Yelena’s heart sank, her disappointment settling uncomfortably in the pit of her stomach.<br/><br/>It<em>was</em>Maksim. After all this time, after she had moved on, forgotten (or tried to) about him…he’d sent these thugs after her. After all this time, he couldn’t move on. Of course he hadn’t; he was cruel, jealous, and protective of his playthings. He never let go of a grudge.<br/><br/>But it had been so long….Yelena had hoped Maksim had given up, found some new pretty thing to occupy his mind. She was stupid and trusted him too much, even now.<br/><br/>And now, Lila was the victim of her mistake, her cowardice in running away, her naivety in believing Maksim would not follow. Madame Naumov’s eyes were blurry from earlier tears, and without a free hand to wipe them away, she blinked futilely to clear her vision, though being able to clearly see the way her student was manhandled and bound was hardly a comforting relief.<br/><br/>Still, the abuse she’d already witnessed couldn’t prepare her for what was to come next. Yelena thought the fight had fled her, a weary sort of defeat taking its place, but as Madeleine brought the hood near, a renewed sense of vigor filled her limbs, and she struggled as boldly as she had before. That is, until the female captor made her threatening suggestions about Lila. She calmed her squirming enough to let Madeleine cover her head with the hood, but her terror bounced back anew once within its confines.<br/><br/>Yelena panicked, gasping desperately for breath, although the hood itself was not actually suffocating her.  It definitely had a profound psychological effect on the ballet instructor, almost immediately. Her slender, athletic frame shook with sobs and terrified gulps for air, the sudden loss of vision more upsetting than anything she’d been forced to witness thus far.