A noise pricked my ears. A tiny chirp followed by the baritone of a male.

I froze by my bush as Sully appeared, walking swiftly, carrying a satchel and duffel. Pika flew after him, struggling to get purchase on his shoulder while Sully marched. “Go home, Pika.” His voice carried along the heaviness of the silence, low and gruff. “Go get drunk on hibiscus blooms for a few days.”

The parrot squawked and crash-landed on Sully’s head as he left the beach and strode purposefully down the jetty toward the helicopter.

Sully stopped and held up his finger, waiting for the parrot to climb aboard. When Pika perched safely, he brought his hand to his face and eyed the small creature. “You can’t come. You don’t ever want to return to that place.”

Pika hopped up and down, twittering in argument.

“I won’t be gone long. You won’t even notice. Go visit Skittles. I haven’t seen her in a while.”

Pika let out a heart-wrenching squeak.

Sully sighed, and, in a move that split my chest in two, he brought the tiny bird to his lips and kissed his fluffy head. “Don’t get into too much mischief while I’m gone.”

Pika rubbed his face over Sully’s chin, scrambling to get closer, almost falling off his finger when Sully moved his hand away and carried the grumbling, mourning parrot to a heliconia bush. He waited patiently for Pika to climb off his finger and onto the red flower stem. When he didn’t, Sully shook him off. “Stay. Behave. I’ll see you as soon as I can.”

Pika attacked the flower as if it’d mortally offended him.

Without looking back, Sully stormed toward the helicopter and climbed into the luxurious cabin.

Two pilots bolted from the shadows, jogging half-dressed. One did up his shirt and another buckled his belt, obviously summoned into work with an abrupt phone call, cursing the fact that their boss already waited for take-off.

I didn’t dare move.

My spot wasn’t obvious, my sanctuary hidden by overhanging leaves, but I didn’t want Sully to know I watched his departure.

Something inside said he wouldn’t want me to know. That his leaving increased my chances of escape.

I stayed in my spot while the pilots did their pre-flight check and Sully worked on a laptop in the back. I hugged my knees when the huge hulking blades whirred and spun into speed, lifting off and turning toward the horizon. The size of the aircraft slowly diminished, swallowed by the darkness.

A strange kind of anticipation prickled my skin.

Ten minutes passed.

Silence descended after being torn into pieces by the helicopter.

I waited.

I waited to see if Sully had truly left. If my one golden chance had been delivered. If I would be exempt from his avid attention.

Fifteen minutes passed.

Hope flared in my heart, along with the tiniest vein of sadness. I had no excuse now, no gatekeeper guarding me. I would leave today, and I’d never see Sully again.

Run.

Go now.

No time to waste.

I went to move. Only…in the darkness, another helicopter engine shattered the silence. Its high-pitched and powerful rotors shredding the sky.

I stiffened as the landing lights flickered and a rotary-winged machine landed on the helipad.

Peering into the lightening dawn, I waited for Sully to reappear. Even Pika fluttered down the jetty in anticipation.

But no one climbed out.

The two pilots waited, fiddling with controls, not turning off the engines. The colour of the fuselage was different. The previous one had been silver, and this one was black. The other had a purple orchid on the side, yet this one had nothing.

Had a guest arrived?

In which case, why had none of Sully’s staff come to welcome them?

A flurry of activity came from the undergrowth, catching my gaze. I turned just in time to see Calvin jog onto the beach and along the jetty, carrying a bag. He flung himself into the chopper, and they took off a moment later.

Once again, I waited until silence returned and my ears stopped ringing from the screech.

Pika gave up waiting for his master to return and shot into the foliage.

And the hope that’d tentatively been tiptoeing through my veins exploded into living, breathing life.

I trembled with possibility.

Sully’s gone.

His second in command is gone.

Whatever leader was left in charge would be thorough but not nearly as dedicated.

I had a chance.

I had a way.

To run.

Chapter Nine

“ARBI, HAVE YOU CHECKED on the goddesses?” I paced in the first-class lounge at Manila airport. Four hours had passed since I’d left my islands. Four hours that Eleanor could’ve used to her advantage.

“Yes, sir.” Arbi cleared his throat importantly. “I personally went with the wait staff to deliver breakfast to each of the goddess’s villas. All are accounted for.”

I wanted him to elaborate. To ask a million fucking questions about a certain goddess.

I didn’t trust him. I didn’t believe Eleanor would behave.

But Cal shot me a warning look, passing a plate of vegan appetisers on offer for the lounge users. I took it and placed it on the table holding my laptop.

No return email to my shitty one demanding the immediate eviction of Drake Sinclair. I’d hoped my words would strike fear into their useless hearts, saving me a journey.

Already my skin itched to be back in the humidity, the openness, the vitality of an untouched world. I hated the smog sitting over Manila, staining everything with a toxic haze. I didn’t like the chatter of businessmen and holidaymakers, sharing the lounge with us.

They were locusts. A contagion that I was well and truly over associating with.

I despised my own species, and it showed in every scathing look I gave them.

“Check on them again at lunch and dinner. And I want a two a.m. shift as well.”

“As you wish, sir,” Arbi said. “Everything is under control. I will protect your girls and ensure your guests enjoy their stay.”

I pinched the bridge of my nose, cursing the start of a headache. “Fine.”

I hung up, baring my teeth at Cal as he sat and popped a caramelised onion tart into his mouth. “You should be there, you asshole.”

“Too bad I have a boarding pass with my name on it…sitting next to you.”

“Tear it up and fly home.”

“What? And leave you sitting next to a stranger?” He smirked. “I pity whoever has to put up with your ass for such a long flight.”

“Arbi isn’t qualified—”

“He’s been working under my guidance since you started this enterprise.” Cal wiped his mouth with a napkin. “He’s Javanese, so he has his local reputation to uphold. He’s loyal to a fault. Dedicated enough that he probably won’t sleep while you’re gone. And I trust him to keep the guests from the goddesses and Euphoria running on time.”

Fuck.

What more could I ask for without seeming like I’d lost my mind?

I slouched in the chair, my appetite severely lacking. I wanted fresh fruit from my orchards and vegetables from my gardens—not mass-produced crap. Even if it was vegetarian approved.

Rubbing the back of my neck, I scowled at the swirly, shitty carpet that all airports adopted to hide sins and stains.