They’d kept us alive this long.
There was a reason.
A reason that came with a fat wallet to buy us and perversions to hurt us.
That was the moment to fear, not this one. That was the time to fight…when the end had finally arrived. These were just the middlemen, and we were worth more to them alive than in pieces.
With my heart pounding beneath the layers of control I clung to, I didn’t say a word as a door was opened and a shove between my shoulder blades pushed me into the depths.
Other doors were opened.
Girls disappeared one by one.
We didn’t say goodbye, and I doubted we’d ever see each other again.
A lock snapped into place behind me.
A man stood beside a chair that looked like it belonged in a dentist’s surgery.
I waited for what came next.
Chapter Two
I STOOD ON THE rocky ledge, overlooking the pristine waters and silky white sand of my beach.
I might as well have been seated on a throne within a seven-story cathedral.
Enter my shores, and I wasn’t just the owner of this establishment…
I was god.
And my women were goddesses.
Goddesses to touch and worship and debase to the point of brutality.
But hurt them past our contract, and I took lives as easily as I gave pleasure.
Men came here for what I could offer. For the indulgences I promised.
But not one of them was allowed entry until I agreed.
That was my power.
Piss me off, you’re evicted.
Hurt my goddesses, you die.
Simple.
A warm breeze wrapped around me as the helicopter wound down, and the man who hoped he was my next guest climbed gingerly out of it. The helipad was built on a small circle surrounded by basalt rock, signature orchids of my island, and crystal blue water of the sea.
It was a welcoming entry point into paradise.
But it was also the gates of hell if you didn’t behave.
I waited with my hands in pinstripe pockets, eyeing him up, assessing who he was.
The investigation into his background showed a financial broker who’d struck it lucky in his early twenties, invested well, and turned one million into five by property developing. Sexual health clean. No physical or mental illnesses. One older brother. Father alive. Mother deceased. Name? Ricky Danrea. For thirty-nine-years old, he’d done okay by success standards but didn’t seem to have any luck with a wife.
My staff ushered him up the small bamboo jetty, gave him a welcome drink with yet another orchid, and presented him directly to me.
They all came to me.
No one stayed on my island and played with my women without first being approved.
A piece of paper could only tell you so much about a person.
The eyes were where the truth lay.
Smiling pleasantly, I held out my hand. “Welcome.”
“Hello.” He shook it, wiping at the sweat already forming on his brow. In pressed taupe shorts and navy polo, he already looked on holiday. Me, on the other hand, looked as if I was headed into a business meeting.
Which was true.
My island was my boardroom.
And this new shmuck?
My latest cash cow.
“Mr. Danrea, how nice of you to request a stay on my humble island.”
His blond eyebrow flew up. “Request?” His shoulders braced. “I already paid. There is no request.”
I nodded, hiding my patronizing sigh. “I understand. We do have a villa ready for you and are happy to escort you.” A staff member appeared with a leather flocked binder and a non-disclosure agreement. “The moment you’ve signed some paperwork, of course. Along with another minor formality.”
“What formality?”
“A trivial affair.” I smirked, moving toward him, going too close, popping the bubble of appropriate distance. “Nothing you’ll even notice.”
He gritted his teeth, standing his ground but pissed off about it. “Tell me, whoever you are, why the fuck am I paying two hundred thousand dollars for a week on this island when your arrival committee is like a pat-down before going to jail?”
My palms itched to do just that.
To tear off his clothes and ensure he wasn’t concealing anything that could hurt my goddesses or threaten the private paradise I’d created. Instead, my smirk turned to an icy grin, and I dove deep into his eyes.
Watery blue.
Guarded but weak.
A liar. A coward. A lucky sonuvabitch with no morals.
I didn’t like him.
I’d played my role as god for long enough to recognise a bastard.
After all, I was one.
My reflection was a perfect reminder of what not to let onto my shores.
I stepped back, waved the staff member with the NDA away, and clasped my hands behind my back. The helicopter whirred, engines firing, the pilots fully aware they were about to repeat their journey.
“I’ll refund you in full, Mr. Danrea. Have a good day.”
Turning around, I left my all-powerful ledge, the podium of power, and strolled back down the sandy laneways, through the orchid beds, and beneath the sweeping palm trees.