The descent seemed to take forever, though at the same time she was rocketing toward an uncertain future.
They landed, the wheels touching tarmac and the entire plane speeding to a smooth halt where all momentum was lost. The captain emerged from the cockpit and wordlessly opened the door for them.
The captain. How could she have forgotten the captain? He must have heard every bit of what went on behind him. A simple door would not have covered the sounds of shrieking coming from the main cabin.
She avoided the man’s eye, knowing he had probably heard much worse in his life, and no doubt seen it as well. He was practically a co-conspirator in what she was starting to regard as an abduction, even if she had willingly consented to get on the plane.
“Thank you, Henry,” Alex said, guiding her off in a gentlemanly fashion, his hand sliding down to settle in the lower part of her back. He was able to switch from monster to suave citizen of the world in seconds.
Alex was famous in the way rich and powerful men tended to be without trying. But she was increasingly realizing that even though she had thought she knew him, she didn’t know him at all. She was on a remote island which didn’t appear on any map, with a man she didn’t know.
Holy fuck.
As the propellers spun down, she stepped out into the most spectacularly silent night. She could hear the sound of an unseen ocean washing against distant rocks, and the chirping of insects singing their mating song to one another.
Alex took hold of her hand, leading her from the runway down a narrow path between overgrown jungle trees. It rose a little here and there until they came to a home set upon a hill. She could have called it a cabin, but it was so much more than that. A mansion in the style of a simple building, ranging lazily over the face of the island’s main cliff.
“This is astonishing. Who…” She stopped, remembering that everything on this island — not just the home, but everything under her feet as well, had been constructed purposefully.
“This is my private retreat,” he told her. “I have never brought another human being here besides my staff. This is not a place I bring guests, nor is it a place I allow family. I built this as a fortress of solitude.”
“I guess I should be flattered,” she said. “I mean, I am flattered. Thank you.”
“Let’s go inside. There aren’t any mosquitoes here, because we are not in flight range of any breeding population, but there are other crawling insects you may not enjoy.”
“There's no mosquitoes? You got to control that too?” Was there anything he couldn’t control?
“Everything on this island was chosen, down to the flies.”
“Lord of the flies,” she murmured. “Where’s the conch shell?”
“That is a dark book,” he smiled. “Do you like dark stories, Sophie?”
“That was on our reading list in English Lit. Moral of the story being humans are beasts naturally, if you leave them alone without civilization.”
“I would have to agree,” he said with that enigmatic smile. “All men have capacity for brutality. Some more than others.”
“You more than most,” Sophie filled in the blanks which weren’t there.
“I know how to harness my wilder, darker impulses. I don’t deny them, though I am accustomed to hiding them out there in the great wide world. I don’t have to hide them here, though.”
He stopped at the front door, a glowing light in the midst of the darkness.
She swallowed nervously. Was he trying to warn her? Prepare her? Or scare her? She couldn’t tell.
“So. Uhm. What is going to happen now? Are you going to be my sugar daddy?”
She tried to keep it light, even as the darkness threatened to swallow her whole.
“You need one if you’re going to stay out of jail.”
So there was going to be a transactional element to this. It made sense. He wouldn’t be saving her for no reason. If there was one thing life had taught her, it was that you didn’t get something for nothing.
“What do you want from me, Alex? I know you didn’t save me just out of the kindness of your heart. What’s in this for you?”
“You’ll find out soon enough,” he said, confirming her suspicions, but not clarifying her situation. “Tonight you should get some rest. You will find my home well-appointed and comfortable. There is a perpetual housekeeper…”
“A perpetual housekeeper?”
“Two women. Twins. One never sleeps at night, the other never sleeps during the day. They are on constant watch, ready to attend to your every need.”
As he spoke, both women came gliding forward. They were beautiful, but demurely presented, dark hair drawn back into neat buns, and dark eyes which looked at Sophie, but didn’t seem to really register her presence. There was something about them which sent a tingle all the way up her spine in a creepy sort of way. It was the uniforms, probably. They wore long black A-line dresses, starched like a couple of nuns. Sophie was afraid of nuns, for good reason.