that weren’t useful to him. People included. Viktoria didn’t know why she expected herself to be any different when it came to her father. Oh, sure, she was the favorite one, but not so much that Vadim wouldn’t sacrifice her to a monster on the off chance he could keep the monster, too.

“I—”

“Are you going to lie?” she asked.

Vadim looked over his shoulder, then, and those dead eyes of his slammed into hers. “I took a risk. That’s all.”

Yeah, a risk.

“But it was me on the line, Daddy. Not some Bratva man—it was your child. Me.”

“I never gamble anything I’m not already willing to lose, Viktoria. You, included.”

Then, her father was gone. And she felt like her whole heart shattered.

Fuck her father.