Redemption: (Dark Desires Book 3) Read Online Free Page A

Macy, who
looked like she wanted to kick his ass. “One of Vladimir’s friends didn't
think it was a good idea. We couldn't notify the local authorities either. We
were so scared."
    "I'm sorry I worried you
guys," Valerie replied breaking away from the hold Natasha had on her.
    “Why are you sorry? It’s not
your fault that this happened. It’s his fault. How did you get caught up in all
of this… whatever this is?”
    “I really don’t want to talk
about it.”
    “Valerie you– ”
    “I said I don’t want to talk
about it!” Valerie snapped back. Seeing the shock and hurt on her best friend’s
face made her feel guilty about her outburst. If she were on the other end,
then she would probably have had the same questions too. "I'm sorry. A lot
has happened, and I'm not ready to talk about it."
    "Okay," Natasha
replied. She decided to drop it for now, but this was not over. Whatever had
happened in the month she went missing had affected Val in a bad way. They went
down to the kitchen where Valerie busied herself prepping toasted cheese
sandwiches. She tried to act as if she were fine, prattling on about the work
she'd have to catch up for her courses and seeing the girls soon.
    To Natasha, this was not normal
Valerie behaviour. She hated cooking. Even a task as simple as making a
sandwich was a chore she managed to get anyone in the vicinity to do. And the
small talk? No, Valerie preferred comfortable silence over idle chatter.
Despite the warning signs, she kept her observations to herself and decided to
wait until her friend was ready. Maybe she just needed more time to settle in.

 
    Valerie wanted to return to her
regular routine. It was bad enough that Vlad was overly paranoid about her
safety. The house was now a fortress, and she wasn't sure whether she was being
locked in or if he was trying to keep the world out. An alarm had gone off when
she opened the sliding door to the pool deck to get fresh air after having a
glass of water from the kitchen one evening. He had rushed down in a panic and
asked her not to leave the house yet. Another alarm had gone off when she went
down to the basement to grab a bottle of wine. Who on earth wired their
basement? That was when she'd learnt about his secret office. Nothing much was
said about what he did in there because the subject of his business was never a
topic of discussion in their relationship. She had learned the details of his
operations from Mehmet, but there was no point in asking him about it now.

 
    She had been back in Cape Town
for a few days and was slowly starting to lose her mind cooped up in the house.
It reminded her of being trapped in Keyaan’s palace. On Monday, she would go to
her faculty's administration office and find out what she needed to do to catch
up. Vlad was hesitant about her leaving his side for even an hour at first, but
she stood her ground, and he conceded after they agreed he would be the one to
drop her off and pick her up.
    At the admin office, she was
asked to supply official documentation as to why she’d been absent for five
weeks. Without it, she would not be allowed to rewrite the tests she'd missed.
That wasn't going to happen. How was she supposed to explain that she was
kidnapped by a king because her boyfriend, sorry ex-boyfriend, had refused to
supply him military arms and now said king was dead. It looked like she either
had to make do with not getting a grade in those tests or deregister for the
semester and start the following term from scratch.
    Stuck in a house she didn’t
want with the man whose departure date drew near, Val had too much time to
think, and those thoughts led her to dark places that made it hard to talk to
anyone. She had run into Natasha on campus who invited her to lunch with the
girls, she had made up a sorry excuse and left. 

 
    When Natasha tried to reach her
over the following days, her calls and messages went unanswered. Eventually,
Tash had to go back to Vladimir’s house to