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CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

“Let’s go, Demilion,” Bradley mocked as he aggressively tugged me down an elevator. He wrapped a blindfold over my eyes as he clutched my hand.

“Bradley, please just stop.” The air around me was frigid, as if we’d gone even lower into the ground.

We were wearing the assigned white platform shoes now, where no sound echoed in what I was certain were stark hallways.

“Please, Bradley!”

He shoved me against the wall, causing me to cry out in pain from the brick wall against my back.

“Demi, shut up!” he hissed before he slowly pushed up my blindfold. I was staring straight into his green eyes. His facial expression immediately softened as soon as he looked at me.

“Hi.” I offered a trivial, dejected smile at my first love. The first and only man I had ever truly trusted in my life. The only man who made me believe someone cared about me. The man I thought I had poisoned and killed in the middle of an ocean when he betrayed my trust.

“Hi,” he replied and brushed his index finger against my face. “You tried to kill me.” My eyes widened as he said the words with no resentment, but complete despondency laced into each one.

“I trusted you, Bradley…even after everything your family put me through. You never mentioned you were Ian Ivory’s son.” I choked back the tears that stung my eyes.

He cupped my hands and pressed his forehead against mine. “I know, I know…but this is all I ever wanted for us. I dreamed of us getting to Ivory Island and eventually taking over La Gabbia. We could make it ours; we could end all of this and turn it into something you want.” His minty breath brushed against my face as a single tear rolled down my cheek.

Grabbing his hand, I looked into his eyes. “You want to end all of this?”

“Demi…” He took a deep breath in. “I missed the way you smell. I missed these brown eyes. I’m so glad I put the tracker on our boat for Uncle Alister to track. I couldn’t have lived with myself if I knew you were dead. Granted, I would have saved your dead body the same way…” He paused and pressed his lips against mine.

I turned my head and pushed him off my body. “Bradley.”

He had known all along that we were going to end up here, and that us being saved was never a coincidence or an accident. “You knew I’d see the photo album of you as a child with Ian and Conrad?”

What kind of sick game had he played with me?

“I wanted you to know the truth, Demi. Ian, my father, wouldn’t let me tell you. He told me he’d kill you after…after having his way with you.”

My head was spinning. Everything was starting to make more sense. “I loved you then, Demi. I love you now, and I’ll love you forever.” He brushed away the tears from my face.

“You are my soul’s mirror.” His dimple deepened as I broke my gaze and looked down the dark hallway. The walls were all black brick, and only one light behind us flickered.

“Bradley…” I blew air out before looking back to him. “What is this?” I shuddered.

“Tonight went terribly, Demi. Our resort has been compromised because of the incident with Todd and Kim. Alister wants to see us both to discuss some changes. I know we have much to catch up on, and I know we will, but tonight we have to go see what he needs. Demi, you married my brother; you are an Ivory. One day, I’ll finally get to make you mine as you were intended to be. This is our family business, and we must save it. I know you tried to kill me because you were scared, but the truth is, this was our only place to go.”

I was an Ivory. Granted, I had murdered my husband after we consummated our marriage, but I was still part of this sick family.

“Bradley, I’m scared.” As much as I had every reason and more to hate Bradley and not trust him, ultimately, he was the only person I was familiar with and knew. I also knew he was in love with me. Having someone love you held more power than any form of violence ever could. I controlled him in a way he didn’t even know, especially now that he knew I wouldn’t hesitate to kill him if I had to.

“I know, my sweet Demi…but just play the game. We must.” I nodded at him as he laced his fingers through mine, and together, we walked down the cold, dark hallway. I let my hand brush against the black brick walls as we made our way down. There were divots that were no longer brick, but rather a cold steel to blend in.

“Bradley…” I whispered and stopped. “What is this?” I felt as if my eyes were closed because I couldn’t see anything. Tracing my fingers against it, I knew without a doubt it was a door. I turned and walked a few steps further and felt another.

“Before we have beautiful nightingales, we must have the caged girls.” His arm wrapped around my waist as he tugged me away. “You have to stay quiet.”

“They are kept in total darkness?” I was shaking as memories of Ian Ivory’s caged girls came flooding back. The stark, sterile bright white rooms, where the girls were deprived of senses and turned into obedient wives for the rich.

