What do you mean?
What did you do?
“Before I tell you, you have to promise me you’ll forgive me. Then again, if you wake and hate me, I can accept that. Wake and send me away and I’ll go. I’ll leave and I won’t come back because I’d rather live in a world where you’re alive and not with me, than a world where you don’t survive.”
You’re scaring me, Jinx.
What did you do?
“I keep wondering if I’ve gone too far, but…I did it because it was the right thing to do. And something tells me…you were ready to do the right thing.”
Tell me.
She paused and darkness crept from the shadows. Cloying and deleting, blackness came for me.
Speak, Eleanor!
Keep me with you.
“I went through your emails.” She stopped for a moment before continuing, “I cleared out anything that could be read as suspicious and saved correspondence from your company. Cal has been in contact with Peter Beck and your scientists are working as normal. And as far as your corporate life is concerned, your requests to your lawyer were wise. Cal is aware you’ve left Sinclair and Sinclair Group to him—not that he’s accepted that you’re gone, of course—but he is looking after your investments.”
She saw.
She knows I bequeathed—
“You gave me Goddess Isles.” Her voice cracked with tears. “You gave me Pika and Skittles.” Something thumped against my chest. A feminine fist. A bite of pain. “You chased after me all while knowing you wouldn’t come home, and I hate you for that. I curse you for putting me first because it was never meant to be that way. We were equals, Sully. You are not my master with the obligation to keep me safe. You are not my husband with vows to protect me in sickness and in health. You were meant to stay alive so we could be happy!”
Christ, Eleanor.
My beating heart splintered down the middle. Her sadness kept me shackled, not allowing the blackness to claim me.
“Anyway.” She sniffed back tears and kept going, “The police came back two days ago with a search warrant.”
What?
“Cal and I gave them free access to your databases, your laptop, and your office. They swarmed the island from the guest villas to the goddess villas and every pool and restaurant in between.”
Holy shit.
I would wake—if I could wake—in handcuffs.
What was the fucking point in leaving one jail for another—
“They left with a profuse apology. They wished you a speedy recovery and are satisfied that Goddess Isles is a simple respite for married couples who come for some sexual counselling and relationship advice. That was my idea, by the way.”
Her soft laughter undid me.
“I could wipe your emails clean and destroy any files that might have hinted at purchased goddesses, but I couldn’t hide the abundance of accommodation and the aura of paradise and perversions.”
Her lips pressed against my ear. “I stayed with the police as they did their tour. I grew wet as I led them through my villa and looked at the sink where you took me. I wanted to touch myself as we walked on the beach where you fucked me on all fours in the shallows. I answered their questions as we stood in the same place I watched you appear from the sea and strode half-naked toward goddesses who wanted you. I escorted them around the restaurant and onto the terrace and recalled every vicious thing I said to you after you made me sit on your fingers. So many places you’ve corrupted me, Sully, and now, all those sins are washed away. They found nothing incriminating because there is nothing. Not anymore. A fresh start.”
How?
How did she hide the goddesses? Were they still on Lebah? What about the girls’ files and their real names and—
“Cal burned almost every piece of paperwork in your office, and together, we sent the goddesses home. I memorised the files before they went up in smoke. Sailor, Trinity, Jewel, Diamond, and Blossom, also known as Danielle Scott, Selena Narce, Baylee Sharp, Alana Black, and Ashlee Colt. All five girls are free. They’re being watched, don’t worry, and they were paid their usual fee, but they are no longer prisoners, and you no longer have the curse of being a procurer of women.”
I hung in the darkness.
I couldn’t process.
I couldn’t reply.
I was blind to the ever-lightening grey around me.
“So you see, Sully? You can wake up because you’re no longer that man. You might have done things, you might have hurt people, but…I know in my heart that you aren’t that person anymore. You honour all life, not just wildlife. You love me, and by loving me, you can’t hurt humans because we are human. I have to believe that, and if you believe that too, then…you don’t need to be afraid of waking up anymore.”