“I tried to stay out of his way, and Volkov ignored me at first. Then he was suddenly coming around to the house all the time. He started to make remarks to Anton about what a pity it was that I was such an undisciplined girl, and how he should be careful not to let any of his men show him disrespect because of it. He kept on and on about it. He said it was bad enough that Maria hadn’t given him a son that he could be proud of. As boss of his family it was Anton’s duty to not display weakness of any kind, and I was definitely a weakness.” She added bitterly, “A few weeks later they took me aside and told me what was in store for me. Volkov just sat back in his chair smiling like a Cheshire cat while Anton went over what was going to be expected of me from now on. I was to be taught how to do something besides play the piano so that I’d be useful to him and the family. He kept looking at Volkov for approval, and I knew it had to be his plan. He didn’t actually mention the Trials until later.”

“Maria couldn’t help?”

“I knew she’d try, but I didn’t want to ask her. She’d managed to keep us both alive. If she’d tried to interfere with Anton, Volkov would have found a way to make him punish her. Every day she spent with Anton was already a punishment. I was scared, but I thought if I worked hard enough, I’d be able to do what they wanted. I was the one who had hurt Volkov, I was the one who should pay the price.” She drew a deep breath and lifted her chin as she looked at Tanner. “So that’s how it started. And you want to know how he plans to finish it? He told me once. He wants total possession of me. He wants to be able to treat me as he did Maria that day when I hit him with the poker. He said that I’d no longer be permitted to play my piano no matter how I begged him. Never again. He wants to break me and make me a slave. I told you it was ugly. Is your curiosity satisfied?”

“More than ugly. And the only thing that I found satisfying was that my targets are now very well defined.” He added quietly, “And you can’t designate it as curiosity any longer—it’s kind of an obsession. I need to know everything about those bad years you went through so I can try to absorb the pain and take it from you. Pretty weird?”

“Completely,” she said blankly.