The Collector
Page 21
Elena's life was one of absolute despair and misery—every day and every night a slave to Viktor with absolutely no end in sight. After months of torture, abuse, drugs and total loss of self respect, Elena thought she had hit the lowest of lows.
Until last week when Viktor had told her about Polina. Nothing could have hurt her more than that.
Shortly after the last trick for the night had left—an old man with hideous warts all over his face—Viktor had come up with a smug grin on his face. He was carrying a letter-sized printout of a picture, which he waved briefly in front of her eyes then held it behind his back like a child.
"Guess what I have here, Natasha!"
"What?" she had replied, forever weary of the name he had chosen for her.
"Ha, wouldn't you like to know!"
"Why should I care what you have behind your back?" she said, no doubt a little too boldly, but she was totally exhausted and not in the mood for playing petty games with her pimp.
He replied in a singsong voice, "Oh, believe me—you will want to see this! I'll give you a little hint: it has something to do with someone very dear to you."
Polina, she thought! "My sister! What do you have, Viktor? Please!"
Viktor affected a frown. "I'm afraid the news of your little sister isn't so good."
Without thinking, Elena sprung up from the bed and tried to reach around Viktor's back to get at the paper. He promptly pushed her back onto the bed.
"Sit back down, slut—you know better than that! Just for that, I'm not going to tell you about your sister after all."
He turned around and headed toward the door.
"Stop, please Viktor! I'm sorry. Please tell me about Polina!"
He reached the door and placed his hand on the doorknob as though he was going to leave. Then he turned around and came back toward her.
"Okay, Natasha. I guess you have a right to know. Which do you want first, the good news or the bad news about your little sister?"
Elena's heart was nearly thumping out of her chest now. "God, Viktor, I don't care! Just tell me what you know!"
He handed the piece of paper to her. "The good news is that your sister has not been harmed in all this time and in fact has been posing for pictures. You might say that she has become a model!"
Elena stared at the picture and let out a gasp. What she saw was what looked like a painting of four ballerinas wearing blue tutus in a dance studio. The second girl from the left in the background was Polina! She was facing forward, head tilted slightly with her right hand resting on a dance bar. She wore a rather blank expression on her sweet face.
Elena thought: She looks healthy and calm, thank God! Even more importantly, she is still alive!
"Where is she, Viktor? Please, I beg of you—tell me!"
"Of course I can't tell you that, Natasha. But I will tell you that she has not been mistreated in any way and that she is safe. For now, that is."
"What do mean, for now? Please Viktor, tell me what you mean by that!"
"Let's just say that her comfortable existence is about to come to a crashing end. It seems as though her modeling days will soon be over and time for her to move on."
"Jesus, Viktor, what are you saying?"
Viktor was absolutely incapable of any compassion—he was such a hateful man. He smiled his hideous evil smile and said, "Her present owner is nearly through with her and will be handing her back to her original owner. Soon she will be up sale and you can't begin to imagine what kind of price a sweet, innocent young girl like this is going to bring from the highest bidder!"
"No! You can't let this happen, Viktor, please!" Elena cried.
"I'm afraid it's out of my hands, Natasha. I sure as hell can't afford her—even if I wanted her in the first place. But I'm not interested in young, inexperienced whores. Too risky and too much bother. But that little sister of yours is going to make some ambitious whorehouse owner very happy—I can assure you of that!"
Elena took another look at Polina in the picture and absolutely broke down. It isn't fair! she thought. Why did this have to happen? It was all her fault she had gotten Polina into this horrible mess in the first place. If only she had left her at home that day, like she should have! Then, she would still be there, safe and sound. But now—
"Please Viktor, I beg of you! Don't let anybody hurt Polina! I will do anything you want if you can just make her safe!"
Viktor laughed heartily. "You have got to be kidding! You are already doing anything I want, whore! I'm afraid that you have absolutely no bargaining power!"
"But I can do more, Viktor! I'll work twice as hard, twice as long for you! You can make more money that way! Please, just find a way to send my little sister back home!"
"Sorry, Natasha. Like I said, it's out of my hands. I thought I was doing you a big favor by giving you that picture to remember her by. And for that you will have to give me something in return, of course . . . You've just given me an idea, in fact."
He thought for a moment before continuing. "We're going to try something out that could make us both a little happier, Natasha. We're going to put you out on the street! See if we can pick up some more business. Now what would you say to that?"
Elena was numb—virtually paralyzed by the explosive emotions in her heart. She stared at Polina as a tear fell onto the picture, causing the ink to smear in the corner. She brushed it off with a finger and felt her heart ache for her sister. What a fool she had been, dragging her into all of this! She was willing to pay for her own folly but she couldn't let Polina pay, too. She had to save her somehow—but how? She knew that she was totally powerless as long as she was in Viktor's possession and she had long ago resigned herself to the fact that she would be stuck here until she had outlived her usefulness to him. Then she would most likely be thrown out onto the street or murdered.
This was her fate—her punishment for what she had done to her sister. But up until now, she had had no idea where her sister was or what she had been doing since they had been separated in Germany. Or if she was even alive. Now she at least knew that she was safe and in fact might still have a chance for a normal life.
And Elena was going to do anything she could to see that Polina had a chance at a normal life.
She glanced at the picture again before something caught her attention. Her eyes moved down to the bottom of the page. There she saw some small faint gray text in the corner that she recognized as a website address. Most likely it was the same address that this picture had been downloaded from.
Was it possible that Viktor was unaware of the address? Or did he think it was of no consequence? After all, what good would it do for her to see it? He may even think she didn't even know what those numbers and letters stood for.
But she did.
Elena's head began to clear as she realized that there just might be something she could do to help out her sister after all. It would be risky, of course, if not altogether impossible. But at least it was worth a try if she could just get out of this hellhole long enough to do it.
"Well, Natasha, are you going to say anything or just sit there and brood about it?"
She forced herself a little smile. "Thank you, Viktor, for this picture and for letting me go out on the street. I am very grateful to you."
"You should be grateful, Natasha! But let me remind you that this will only be an experiment. If you do one little thing that I don't like out there, you will be right back here stuck in this tiny room. And you will pay dearly for it. Not only will I have your family tracked down and killed, I'll make certain that your beloved little sister gets some special treatment in her new work and it won't be the good kind. Do I make myself clear?"
Elena knew that Viktor wouldn't like what she planned on doing one little bit. She also knew that her entire family would be in jeopardy if she got caught—he'd been making that same threat since the day she had been sold to him. But Elena wasn't worried because she wasn't going to let herself get caught. She was just going to ha
ve to be smarter than him.
Now she actually had a reason to live again.
She was somehow going to save Polina.
As she nodded her assent to Viktor, the wheels were turning like crazy in Elena's head.