But this…this was the opposite. These girls were kept in total silence and darkness. This was far more terrifying because they didn’t know what evil was lurking.

“It’s different, Demi. Darkness helps us heal. It’s therapeutic to cleanse your soul and learn how to please and give, rather than to take.”

“We have to help them…” I knew I shouldn’t have said that—they were words Bradley would never agree with.

“We will. We will, my love.” He tugged me down the hallway until we reached the end. “Lift your palm and press it against the door. You’ll feel it.” We both did so, and suddenly, the door opened slowly. It was still too dark, but I could hear the door slide shut behind us.

“Do it again.” We both pressed our hands against the door I couldn’t see, and it slid open, revealing an enormous space with a gold chandelier hanging over an expansive conference table.

I knew they had the first door so no light would emit into the hallway for the caged girls to see.

Alister Ivory was sitting in a suit at the head of the table, with half the table filled with men in all white suits and the other in all black.

Two seats were empty.

“There’s my right-hand man and right-hand woman…” Alister chuckled as he stood. His eyes immediately dropped to where Bradley’s hand was holding my shaking one. “Why are you touching her, Bradley?”

“Uncle Alister, she was tripping in the darkness.” He released his hold and took a nervous step away from me. “A dove isn’t accustomed to the…”

Alister’s jaw clenched as he made his way around the table and shoved Bradley out of his way. My lips parted as I watched him look at me with sorrow. He knew something I didn’t, of course.

Alister smiled down at me and waved to the empty seat next to his.

“Come sit, Demi…” I was freezing. Everything about this area of the resort was icy, cold, and dark.

Alister pulled the chair out for me, and I slid in, tugging my dress down. All the men around the table were staring at the binders in front of them.

“Demi and Bradley…” He flinched as he said our names together and sat in the oversized velvet chair. “I hate saying your name with anyone else’s.” Alister winked at me before tapping his fingers against the binder. “We are looking at page three.”

I stared at the binder in front of me. This felt familiar, but I knew it was all a new twisted game I’d have to fight to live through.

Except, one thing I couldn’t fight was the feeling deep inside that made me think I may not survive this one.

Flipping the binder to page three, I gasped. It looked like a yearbook. Images of women wearing the same black, off-the shoulder blouse. Each girl was staring blankly, wearing identical necklaces—a small bird pendant.

“My darling, Demi, this is our current class of nightingales. You see, we’ve been at a bit of a standstill to obtain more inventory, so I’m very unhappy right now. But we will prevail. We always do. Don’t we, gentlemen?” I looked up and each man nodded quietly.

“But if you’ll flip to the next page, we are examining our other portion of this resort, which is the Life Center.” Alister licked his finger and flipped the page for me.

It was divided by eye color, skin color, and hair color.

“The eight of you have been my most trustworthy team, and it’s been extremely important for us to keep you all healthy and fit. We’ve never had a dissatisfied customer from the Life Center.”

“What is this?” I looked at Alister before glancing at the men at the table. They were all staring at me, and I fell back into my chair when I saw their eyes. All green. Half of them had shiny black hair, while the others had stark blonde.

“Demi, our clients are wealthy men who have worked incredibly hard to leave a legacy behind. And they expect their legacy to be perfect. Sometimes breeding between a husband and wife isn’t the best option. Say your wife has medical issues, or she’s unable to carry a child, or perhaps you’re not fond of the way you both appear… At the Life Center, we allow couples to come in and design their?—”

“Uncle Alister, I’m so sorry for the interruption.” Bradley’s cheeks were red as he stood. “But there was a huge mishap at the vow renewal today.”

“No, wait…Alister. What…” I was trembling. I needed to know what he was telling me. What were these couples designing? Why didn’t Bradley want me to know?

“What mishap?” Alister slammed the binder shut.

“Todd, our latest graduate of the program, broke down and almost revealed everything to his wife. We had to go the nervous breakdown route and medicate him. His wife believes us and is more concerned about making it to the Life Center. But the other wives were shaken up. The doves have been told to go full force on making sure everyone is taken care of and forgets this mess with the masquerade gala with endless drinks laced with our special pill.” Bradley didn’t want me to hear what Alister was saying, so instead he was distracting both Alister and me.

“What a fucking mess! How did we not recognize a weak, pathetic link?”

“I’m sorry, Uncle Alister. We’ve admitted him to the psych ward.”

