“Yes, it’s expected when I’ve been away for a while.” His closed off expression evaporated and a gleam of possessive excitement lit his eyes when they fell on her. “I’m eager to introduce my soon-to-be bride to everyone.” He caught her hand and brought it to his lips, pressing a kiss to her wrist. “You have nothing to worry about. I know they’ll love you as much as I do.”

She nodded. She didn’t really care what his family thought of her. She wasn’t planning on staying long enough to seek their good graces. What she cared about was how useful they could be to her. All she needed was one sane person to listen to her story with a sympathetic ear.

As Yasmin readied herself for the evening ahead, she pondered how to talk to Volkan’s family about her situation. Blurt it out over the dinner table and hope that they’d be willing to pin him down while someone called emergency services? That would be the best-case scenario, but she didn’t think she was going to get that lucky. No, she’d have to watch and listen and hope an opportunity to get someone alone came along.

And if the family wouldn’t help her, maybe one of the staff would. She hadn’t seen anyone, but assumed there were cleaners, gardeners, servers, cooks, whatever it took to run a household of this size. Volkan’s mother certainly didn’t look like her life was devoted to manual labour.

Yasmin showered and washed her hair before blow drying it into waves that fell past her shoulders. As she applied her makeup, her thoughts turned to Volkan’s ex-wife. She wished she could see a picture of the woman. Find out just how much they looked alike.

Yasmin had darker skin than either Volkan or his mother. Her family was originally from India. Though she’d grown up in Canada, she’d been back to India twice in her lifetime to visit her extended family. She wondered if Caria had dark skin and hair too, or if they resembled each other in some other way.

It unsettled her that there was a resemblance between herself and Volkan’s ex. Why would he choose a woman who looked so much like his ex-wife unless it was on purpose? Was he using Yasmin as a replacement for Caria? Was that why he seemed so determined to stomp out any independence he saw in her? It bothered her more than she wanted to admit that he might be trying to turn her into his ex-wife, which made her more determined than ever to find a way to leave.

She grabbed a random dress from the closet and added matching lingerie. Volkan had been thorough when replacing her wardrobe. Every item came with matching underwear, shoes, and accessories.