Mistress to a Monster Read online

  Milah smiled and glanced at Glory.

  Every now and then, she saw the guilt flash in her gaze. The other woman wasn’t always comfortable being her friend.

  What Milah didn’t know was if it was the guilt of pretending to be her friend that upset her or the fact she had to actually spend time with her, which made her feel like a traitor to the De Lucas.

  Either way, Milah was happy to have some form of a friend, even if it was fake.

  She had no secrets to spill, so talking to Glory was never an issue. Being a woman, she wasn’t allowed to know any secrets of the Russo empire. That was all to her father.

  Stepping out of her bedroom, Milah followed Glory down toward her own quarters, which was far across to the other side of the house. Her room was small, and Milah glanced inside to see not too many belongings.

  This was the life of a … what? She didn’t exactly know what Glory was.

  “She’s a slave,” James said.

  Milah turned toward the guard. “What?”

  “Bought and sold.”

  “No. I don’t believe it.”

  Glory grabbed her jacket and changed her shoes for boots. All of the maids working in Damon’s house wore the same clothes. Their hair was also the same, pulled back into a ponytail.

  To Milah, it seemed rather old fashioned to have maids or servants, but she knew her father was also of the same mind.

  Aghast, she covered her mouth and felt even more like a fool. The people working for her father didn’t have a choice. At least not the women. The soldiers were men who trained to fight to kill, to work for the Russo. The women were captured.

  How could she not have realized this?

  If De Luca didn’t send the women to the brothels, then he kept them to work for him. Tears filled her eyes as she looked at Glory. The woman was so sweet and kind, and she didn’t … no woman, no person, deserved to be a slave.

  Sickened, she stepped back, about to go and confront De Luca with this atrocity.

  “Before you go and attempt to save Glory, you should know that she is in fact happy here,” James said.

  Milah spun toward the guard. “Is that what you tell yourself? She has no life but to serve that … him?” She didn’t want to cause any hatred between herself and James. Insulting Damon might not be the best way to go about it.

  Anger rushed through her entire body.

  “It’s what I know. I’m not saying every single woman here is happy with the life she leads, but Glory’s past is not the same as anyone else’s. For the first time in her life, she is safe. She is cared for. Damon doesn’t allow any harm to come to the women who serve in this household, or indeed who work for him.”

  Milah threw back her head and laughed. “This is ludicrous. You’re talking absolute crap.”

  “No, you are acting like a foolish girl. This is the way the world works. Regardless of if you were born into it or not, this is what it takes to survive!”

  They stopped talking in their whispered tones as Glory came toward them.

  Milah wanted to protect her. She took hold of the woman’s hand, and together, they left her room and made their way out into the cold.

  James stood close beside them. The paths were still gritted so neither of them fell as they made their way across the ground toward the gardens.

  “Do you like the snow?” Milah asked.

  “Very much so. It is always beautiful when the snow falls.”

  She had so many questions to ask Glory, but she didn’t want to make the other woman uncomfortable, and she feared she would.

  “So, er, how are you?” Milah asked.

  “I’m very good, Miss Russo. You?”

  “Please, call me Milah. Calling me Miss reminds me of my mother, but you know with the M-R-S, not the other one.” She groaned. “Sorry.”

  “It’s fine. Do you mind me saying you’re very different than what I imagined?” Glory said.

  “No, I don’t mind. I didn’t know you knew about me.”

  “Everyone knows of the Russo’s daughter. You’re a beautiful woman.”

  “Thank you.” She didn’t feel beautiful. She took a deep breath. “So I’m not what you imagined?”

  “No.”

  Milah glanced toward Glory. “Is that a good thing?”

  Glory smiled. “It is a very good thing. Antonio Russo does not have a good reputation and so, I imagined someone cold and cruel, and spoiled. Before you arrived, many of us were worried that you would … hurt us.”

  “And I did so anyway.” Shame flooded her.

  “No, not in the way you think.” Glory gave her hand a squeeze. They were still holding each other’s as they walked across the grounds. “We thought you would be cruel, possibly even attack us, and beat us, just for fun. Lie about us. There were a lot of rumors.”

  “I guess it’s why the kitchen staff took great pleasure in serving me disgusting food, yes?”

  “I didn’t know about that, Milah. I would have gotten it stopped.”

  “There is only so much you can do. I know that.” She sighed. The incident was over, but she couldn’t help but feel guilty for the men and women who were hurt. “Do you know when the chef will return?”

  Glory turned her head away, and James cleared his throat.

  “The chef will not be returning, so you don’t need to worry.”

  Milah stopped. “What?”

  Glory’s lips were pressed together, and she kept on looking back at James, all nervous.

  “What is going on?”

  “It is nothing to concern yourself with.”

  “He killed them, didn’t he?” Milah asked.

  Glory whimpered, and Milah gasped.

  “Oh, God, that was because of me, wasn’t it? I…”

  “No,” James said. “Their own actions caused them to lose their lives. Not you. You had nothing to do with it.”

  “But they are dead because of me,” she said.

  “No, they are dead because they failed to follow instructions. They believed they were above Damon De Luca, and they decided to do what they wanted. You are a guest.”

