Twice a Wish (GODDESS ISLES Book 2)

by Pepper Winters

  I was no longer a runty kid who had no support or strength. Drake would no longer win against me. He hadn’t in a long time.

  The helicopter co-pilot appeared with my duffel, smiling as he placed the bag on the chair next to me. “Safe travels, sir. We’ll look forward to your speedy return.”

  “Appreciate the fast response getting me here.”

  “Always.” His footsteps sounded on the aircraft steps as I returned my attention to a very strongly worded email. The hostess had vanished into the cockpit, and I soaked up the silence of being alone.

  My thoughts left the realm of work and murder, settling back on my island, trespassing on a villa where a certain dangerous girl lay.

  Eleanor would still be sleeping.

  She would wake and wouldn’t be any wiser that I was no longer there to torment her.

  The distance would be good for us. Cal would be there to keep any threats at bay. I could return to my life before she’d scrambled it.

  She was due to serve in Euphoria in three days.

  The travel alone would take me two days—there and back. That left me twenty-four hours to deal with this catastrophe and return. To interrogate the man who would be next to sample my greatest goddess. To slip elixir down her gorgeous throat and curse myself all over again.

  Cal had strict instructions to watch her. To be gentle but firm.

  I didn’t like it.

  I hated the crawling sensation under my suit, whispering that I should’ve brought her with me. I should keep her close in case something happened. But that was fucking ridiculous. Jinx belonged to me just like the food prepared in my restaurants and the staff who cultivated my gardens.

  I didn’t need to constantly monitor her existence.

  She was mine.

  Therefore, she was safe.

  Cricking my neck, I scowled at the screen and a few measly lines of text. How the hell did I word an email that demanded my brother be evicted and any of his requests denied without sounding like a whingey kid with a bad case of sibling rivalry?

  Shit.

  Footsteps sounded on the aircraft steps again, wrenching my head up.

  I’d hoped the arrival was the airplane pilot, given approval from the tower to taxi to our departure point.

  My heart stopped.

  Sub-zero temperatures turned my blood to ice. “Calvin.” My voice did nothing to show my seething displeasure. “What the fuck are you doing here?”

  “I got a ride after you.” He lugged a bag over his shoulder, moving down the aisles to fall into a chair in front of mine, then turned to look over the headrest. “Not letting you deal with that cunt on your own.”

  “I wanted you to take care of my investments.” My teeth ground together, turning my words to dust. “You can’t do that if you’re not there, dipshit.”

  “Arbi has it under control. They’ll be fine. The girls know their schedule for Euphoria. Jealousy will help prepare them. You have a loyal, capable team, Sinclair. They can handle us gone for a few days.”

  “That wasn’t the god. Damn. Point.”

  Eleanor.

  She was still too new. Too flighty. Too aware of her imprisonment.

  Without a daily reminder that there was no chance of escape…it would become a temptation too great to ignore.

  I’d give her forty-eight hours before she attempted a freedom expedition.

  She’d leave.

  She’d fail.

  And I wouldn’t be there to save her.

  Or to drag her back.

  Chapter Eight

  FATE HAD BEEN THE reason for my kidnapping and captivity. An awful version of karma that ensured I’d been in the wrong place at the wrong time. However, serendipity gave me a chance at freedom.

  A perfectly choreographed moment that had no other explanation for its occurrence than divine intervention.

  I’d been brought here because I’d been easy, silly prey. But I would leave because I’d grown wise and brave. I didn’t want to be a girl who had erotic dreams about her new lord and master. Who allowed her days to be filled with pampered promise. To forget she had a life before she’d become someone else’s.

  I had to be honest with myself: I had a very limited amount of time to flee. Limited time before I lost myself, lost to him, lost to servitude.

  And that time was already running out.

  Every day, I grew more and more lulled by this existence he offered.

  Every night, I curled up in a bed that’d become familiar, welcomed…home.

  Stay any longer, and I’d forget that I wasn’t here of my own free will. I’d forget how I was snatched, degraded, traded, and delivered. I’d accept. I’d enjoy. I’d fall in love with the sand, the palms, the tiny parrots…and even…possibly…Sullivan Sinclair himself.

  The veil between love and hate constantly tore in the battle of romance. And that thought began a wormhole of self-reflection, forcing me to admit that sometimes…for microseconds of connection, when Sully stared at me, kissed me, and held me firm, my hate would stray into affection. My belly would flutter. Butterflies would become fireflies. Fireflies became moths. Moths became warnings clawing at my heart.

  He blurred right and wrong.

  He smudged yes and no.

  He dazzled my senses until I didn’t trust myself anymore.

  He was the real danger here.