I erupted into laughter as all the men stared at me. Alister froze and looked at me. “Demi!” He lifted his hand and slapped me hard, his thick gold rings slamming into my cheek. My ears rang as I cried out.

“Demi!” Bradley sprinted over, but before he could reach me, Alister shoved him violently.

“Alister!” I shouted.

“Take him away!” Alister snapped at the man sitting closet to him, who immediately grabbed and dragged Bradley out.

“Shut your fucking mouth, Demi.” Alister’s eyes were filled with something I’d never seen before, not even in the eyes of his monstrous brother.

Staring up at him while clutching my cheek, I knew what I had to do and how irresponsible I had been. “I’m sorry, Mr. Ivory.” I pulled myself up by holding on to the chair and for a moment, Alister watched me struggle as my shoe had fallen off.

Sighing, he reached his hand out and drew me upright. Was Bradley going to be alright? I knew better than to ask.

Alister’s face shifted. Something about my presence always made him soften even after a violent outburst.

“We are done here.” Alister spoke to the men surrounding the conference table. I didn’t want to be done here, but my throbbing cheek was a reminder that I didn’t have a choice. I wanted them to go through the binder and listen to everything else they were planning. I wanted to know the ins and outs of this sick resort.

The room lights turned off as the others silently left. “Demi, come with me.” Alister held my hand and led me to the back wall, where he pressed his hand against the brick, and it slid open. There was another dark hallway with small lanterns flickering. He waited for the door behind us to shut before stepping forward.

“This is where I keep them…my own precious little birds. My beautiful nightingales.” I could see the white of his teeth flash in front of me as my stomach flipped.

“I thought the other hallways had them?” I whispered as we slowly walked.

“No, no, those are a mix of nightingales and breeders,” he said with pride.

“Alister, what are the breeders?” My voice shook as I trembled in the freezing air.

He slid his suit jacket off and wrapped it around me. “They help us keep the Life Center stocked. Don’t worry, once they test positive, they get to move out of the breeding area to a more comfortable Life Center bed.”

I pressed my hand against one of the doors. “The Life Center?”

“Where couples can become families,” he answered as I looked over my shoulder and tugged his jacket on.

“They are surrogates?”

“You could say that…” He pulled me away from the door.

“And what are the roles the nightingales have to do?”

I knew none of this was as simple. He was keeping pregnant woman hostage? How were they becoming pregnant?

“Nightingales are the ones who serve and create Euphoria. They create the escape for the men to become better husbands and even better fathers. If a man has a place to release his rage, then he won’t release it elsewhere.”

“Declan Rothschild…” I started. “He was choking me; he almost killed me and then you forced him to have sex with a corpse. Who was that woman?” I choked back my tears as I pressed my hands against my neck and looked at Alister, who was illuminated from behind by the lantern.

“A nightingale who had served her time, and served her time well. Once you’re a nightingale, you serve La Gabbia for eternity.”

He smiled down at me as he wrapped his arm around me. “I love that you’re curious. I love that you’re an Ivory woman. It’s been years since I’ve been in the presence of one, Demi. Mrs. Demi Ivory.”

I was Conrad Ivory’s widow . I was an Ivory for eternity.

“I need you to stay away from Bradley…” He slid his palm over one last door.

My lips parted in shock. We had walked straight into an elevator with only one letter. “P” for penthouse. His home led straight to these wicked hallways.

“What if I don’t?” I was playing with fire, but I had a plan.

“Then I will cut small slits into his body and let him drain out. I’ll serve his beautiful blood to our guests in their daily wellness smoothies, then force a nightingale to have sexual relations with his rotting body.”

“You are sick.” The elevator doors slid open as we walked into his penthouse.

“Demi, for all that you have been through in a lifetime, I’d have assumed you were more immune to nature’s laws.”

Shaking my head, I peeled Alister’s coat off my body and threw it to the ground. His eyebrow lifted and he smirked with amusement.

“Nature’s laws?”

“Go take a bath and get into bed. We must work tomorrow. I need you more than ever, Mrs. Ivory.”

He may hit me and play with me as his puppet, but I knew Alister Ivory had a soft spot for me. Was it because his brother’s son trusted me enough to marry me? Or was it the fact that Bradley was also in love with me? Whatever it was, I knew my life was safe.

For now.