He strangled three girls.

He might’ve killed them.

Chemistry or not, I could not forget nor forgive.

With a thumping heart, I stepped forward, breaking the strings of sizzling contact and gulping down a salt-laced breath.

He grunted painfully then moved stiffly toward the helm. Instruments and fancy monitors hinted at the exorbitant value of this boat, but Sully turned the key and fiddled with dials and buttons effortlessly, signalling he used the expensive vessel often.

Where the hell is he taking me?

The gentle rumble of the engine was barely noticeable as he cast off and added speed with the throttle, easing out of the small bay.

I didn’t speak as he captained us through shallow water. I leaned over the side, marvelling at the clarity of the sea, revealing colourful coral, sparkling fish, and an inquisitive yellow and black banded sea-snake, coasting in our ripples.

I coughed a little, still sore from what’d happened.

Sully’s head whipped to face me.

I waited for some aggression—some question on my health and vindication of what he’d done. Instead, he forced his shoulders to relax, deleting his tension and returning his attention to the horizon.

Seemed talking wasn’t the purpose of this trip.

Grateful for the quietness between us and the seemingly fragile truce, I followed the beautiful sea until it lapped at the shores of the island I now called home.

I’d seen it from the sky, walked its paths, swam in its coves, but I hadn’t seen it from a distance. Hadn’t been privy to the true wonder of its existence.

Palm trees soared in every direction, some with vines hanging from their sun-straining fronds, others heavy with coconuts. Bushes and smaller trees filled in the gaps below, a spray of yellow, white, purple, and pink flowers all enticing bees and birds to slurp up nectar and scatter pollen.

The sand was crystal white from here, licked with glass-perfect water, while the sun dappled everything in splendour. The backdrop of the turquoise cloudless sky made it seem far too perfect to be real.

If it wasn’t a prison…it would be a place I would never want to leave. A paradise that could never be lived upon full-time but a dream where you might be lucky enough to visit in your sleep.

Two feathered flyers shot from the undergrowth, zooming after the boat as it picked up speed. Pika and Skittles pulled up beside us, their little bodies sleek for air travel, their eyes bright and playful.

They kept pace, swift and darting like little dragonflies over the tide. They didn’t try to land on my offered hand or return to shore, almost as if they had fun playing chase and loving the novelty of spreading their wings and flying, instead of flitting from tree to tree.

I was jealous of their freedom, but also mindful of their limitations.

I didn’t want them to get tired, and I had no idea how far Sully intended to go.

Moving toward him, balancing with the rocking of the boat, I said, “Pika and Skittles are chasing us. Do we need to turn back?”

He turned to watch the two parrots, his lips twisting into a reserved grin. Even with a smile half-committed and extremely rare, it made him nowhere near as malicious. I could be forgiven in thinking he wasn’t a killer of women, after all.

“They can come. Pika often comes with me to Lebah. It’s not far. They can land in the boat if they get tired.”

I forced myself to relax, choosing a waterproof-flocked bench to sit on. “So Lebah is another island?”

He nodded.

“Named in Indonesian for which creature?”

His grin widened. “You catch on quick. Bee.”

“Bee?”

“Without them, the food I grow would have to be bought from genetically modified seeds that don’t allow repeat cultivation. I sourced unaltered crops and keep them going with natural pollination.”

“You’re taking me to your garden?”

“I’m taking us for some peace and quiet.”

“Aren’t there staff there, too?”

He clutched the steering wheel as if the thought of dealing with more people pushed him to his limit. “There are, but they’ve been told to make themselves scarce. They’ll stay away.”

“Why?”

“Why?” He raised an eyebrow, studying me behind his sunglasses. “Why don’t I want staff eavesdropping and watching us?”

“Why do you need peace and quiet?”

He chuckled low and dark. “Why do you think?”

“Because you just killed three of your goddesses?”

His entire body stiffened. “Is that why you’re watching me as if I repulse you? Because you think I killed them?”

“Didn’t you?”

“I was going to.” He licked his bottom lip, tasting different replies. “But…I stopped in time.”

My heart jerked with hope. “Is that the truth?”

He turned a little to face me, keeping one hand on the steering wheel and another balled by his side. “You want the truth? How about the version where Skittles saved your goddamn life? How about the fact if she hadn’t flown to get me, you’d be dead right now instead of on this goddamn boat?”

His face blackened; his voice thick with rage. “You want me to believe you’re so selfless that you already forgive them for almost stealing your life?” He laughed icily. “That leads me to believe two things, Eleanor. One, you were grateful to them, because if you’re dead, you are free of me. And two, that you didn’t fight back because you decided, after I fucked you, that you’ve had enough of whatever the fuck is going on with us, and you’d rather take the weak way out, the only way I can’t fight to bring you back.”

His words were so sharp, so real, they punctured holes in the boat, threatening to sink us. They had sunk us. Not in the literal sense but in every other sense imaginable.

Was Sully finally going to talk to me?

Was Jealousy wrong when she said I had to give him the guise of a mask for him to be truthful? Give him some option to take it all back if he changed his mind?

There was no going back from this…

No pretending either of us doesn’t feel something.

Something…that was everything.

“You’re wrong.”

“Oh, yeah?” He sneered, his temper turning him cruel. “What part?”

“I did fight back…not that it did any good. I will admit I was weak because I couldn’t get free, but there was no way I wanted to die.” I leaned forward, gaping my dress, sending a breeze down my cleavage while clutching the bench on either side of my thighs. “Why would I give up on us…after what we did?”

“Because I proved I’m the one who can’t be fucking trusted.” He cut the engine with a slash of control, left the steering to the whimsy of the currents, and stormed the small distance between us.

Dropping to his haunches, his hands landed over mine, digging them into the bench, blanketing them with power and heat.

That damn electricity sparked from the tiniest of tinder, arching and crackling, making him hard and me wet, liberating our systems from mind-ruled to body-consumed.

I moaned a little as he dug his touch deeper into mine, activating pain and its duplicitous cousin, pleasure.

He licked his lips, his teeth flashing as he snarled, “Look at yourself, woman. You have perfect indentations of my teeth in your neck. My fingerprints line your throat with such precision, they could be used in crime detection. I dread to think what other wounds I left you with. How sore you are. How swollen. I lost myself in you, Eleanor, and in the process, I lost any sense of worthiness I had left.”