I bellowed with agony as he cried out and bounced off the metal wire, then screamed as I wrapped my thighs around his throat and squeezed.

I fucking squeezed.

I locked my ankles and crushed his goddamn windpipe.

“Ah, for fuck’s sake.” Drake clapped his hands in impatience, signalling for reinforcements. “All of you, it seems this is gonna be a team affair. Stop my brother from murdering your colleague and get some rope for his legs.”

Three mercenaries jumped from the shadows. One went behind me and shoved his hand through the bars. I tried to bite him, but he managed to grab a fistful of my hair, jerking my head back.

The guy between my legs turned blue, his eyes bugging as I shoved him closer and closer to death. He scratched at my thighs, making me bellow when he clawed at my wound.

I squeezed harder.

His eyelids fluttered closed.

Two mercenaries climbed into the cramped cage with me, kicking at my guts until I couldn’t ignore the pain anymore.

“Fuck!” I let my victim go.

I breathed hard as the two men carted their colleague’s lifeless body from the cage and dropped him at Drake’s feet.

They didn’t revive him.

Instead, they entered the cosy quarters I’d found myself in and wrapped a heavy rope around each ankle. Only once they’d tied me to each side of the cage, spreading me, making me utterly defenceless did the redhead one leave to deal with the unconscious guy.

A dark-haired one grabbed the abandoned oil bottle.

He gave me a nasty smile and squatted between my spread legs, pulling out a knife from his commando boot. “Not so scary now, are ya?” With our eyes locked, he tipped the oil down my chest, rivering over silver scars courtesy of a younger Drake, dripping into fresh scratches from our beach battle, stripping flesh from my bones with corrosive and caustic agony.

My vision went red.

My back arched.

I howled.

The last thing I heard as I tripped into deeper hell was my brother muttering, “Put in the lenses. Let’s see how he likes being blind.”

Chapter Eighteen

I STOOD ON THE bow of my chariot.

I clung to the railing as the sun rose in all its tangerine and golden glory, shining its glow on the cluster of islands on the horizon. Sun spiels painted heavenly spotlights on Goddess Isles.

Islands that were invisible to the outside world.

Islands that housed a man I adored.

I’m home.

Tears sprang to my eyes as the small cargo ship chugged its way closer and closer. I swayed with the waves beneath the hull. I fought the urge to fall asleep while standing.

I’d never been so exhausted. So drained. So fraught.

Not even when I’d been sold.

When I’d been kidnapped, my worry had only been about me. My fear nursed around my heart for my own mortality. This time, my worry had extended outward. A thousand strands of concern all straining to find Sully, all failing until fate had decided I was worthy of going back.

I turned and looked at the ratty boat that’d sailed me throughout the night and the mismatch crew who’d been my champions.

Intan, the teenager who’d been driving the pallet loader, had been my ticket home. I’d chased him all the way to the boat tether where he deposited the boxes with Sully’s logo onboard.

He hadn’t seen me.

I’d pulled out a fist of money, ready to bribe and cajole, only to freeze beneath the stare of a sea-weathered captain as he popped out from the tiny cabin above.

Our eyes had locked.

Something sinister slithered down my spine.

A harbour breeze sprang up and danced in my dress with warning.

If it’d just been him on that boat, I would’ve heeded the ominous sinking in my belly and admitted that not everything was fate’s design. But a girl appeared and kissed his whiskered cheek.

A granddaughter perhaps?

A girl dressed in the subtle olive uniform of the gardeners on Lebah.

It was another sign. Sully’s staff and his supplies. If I didn’t grasp this opportunity, I might never get another.

Something had happened to Sully.

I knew that in my bones.

I was past the rational stage of what I could do to help.

I gave up believing I was some Amazonian warrior with talents to free him.

I was just a simple goddess in love, willingly putting her life on the line because Sully had done the same for her.

Intan smiled and came toward me, holding out my phone. His young, tanned face was the epitome of innocence while the salt-cragged captain still set my teeth on edge. “Here. Charged.”

“Thank you.” Taking it, I checked the connection. No bars. No service. Would my dad be able to track me without cellular towers to guide his way?

I was walking into danger, but I had an army coming...I hope.

“Grandfather say dock no big. We get closer. You swim.”

I looked past Intan to the old man in his cabin. A man who’d never taken his gaze off me the entire journey. Every now and again, I’d catch guilt in his black stare, followed by pissed-off acceptance.

Something wasn’t right about him.

I wasn’t an idiot. I knew I should heed the vibe he gave, whispering harsh with warning. But his grandkids had been a buffer between us, and my priorities overshadowed my concern.

Besides, Intan had been nothing but sweet to me, sharing his packed dinner of rice and watermelon, charging my phone when it died an hour into the cruise, staying up with me to stargaze—even though exhaustion made my words slur and my heart skip with nervousness. He’d kept me awake, chattering in a hiccupping blend of English and Indonesian.

He’d been the one I’d approached first. After he’d deposited the pallets onboard the tatty boat that waited like an old family pet—a pet that probably had arthritis and kidney issues—I’d ignored the old man above and stepped in front of Intan, holding out two thousand dollars. “I know where you’re going, and I know who those boxes are destined for. I want to come with you.”

He’d turned off his loader and tiptoed toward me as if the money would suddenly vanish. His mouth had fallen open, his cheeks covered in pimples and his chin cute with a dimple. “You want go Lebah?”

I’d nodded. “I’ll pay.”

His shorts were torn at the bottom, and his t-shirt held a few nibble holes. He wasn’t rich and was obviously well-acquainted with hard work. I’d wanted to offer more. I’d wanted to hand over Sully’s credit card if he agreed to give me a lift.

The old man and the girl in Sully’s gardener uniform had yelled down to the dock, muttering in Indonesian to Intan. I’d braced myself. So, so sure that the old man would forbid such a trade.

But surprisingly...he was on my side.

He’d silenced the girl who’d shaken her head and waved her arms aggressively in my direction. He’d nodded at Intan and narrowed his eyes my way. He’d said yes without knowing anything about me, which set off more alarm bells, but I was far too grateful to care.

“Money good for grandmother.” Intan grinned as we sailed closer to Sully’s islands, patting his short’s pocket where the cash had found a new home. “She need...medicine. No long live. You help. Help lots. Grandfather not happy. Very sad.”

I smiled. “I’m glad the money can go toward helping your grandmother. Hopefully, she gets better soon, and your grandfather is happy again.”