When the sane ideas didn’t offer help, I’d turned to insane instead: making Sully fall in love with me, so he’d realise keeping me prisoner wasn’t the best way to treat his soul-mate, making Calvin fall in love with me so he’d kill Sully and free me, or telling a guest my name and begging them to pack me in their suitcase when they flew away.
As I sat on such a pristine beach in the early hours of dawn, a part of me felt guilty for bemoaning my captivity. As far as slavery went, I knew I had it easy.
I wasn’t minutely molested, physically beaten, or psychologically broken. I had the best food I’d ever tasted, the comfiest bed I’d ever slept in, and the prettiest jail cell ever created.
Sully’s islands were second to none.
I could travel the world with Scott forever and never find such heaven again.
So yes, the guilt came on strong when tears trickled down my cheeks at my inability to leave.
Any girl in that dark hovel in Mexico would gladly trade places with me. I had no doubt about that. That girl Tess was probably dead by now. Raped by her owner, tormented until she broke, and then tossed in a shallow grave to make room for the next purchased toy.
Not for the first time, I thanked everything celestial that I hadn’t been trafficked to such a man. However, Sully’s monstrous rule came in other ways—he granted paradise, ensured his goddesses had everything their heart desired, kept us healthy, content, and fed us an elixir that turned our one unavoidable task into pleasure.
That was his talent at control.
His effortless skill at dominion.
It wasn’t a fist or gun keeping us in line…it was the serenity, the safety, the endless idyllic sunny days where we could live peacefully, swim, indulge, laugh with fellow girls, and accept that four years wasn’t so bad in the scheme of a life.
A noise pricked my ears. A tiny chirp followed by the baritone of a male.
I froze by my bush as Sully appeared, walking swiftly, carrying a satchel and duffel. Pika flew after him, struggling to get purchase on his shoulder while Sully marched. “Go home, Pika.” His voice carried along the heaviness of the silence, low and gruff. “Go get drunk on hibiscus blooms for a few days.”
The parrot squawked and crash-landed on Sully’s head as he left the beach and strode purposefully down the jetty toward the helicopter.
Sully stopped and held up his finger, waiting for the parrot to climb aboard. When Pika perched safely, he brought his hand to his face and eyed the small creature. “You can’t come. You don’t ever want to return to that place.”
Pika hopped up and down, twittering in argument.
“I won’t be gone long. You won’t even notice. Go visit Skittles. I haven’t seen her in a while.”
Pika let out a heart-wrenching squeak.
Sully sighed, and, in a move that split my chest in two, he brought the tiny bird to his lips and kissed his fluffy head. “Don’t get into too much mischief while I’m gone.”
Pika rubbed his face over Sully’s chin, scrambling to get closer, almost falling off his finger when Sully moved his hand away and carried the grumbling, mourning parrot to a heliconia bush. He waited patiently for Pika to climb off his finger and onto the red flower stem. When he didn’t, Sully shook him off. “Stay. Behave. I’ll see you as soon as I can.”
Pika attacked the flower as if it’d mortally offended him.
Without looking back, Sully stormed toward the helicopter and climbed into the luxurious cabin.
Two pilots bolted from the shadows, jogging half-dressed. One did up his shirt and another buckled his belt, obviously summoned into work with an abrupt phone call, cursing the fact that their boss already waited for take-off.
I didn’t dare move.
My spot wasn’t obvious, my sanctuary hidden by overhanging leaves, but I didn’t want Sully to know I watched his departure.
Something inside said he wouldn’t want me to know. That his leaving increased my chances of escape.
I stayed in my spot while the pilots did their pre-flight check and Sully worked on a laptop in the back. I hugged my knees when the huge hulking blades whirred and spun into speed, lifting off and turning toward the horizon. The size of the aircraft slowly diminished, swallowed by the darkness.
A strange kind of anticipation prickled my skin.
Ten minutes passed.
Silence descended after being torn into pieces by the helicopter.