  “A hated prisoner, more like.”

  “Either way, he gave a list of instructions for them to abide by, and they failed. You can call it what you will. This has nothing to do with you.”

  Milah shook her head, and tears filled her eyes. Glory tightened her grip on her hand.

  “I … I need to walk.”

  “Milah, you will not do this alone. Do not feel guilty for their deaths. It is not right.”

  She wanted to scream at them. How could they see it like that? If she hadn’t been at this stupid house, it wouldn’t have happened.

  “Come on, let us enjoy the snow. The chef was a horrible man, anyway. He always felt that he was to be protected,” Glory said. “It’s why he would hit us if we didn’t do what he wanted. Even if we did, he’d find a reason to harm us, and none of us would tell Damon.”

  Milah looked at Glory in shock. “He’d beat you.”

  “Yes,” Glory said.

  She didn’t know if it was a trick to get her to calm down. People had died because of her. There was no way she was going to be able to forget that. Death wasn’t so easy. She hated it.

  They continued walking, but for some time, Milah couldn’t speak. She had tried to hide the bad-tasting food. Of course, it meant she was starving for the most part, but she had tried to play it safe. They’d died anyway.

  What had been the point?

  “Have you heard any news about … what I asked?” she asked, aware of James close beside her.

  “No, Milah. I haven’t. Nothing new has come just yet.”

  Milah stopped. The snow outside was not soothing her thoughts. If anything, it was making her more miserable.

  “I think it is time—” She stopped as she heard an animal cry. “Do you hear that?”

  It came again, and James held his weapon tightly. She hated the sight of guns but had learned as a child to accept them. Her father demanded similar security around his home.

  The cry came again.

  Milah spun around, detecting the sound and heading toward it. Letting go of Glory’s hand, she followed the sound, and as she drew closer, she saw a puppy. It was so small in the snow.

  On instinct, she removed her jacket, but James moved in front of her, and she feared he intended to kill it.

  Throwing herself in front of him, she quickly gathered the cold pup in her arms.

  “Milah, put it down. It could have diseases.”

  “Do not be so fucking cruel,” she said. “I will not let you harm an innocent animal. Not now. Not ever.”

  ****

  “She found a stray dog?” Damon asked.

  “Yes, a puppy,” Glory said.

  “I attempted to kill it, but she was like a wild animal, sir, I couldn’t kill it.”

  Damon sat back in his chair. “Where is she now?”

  “In her bedroom,” Glory said. “She is … she would like the vet to come and check it over.”

  He shook his head. “I’ll go and deal with it,” Damon said. “You may leave. Glory, I need a word.”

  James left the office after giving a lingering look to Glory.

  She didn’t look in James’s direction. Damon made a note to keep an eye on that situation. The maids in his service were all protected. He’d ordered the men to never cross that line. When he was a boy, his father had been furious after one of his guards had raped a woman. She had attempted to kill herself, and because of this, his father made an example by chopping off the man’s dick and allowing him to live. He had to serve in the brothels, always being close but never allowed to touch.

  The man was still alive to this day, serving women he could never have.
/>
  “Yes, sir.”

  “How … is she?” Damon asked.

  Glory looked up at him and then quickly bowed her head.

  “You can look at me.”

  “She seemed distressed when James went to kill the small pup.”

  “It was out in the cold, and it would probably die anyway.”

  “Milah is … she’s not happy about the death of the kitchen staff.”

  “She knows?”

  Glory nodded. “She asked when they would be returning.”

  “Of course she did.”

  “I don’t think she is anything like her father or the Russo men, sir.” She bowed her head again.

  He was starting to see that, but he wouldn’t make the same assessment quite yet. The Russos were known liars and manipulators.

  “She has asked about her father again. About what he has said.”

  “She has?”

  “I don’t know what to tell her.”

  “Tell her that her father’s message is to see me,” Damon said, getting to his feet. “You’re dismissed.”

  Milah had fast become a thorn in his side.

  He made his way out of his office and went straight to her room. Milah looked up as he entered. She lay on the bed, a huge bundle by her side, and he saw her wrap her arms around it protectively.

  “You brought a mutt into my house?” he asked.

  “It was cold. I would like a vet, please. I … she…”

  “Enough of this. Give the damn vermin to me.”

  “No,” Milah said. She pulled the dog into her arms. “I’m not going to let you kill her. She has done nothing wrong. I won’t let another animal get hurt.”

  Damon frowned. “Another? I have not killed an animal.”

  Milah looked up at him, and he was surprised to see tears in her eyes. “It’s nothing.”

  “Tell me.”

  “Why? So you can mock me? So you can laugh at how stupid I’m being over an animal?”

  “So I can decide if I want you to keep the fucking thing!”

