No.

It would kill them.

But…if this was my last chance to say goodbye, then at least I could give them some resemblance of peace.

Even if I won’t earn any myself.

Bracing myself, I closed the distance between us and held out my hand over his desk. “Send them a letter saying I’ve eloped and found endless happiness. Tell them I’m happy and safe, and they never have to worry about me again. Tell them I’m selfish and cruel to disappear but I love them. For always.”

His stood and slipped his hand into mine. “Done.”

We shook.

We sealed the agreement.

I shivered.

I couldn’t help it.

The coolant in my bloodstream turned into ice crystals. The cage I’d placed around my heart webbed with thicker wire.

I was bartering with Lucifer…not for my own protection, but for those I would never see again.

His fingers squeezed mine, his eyes flickered to the man who’d moved from his spot in the shadows and loomed behind me.

I felt him there.

I heard him waiting.

My skin prickled.

My instincts cried.

But I completed my end of the bargain.

“My name is Eleanor Grace. And I will—”

A rag smashed over my mouth, stopping my oath. Preventing me from promising that I would win. That I would find a way to murder whatever monster who’d bought me and survive.

Fumes entered my nose, attacking my ability to stand.

My knees gave out as the world turned dizzy.

Bulky arms caught me, and the last thing I heard before everything went black was the American murmuring, “Goodbye, Eleanor Grace. Graceful to the end and elegant to a fault. Mr. Sinclair will enjoy destroying you.”

Chapter Four

“SIR, SHE’S ARRIVED IN Java. The crew are ready to collect.”

“Send the doctor first. Remove that damn tracker they insist on putting into their stock.”

“Yes, sir.” My second in command, Calvin Moor, nodded. He wore his typical suit even though the tropical heat made thick fabric unbearable. The humidity level, even at dawn, didn’t give any reprieve. “I’ll arrange the removal, and then you’re happy for final transportation?”

“Yes.” I looked back at my laptop and the latest test results from my scientists. Cal got the message that I was done with him and discreetly let himself out.

Only five a.m. and I’d already been for a swim around the island and met with yet another early bird arrival. Instead of sending this latest guest away, he was allowed to stay.

An older gentleman from Texas. Oil flowed in his veins as surely as blue blood from an American founding family. He was ruthless in business and had special perversions, but he could be trusted to play by my rules.

I tried to keep my mind on business, but it kept trickling back to my latest acquisition.

Had they found someone fitting my requirements?

Was she in good repair or damaged while in captivity and transit?

Could I put her to work straight away or would she require a gentler welcome than some of the more experienced employees I’d ‘hired’.

Reclining in the expensive ergonomic desk chair that caused back pain rather than cured it, I raked a hand through my sleek, dark hair. Saltwater and sunshine did its best to bleach the ebony, but it never quite managed. The best it could do was decorate the tips with an island bronze that pretended I had a heart somewhere beneath my ruthlessness.

I’d bought enough from this current dealer to know the stock came from all areas of the globe. Their favourite hunting grounds were backpackers and run-down restaurants in Mexico, but they also travelled abroad, taking their prey back to some secret facility where they held them until the noise of media and outrage of loved ones either became too hot to be a viable transaction or proved their selection wouldn’t be hugely missed.

Those who ended up on every media channel and lit a fire under police’s asses were released. Those who faded into obscurity were devoured by men like me.

Men with cash to purchase such things.

Things like souls.

I didn’t mind the ethics behind trafficking as long as the merchandise was humanely treated. In my opinion, the human race couldn’t have it both ways.

We couldn’t torture, eat, and abuse animals and think ourselves immune.

We couldn’t artificially and forcibly breed animals for consummation and not expect us to be above such treatment. A cow was raped, and its calf torn away and most likely slaughtered before it even had proper hide on its foetal body—all for the dairy industry to pump milk to a population who didn’t realise it was slowly murdering them with disease. Lambs were butchered when barely weaned for Sunday roasts. And chickens…shit, billions of those unfortunate feathered fiends were locked in cages, had their necks cut off and their carcasses filled with carcinogens to extend shelf life, only to be bought and tossed out after their expiration date without ever being eaten.

Wasteful.

Distasteful.

Gross.

If society allowed such barbarity to other sentient beings, why couldn’t I benefit from trading in fellow humans? After all, I provided them with a free-range existence—to a degree. I fed them the best food money could buy. They had medical treatment, pleasure time, freedom within my laws. All they had to do was provide a service.

We all had to provide a service.

From the newly born to the elderly. We were all slaves, ensuring the economy stayed afloat and not crumble into dust at our feet.

I was no different.

My goddesses were no different.

Traffickers and slavers and people captured and bound were no different.

The only difference between my girls and the girls working for some hotshot Wall Street exec was I offered free living, food, and healthcare. The poor girls on a pittance of a salary were one medical disaster away from destitution and bankruptcy.

In reality, my islands of temptation were fucking heaven compared to the rest of the fucked-up cesspit of a globe.

My goddesses should be thanking me.

And they did.

Once they get to know me.

Shoving away the anticipation of my latest purchase’s arrival, I returned to the facts and findings on a revised elixir my scientists had been working on. All those years I’d slogged in high-tech labs, the connections I’d cultivated, and persistence I’d nursed—it had all been worth it.

The numbers didn’t lie.

The potency was stronger than ever.

I hadn’t just founded utopia; I’d created ambrosia.

I fed my immortal goddesses the nectar of the gods, all so they could serve to their highest power.

What sort of monster would do that?

What sort of beast would ensure his conquests wanted to serve him?

Begged to serve him?

Who pleaded to stay…even when he set them free?

Chapter Five

THE HELICOPTER SWOOPED FROM azure sky to aquamarine ocean.

My stomach flipped at the sudden weightlessness, the sensation of skipping across air and gliding through invisible gravity.

The islands below scattered like coins spilled from a billionaire’s pocket. Some were smaller than a one-bedroom apartment. Others were large enough for a burst of palm trees to stand tall, dusted with rainbow-winged parrots.