Not exactly the best start, but Rome wasn’t built in a day. “What would you do if one of them was in my situation?” “T would tell them not to look a gift horse in the mouth.” I blinked slowly. “I must be unfamiliar with Russian gifts. In America, being kidnapped isn’t equivalent to unwrapping a tin of butter cookies and that hideous scarf your grandma knitted for you on Christmas morning.” With a roll of her eyes, she moved to right the rug. “There are worse things than being fed three times a day.” “Like being tied to a bed covered in blood all night?” “You got yourself into that mess, devushka.” She must room next door or have secret passages in the walls she peeked through. I was growing annoyed she was painting me in the wrong here, and even more irritated a part of me felt she was right. “And I imagine you’d just lie here and take it,” I said in disbelief. “You are dramatic. Master is not bad man.” A constant beat ached in my head whenever someone spoke to me in this home that defied all rationality. The only thing Ronan needed in order to become the classic villain straight from the pages of a vampire novel was fangs. The fact Yulia couldn’t see that, given she just referred to him as “Master,” conjured the mental image of him brainwashing her with a supernatural power. “Tm not sure how men courted in your day and age, but in the twentyfirst century, this”—I tugged at the ropes on my wrists—“isn’t exactly the best third date.” “Americans. Greedy, the lot of you.” I dropped my head back onto the pillow. Clearly, I wouldn’t receive any help from Yulia. “I have to pee,” I deadpanned. “Congratulations.” “Fine.” I shrugged a shoulder. “It’s not like I have to do the laundry around here.” Narrowed eyes met mine, and I held them in challenge. After a stare-off that lasted longer than anyone sane would be comfortable with, Yulia moved to the bed and untied my wrists with the quick type of skill that conveyed this wasn’t her first time dealing with ropes or pets. When I was free, I stared at my expression in the bathroom mirror. I looked like the college girl in a gory horror film who got killed first by a