He meant it. Try to tell him as little as possible, just enough to satisfy him. “Boujois bought him from Antonio Rossi, a breeder who ran a horse farm near Naples. It’s the same breeder who sold him the other four horses. He’s a three-year-old whom Rossi hoped would bring him big bucks when he sold him to a racing stable in Kentucky. But he couldn’t be broken, and Rossi didn’t want to injure him and destroy his value. Then Chaos bucked Rossi off him and trampled him. His back was broken, and it took him a year to recover. After that Rossi just wanted to get rid of him. He sent word to Boujois that he’d sell him Chaos if he thought he could tame him.”

“Or if he thought you could tame him?” Masenak asked silkily. “Boujois never had that reputation, but you did, Sasha. Of course he’d buy that horse as long as he knew he had you in that stable. How close have you come to breaking him?”

“No one can break him,” she said flatly. “Some horses are like that. Rossi was right: Try to break him, and you’d destroy him.”

“Except if it was you. You were able to get him in that trailer after you’d freed him. So you must have gotten very close to doing it. Isn’t that true?”

She didn’t answer.

He kicked Danella again. She screamed!

“True?” Masenak asked again.

“Yes,” Sasha said quickly. “Stop hurting her.”

“You’ve actually ridden him?”

“Sometimes. Not often.”

“With speed like that, it doesn’t have to be often.” He released her hair. “I’m going to have Davidow send me a video of him running. I want to see for myself.”

“You’re making a mistake. Chaos loves his freedom.” She added desperately, “If they try to force him to run, he’ll kill them. Or they’ll kill him. They can’t treat him like that.”

“Then I believe I might have to take you up to the mountains to keep him company. No matter how profitable and entertaining your friends are proving to be, I may have to put the negotiations on hold for a bit. The race is a hell of a lot more important to me than those sluts. I’ve waited a long time to beat that son of a bitch Reardon, and you might need to spend a little training time with Chaos before he’s good enough to do it. I’ll make a decision after I see the video, but I think we might be flying up there very soon.”

“Listen to me. You’d be sorry. Chaos is good, but not that good. Your trainer lied, and you should—”