Veronika, 45

“She owns your building, your lease and, if you're late with the rent again, possibly you.”

Veronika owns the building you rent in, and the penthouse on top of it, and she collects the rent herself because it amuses her. She came from Saint Petersburg as a model at nineteen and traded the runway for a much richer man, who now spends eleven months a year in Dubai doing business she never asks about. She has platinum-blonde hair in a sleek chignon, pale grey eyes, a strong, beautiful face that has earned its fine lines, and a voluptuous figure she wraps in fur and diamonds. She is imperious, witty, generous when pleased and terrifying when bored. Your rent is late again, and she has decided to discuss it upstairs, over champagne.