  And I was in danger of being the worst kind of idiot.

  The stupidest type of girl.

  I was in danger of actually liking him. Of not just lusting but liking. Of finding out his secrets. Of wanting more between us than owner and possession.

  No.

  It can’t happen.

  I refuse!

  My silent shouts were my one saving grace, delivering a single opportunity to escape.

  I shot from my bed at four in the morning, my blood popping with fury and fear.

  I couldn’t lie there and drown beneath such truth anymore. I needed to be outside. To breathe fresh air. To finally come up with a concrete solution to escape.

  Wrapping a silk dressing gown with embroidered silver lilies around me, I slipped from my villa and headed down the sandy path. The lanterns still flickered with light, leading me through the darkness toward the main beach.

  There, I plopped onto the sand beside the same bush where I’d eavesdropped on the goddesses and brought my knees up to rest my chin on.

  The sun hadn’t made an appearance yet, but the stars slowly faded, yawning with fatigue, wrapping themselves up with swathes of midnight. No sea breeze. No waves licking. Just utter, bone-deep silence.

  The quietness had a weight, heavy like a knitted blanket, cascading over my shoulders with comfort.

  Where the stars twinkled was the direction of my escape.

  Out there to the horizon where faint island lights flickered.

  So near…yet so far.

  Jewelled lacquered kayaks had been hauled higher up the sugary beach, resting on their sides with their oars speared into their belly.

  I could take one of those right now.

  I could slip it into the sea, push off the shore, and paddle into the vastness.

  But without a map, I would get lost. Without food, I would starve. Without water, I would die. Besides, Sully would notice I was missing within an hour. He’d chase me down and bring me back. He’d punish me—how I didn’t know—but an infraction like that wouldn’t go without reprimand.

  I sighed heavily. My chin dug into my knees, tiny granules of sand sticking to my legs.

  Perhaps, I’d done something bad in a previous life and this was my penance. Maybe, I’d been selfish without realising it or cruel without noticing, and the powers of the universe decided to make me pay.

  But at least, I’d stayed true to my pact not to give in. Every night I fell asleep with my hand-drawn map clutched tight and every scenario of escape rushing from consciousness to dream world.

  I’d toyed with every semi-sane idea for freedom: breaking int
o Sully’s office to use his phone and call my parents, befriending the pilots to fly me home, or even trying to switch places with a goddess on the day she was released (if Sully actually did let us go after four years…it could’ve been a lie).

  When the sane ideas didn’t offer help, I’d turned to insane instead: making Sully fall in love with me, so he’d realise keeping me prisoner wasn’t the best way to treat his soul-mate, making Calvin fall in love with me so he’d kill Sully and free me, or telling a guest my name and begging them to pack me in their suitcase when they flew away.

  As I sat on such a pristine beach in the early hours of dawn, a part of me felt guilty for bemoaning my captivity. As far as slavery went, I knew I had it easy.

  I wasn’t minutely molested, physically beaten, or psychologically broken. I had the best food I’d ever tasted, the comfiest bed I’d ever slept in, and the prettiest jail cell ever created.

  Sully’s islands were second to none.

  I could travel the world with Scott forever and never find such heaven again.

  So yes, the guilt came on strong when tears trickled down my cheeks at my inability to leave.

  Any girl in that dark hovel in Mexico would gladly trade places with me. I had no doubt about that. That girl Tess was probably dead by now. Raped by her owner, tormented until she broke, and then tossed in a shallow grave to make room for the next purchased toy.

  Not for the first time, I thanked everything celestial that I hadn’t been trafficked to such a man. However, Sully’s monstrous rule came in other ways—he granted paradise, ensured his goddesses had everything their heart desired, kept us healthy, content, and fed us an elixir that turned our one unavoidable task into pleasure.

  That was his talent at control.

  His effortless skill at dominion.

  It wasn’t a fist or gun keeping us in line…it was the serenity, the safety, the endless idyllic sunny days where we could live peacefully, swim, indulge, laugh with fellow girls, and accept that four years wasn’t so bad in the scheme of a life.

  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 th
em 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.

  In the grotesque pattern, my eyes saw an illusion.

  An embroidered foretelling where I’d deal with my brother.

  I’d win.

  Yet I’d return home and find out that I’d lost.

  Like always.

  Chapter Ten

  A KNOCK SOUNDED ON the door for the second time today.

  I scurried to throw my bedsheets on top of the small pile I’d gathered while creating my escape bag. Running to the door, I opened it.

  Once again, a smiley, pretty girl who I recognised was here to deliver a tray groaning with every delicacy imaginable. Usually, it was just her. A friendly hand over of lunch.