He coughed and winced. “You’re welcome by the way.”
I couldn’t move.
Or blink.
Or speak.
Cal wasn’t my enemy.
He was just a friend.
A loyal, helpful friend who would always have Sully’s back.
He would do anything for him because Cal was the only family Sully had ever truly had. The only person he could trust...until me.
Something slotted into place inside me.
Affection sprang from wariness, and I turned to Cal with deep respect but also a healthy dose of suspicion. A slightly crazed laugh fell from my lips. “Now that your secret is out and you’re not such a prick, after all. Let me guess...you’ve already freed the goddesses? Here I am, ready to go to war with you, and you’ve already done what Sully requested.”
He smirked. “Think you’ve figured me out, huh?”
“I think you love him and would honour a man’s dying wish.”
He raised his hand, mock horror on his face. “I’m not in love with the bastard if that’s what you’re implying.” He sighed dramatically, almost as if theatrics could hide the truth. “I’m interested in someone else entirely. You and I have a lot in common currently, Jinx.”
I froze.
Who...
His eyes glittered. “In fact, I know exactly how you feel. The anger at them just lying there. The helplessness that you can’t wake them.” He blinked as if he hadn’t meant to say such things.
Oh, my God.
Jealousy.
He’s in love with Jess.
Images of them walking together. His arm slung over her shoulder. Her feverish need to stay past four years. Her loyalty to this island and desire to make everyone happy.
How long?
How did I not see?
“Jess...”
He cleared his throat. “Yes, well. Early days but...fuck.”
I reached for his hand, my grief swelling to encompass his.
We did have things in common.
So many painful things.
“She’ll wake up. You’ll see.”
He pulled his hand from mine, glowering at the ocean. “That cunt shot her in the womb. Campbell had to give her a complete hysterectomy. He doesn’t even know if she can have sex without pain.”
“I’m so sorry—”
“We hadn’t even gotten to that part. Christ, forget I said anything.” His face settled into stone. “And to answer your question, no I haven’t freed them. Not yet. I’ve tried for the past week to get out of that hellhole of a hospital, but Campbell and his minions locked me in.”
Waving at his chest where a wheeze rattled and his vitality faded, he added, “I’m not at full speed. In order to free five girls...I need help.”
I shifted to my knees in a sudden sand spray. “I’ll help you. I’ll do whatever you need. I’ll burn all Sully’s files. I’ll wipe all his hard drives. I’ll murder any future guests who step foot on this island expecting a goddess to serve them. And then, I’ll help you wake Jess up.”
He nodded, his energy flagging rapidly. “Got the taste for killing now, huh?”
I rolled my eyes. “You know what I mean.”
“Poor guests no longer able to indulge in their fantasies.”
“They’re not my concern. Sully, Jess, and the goddesses are.”
“Is he showing any signs of waking up?”
I shut down my pain. “Not yet, but I’m sure both he and Jess will randomly open their eyes very soon. If they don’t, I’ll make them...just see if I don’t.”
His shoulders fell. “I’m not sure you can create miracles, Jinx.”
“I made Sully happier, didn’t I?”
He eyed me, chuckling once. “You did. But...it hasn’t made you very happy has it?”
“It will...when he’s awake.”
“And you want to keep busy while you’re waiting.” He squeezed the back of his neck. “I get that.” Rolling his shoulders as if summoning energy he didn’t have, he muttered, “Fine.” Holding out his hand, he added, “Help me stand, and we’ll clean up this mess. Maybe they’ll both wake if we change the world they’ll return to.”
Clasping his dry grip, I hauled his heaviness upright. Pika fluttered to my shoulder, and Skittles squeaked for me to pick her up.
Cal lumbered toward Sully’s office.
And I followed him with two caiques.
Purpose gave me hope.
Action gave me strength.
And together, we might, possibly, hopefully, maybe save more than five lives.
We might bring back two people we adored.
We might turn Goddess Isles—a place of debauchery and domination—into a magical second chance.
Chapter Twenty-Nine
.
..
...
DEEP WITHIN, SOMETHING STIRRED.
A stubborn nucleus who refused to die.
Covered in soot.
Buried by ash.
Burned to dust and forgotten.
I was nothing.
But I wanted everything.
I deserved nothing.
But I needed something...
Her.
...
..
.
Chapter Thirty
LIFE SETTLED INTO A new rhythm.
Not moving forward in terms of Sully’s progress but spring cleaning the present for when he woke. Two weeks where I systematically destroyed his business, brothel, and broke apart every whisper of his crimes.
Week one started off tentative and new; Cal and I still wary of each other and what our tasks would be. It soon slipped into an easy partnership with a shared end goal of fixing every wrong.
Leaving Skittles and Pika with Sully, I entered his office and almost keeled over with pain. Everywhere I looked, a memory flashed with heat and passion—Sully drugging me when I first arrived, him drinking the spiked-elixir liquor, the way he looked at me as if I was his sun and sea.
Cal moved slowly but determinedly as he sat at Sully’s desk and logged in to his laptop. I swallowed down my worry and focused on deleting such a big part of Sully’s life.
Cal called Arbi and told him to bring the goddesses back from Lebah. He rang some guy on their payroll to update passports and documentation required for the five girls who would be going home. And contacted Sully’s bank manager to have two million dollars in cash delivered to his private hangar in Jakarta.
Four hundred thousand per girl.
He wrote down Sully’s passwords while we waited for the boat to arrive from Lebah and gave me access to the curtain I’d tried to see behind for so long. He popped a few painkillers and hung up on Dr Campbell when he called to ensure Cal was taking it slow, and we fell into a comfortable allegiance.
An hour or so later, the grumble of a motorboat echoed from the bay.
“You go. I’ll catch up.” He waved me out the door, and I jogged down sandy pathways, beneath sun-stencilling palms, and into bright skies as Sully’s Euphoria harem arrived.
I stood with braced shoulders as they climbed from the boat and padded barefoot up the main beach of Sully’s empire.
Five girls.
A few I’d seen around but not officially met and one who’d begged to be released by a guest who’d known my name. Jewel with her red hair bowed her head in respect as they lined up before me.