EXCERPT FROM BETRAYED - A romantic suspense novel | Page 21

BETRAYED

need to call the police. She slammed the receiver down and
forced herself to believe nothing had happened to Laurel.
Maude padded back to the living room where she collapsed into
her favorite chair. Minutes became hours. She sat unmoving,
staring at her chapped hands.
Awful memories invaded her mind like an uninvited guest.
Nadya Karakova had laid out her vision of her plan for Laurel’s
future in the summer of 1949. Back then it all seemed
reasonable. Why hadn’t she realized the conniving ballet coach
was already beginning to take over her Laurel’s life? Bitter tears
skated down her face. I should have stopped it right then.
Everything came to a head one sizzling June afternoon with
the thermometer topping eighty degrees. The humidity was
even higher. In fact, it was as though a firestorm had engulfed
them. She pictured her dress, completely soaked through with
perspiration.
Maude had never worried that a career in ballet would take
Laurel away from her. Truth be told, until the New York City
Ballet offered her daughter a contract, she thought Laurel’s
burning ambition to be a professional dancer was foolishness—
a child’s fantasy.
Without warning, that fantasy became a threat.
Oh, she’d refused to sign the contract, alright. Told herself
that no daughter of hers would leave home at sixteen. A weak
smile tweaked her mouth as Maude remembered how she
hurled the contract to the floor and railed at her daughter like a
wild animal.
“Your wonderful Madame Karakova might have been a big
star in Russia before she broke her leg, but as far as I’m
concerned, she’s a just cripple now. That woman wants your
life. She can’t have it.”
Maude had paid no attention to her daughter’s protests.
“If your precious coach had to scrub toilets and wash
someone else’s dirty underwear to earn a living, like I do, she’d
know what real work is. She’s put those foolish notions in your

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