  “My dad killed my last puppy!” Milah screamed. Her face screwed up as the puppy in her arms started to shake. “I’m sorry. I’m sorry.” She cleared her throat, kissing the top of the puppy’s head and then looking up at him. “My mother had gotten me a puppy as a birthday present. I was ten years old. My dad didn’t want me to have one, and he was furious. He … beat my mother for going behind his back, but in the end, I was able to keep it. She was a beautiful Labrador, so happy with life, and one day, we were playing, and I don’t know what happened. He came outside where we were laughing and just having fun and right there in front of me, he shot her,” Milah said. “And then he tossed her in the trash as if she was nothing. I couldn’t do…”

  Tears fell down her face and he witnessed real pain. This wasn’t a trick. The tears were real. Milah’s heart was breaking as the seconds ticked on by.

  “I’m not going to let you kill this girl. She has done nothing wrong. She wants to live, I can see that. Please, let me keep her. I will do anything.”

  Damon knew he had what he wanted. The first part of his plan, which wasn’t how he intended it to happen. Her finding a stray animal and being willing to protect it wasn’t part of any of his plans, but he also wasn’t going to pass up an opportunity to exact his own kind of revenge.

  “What will you give me in return?” Damon asked.

  Milah lifted her head. “What?”

  “You heard me. Nothing in this life comes for free. If I get you a vet and that … puppy lives. What do I get out of it?”

  “The pleasure of knowing you helped save an innocent?”

  “I don’t care about that, Milah.”

  “What do you want?” she asked.

  He smiled. That was what he wanted. Her at his mercy. “You.”

  “You have me.”

  “Not completely. You, naked, in my bed, whenever I damn well please, and you cannot come as a victim, but as a woman who wants to be there. You have to beg me for it.”

  “You’ll get your way eventually,” she said.

  “All the fucking time.”

  Milah looked down at her puppy and nodded. “Fine.”

  This did surprise him. “You’d do this for a pup?”

  “Yes.”

  Milah had surprised him again. “But you must have the vet here today, and this pup must survive,” she said. “Otherwise, it is only for one night.”

  “Deal.”

  Even if he had one night, it was all he needed.

  He called out to James to arrange for a vet to be brought to the house immediately. Rather than leave, he took a seat in the only available chair in the bedroom.

  “You’re not leaving.”

  “I’m going to make sure this pup lives.”

  Milah snorted.

  She looked at the animal in her arms with so much love. Damon had never seen such true affection on her face. Not even when she was cooking the meals her mother loved. Milah was usually so heavily guarded.

  The pup had awakened something inside her. She wasn’t cold.

  “Would you like to see her?” Milah asked.

  “It’s not a child.”

  “No, but it is a precious little pup. She is so … sweet.”

  He hated that he felt even a twinge of jealousy for the dog. This wasn’t like him.

  James came back two hours later with a vet.

  Milah had no choice but to let the pup go and take a step back. Damon used the opportunity to pull her into his side, taking hold of her hand and watching as the vet got to work.

  Damon didn’t have the first clue what he was doing.

  He’d never owned an animal outright. His father kept dogs in the kennels, which had been empty for the past couple of years. With his father’s death, the dogs had mourned their master. When they passed away from old age, Damon didn’t have it in his heart to train new dogs.

  The vet finished his assessment and came toward them.

  “She is … a very healthy little puppy. I don’t think she was too far from home. She is very young.”

  “Wait,” Milah said. “You think there are more?”

  “There is not too much damage. Warmth, food, and tender loving care will see this one bouncing off the walls in no time. I believe there are more pups somewhere.”

  Milah looked toward James. “Please get Glory for me.” She stepped toward the vet and threw her arms around him. “Thank you. Thank you so much.”

  Damon glared at the vet, and the man instantly moved away from Milah’s embrace. So she would go around hugging any random stranger but he had to manipulate his way into her bed?

  This pissed him off.

  Glory arrived seconds later as the vet was making his way out.

  “Before you leave, I want to just check. If she hasn’t gone far, that could mean there are more pups out there, right?” Milah asked.

  “No,” Damon said.

  Milah moved toward him. She grabbed his hand. “Please, don’t be cruel. I will take care of them.”

  Damon pulled her close, gripping the back of her neck and placing his lips near her ear. “You’re mine. No argument. No fighting. Willingly. Every single time.”

  She tensed, but he felt her head nod in agreement.

  Milah turned to Glory. “Please, stay here. Take care of her. I need to go and check.”

  “You don’t even know where they are,” Glory said.

  “I have to try.”

  She wasn’t acting like a Russo. Damon followed her as she rushed out of the bedroom. Some of his men stepped forward as if to intervene, but he gave them a warning to stop.

  He wanted to see this side of Milah. The one that wasn’t guarded. The one intent on saving animals.

  This was so … odd.

  He saw her hands shaking as she grabbed her jacket and then rushed through his home. Damon followed, taking a jacket from one of his guards and sliding it on as he followed her.

  She took off, and he had no choice but to chase after her. His guards were on high alert. He had ordered them to be so for two reasons. One, there was a traitor amongst them. Two, he hoped by having them on high alert, the traitor would make a mistake.

  Milah stopped and panted for breath. “This is where we found her.”

  There was nothing else around.

  She took a deep breath, closed her eyes, and listened.

  There was no sound. Seconds passed.

  “They are not here.”

  “You heard the vet. They have to be.”

  “Why is this so important to you?”

  “Because … they have done nothing wrong.”