Page 31

CHAPTER THIRTY

I sat in the sand and looked at the crashing waves. Now I understood why people run away to the ocean. My problems felt much smaller as the powerful ocean danced in front of me.

My sister was still alive, and Bradley was married to her. Layla was being used like a dog, breeding babies for wealthy couples who were coming here to have their darkest desires, fantasies, and wishes come true.

All while Alister Ivory made millions of dollars and was one of the most influential men on earth. He was dominant because, with a snap of his fingers, he could inflict damage on anyone who’d been in his presence.

He dangled the idea of escape in front of their faces, and they ran away from their realities to live out what they thought would be their dreams.

Layla let me have the better path—being the good wife and living in luxury—while her body was beaten, neglected, abused, and babies were ripped from her.

I was too tired. I wasn’t mighty, let alone capable of saving anyone. Dragging my fingers through the soft, white sand as my hair picked up in the salty air, I knew this was it. I wanted to live. I didn’t want to die, and I didn’t want my sister or Bradley to die. I knew I had to accept Alister Ivory as my husband. Looking over my shoulder at the stunning black and white resort, I smiled.

This was all mine. Perhaps I was having some kind of psychotic breakdown or maybe a different Demi was coming out to protect me. I just knew I had to do whatever it took to survive and keep the ones I loved alive.

Our fate had been sealed, and sometimes, no matter how hard you try, destiny will overtake any ounce of effort put into trying to alter it.

The only way to keep my sister alive in better living conditions was if I obeyed Alister Ivory. He made it clear that if I ever defied him, he’d put us both in a cage.

What good was coming for any of us by fighting him? He almost killed me. I could become someone else…a woman I never wanted to be. I could be the evil yet obedient wife he wanted me to be.

“Demi.” His voice wove into the breeze.

He sat next to me in the sand. Turning my head, I looked at Alister Ivory. My husband.

“Alister.” I forced a small smile.

“Here.” He lifted a necklace with an evil eye pendant. Putting it around my neck, he whispered into my ear, “This will protect you from all the evil in the world, my precious little bird.”

I looked into his eyes and brushed my hand against the necklace. “Will it protect me from you?” I spoke softly.

Alister stared into my eyes for a brief moment before looking back into the ocean. “Nothing can protect you from me, my raven.”

Nodding, I cradled my knees and winced as my ribs ached—a painful reminder that I wasn’t invincible. He wrapped his arm around me and tugged me into him. “I love you, Demi.”

I bit back the laugh that tickled my mouth.

“Why do you love me?” I drew a little design into the sand.

“My family didn’t love me, either. My father’s prodigal son was Ian. I had to become this, Demi. I needed this. It’s given me purpose and value. This is what you need, too.”

He paused as I closed my eyes.

Sometimes we have to become evil because we were never given a chance to be good.

“I’m sorry for tearing your eyelashes off.” He caressed my eyelids. The sand stung my eyes without them. He tugged out a packet of false lashes and stuck them onto my eyelids carefully. I was frozen in fear and not going to protest as he patted them down.

“You are damaged like me, but you’re also just as resilient. These couples come here with money to escape reality, Demi. What is so bad about helping them do just that? I’m giving these babies homes and families who have always wanted them. You and I both know more than anything what it’s like to be unloved.”

Something inside me shifted. I didn’t know what I felt but something changed.

Alister Ivory was right.

We were both misfits.

He never lied to me the way Bradley and Conrad had. He always told me exactly what he was and how he was.

I looked at him. “Where are all these babies coming from?”

“Demi, La Gabbia is a full-service resort. We provide everything one could dream of. We are gifted with one life…one precious life that is fleeting. Every day we grow closer to death, and since I was small boy, I fantasized about an escape. And that’s what I have created. Look at this, Demi.” I studied him carefully as he waved his hands around. He was wearing an all-white linen outfit. I hadn’t seen him in white before. His preference of black clothing and darkness molded into who he was.

“People are shunned and made to feel embarrassed by their darkest desires, but if they don’t expel that rage and lust somewhere, then how will they be adequate fathers, mothers, wives, and husbands?”

I wanted to scream and tell Alister that this wasn’t the way. But the passion in his eyes about this empire he had created made it clear that there was no way I would ever get through to him.

“I understand now.” I opened my hand to him. And in some sick way, he did make sense.

“I need you to promise me something, Alister.” My chest tightened as I was about to make the biggest trade-off.

He laced his fingers with mine. “What is it?”

“You have to let Layla and Bradley go. I’ll be everything you could ever want in a wife and partner. I’ll make this business my entire world. I just need you to let them go.”

Alister smiled at me. “Demi, the moment you realize I don’t have to negotiate is the moment you will learn to be happy. Bradley and Layla have impeccable genetic makeup. The made-to-order products will be perfection. The price these couples are willing to pay for their custom-made?—”

“It’s not a product, Alister; it’s a baby . It’s a child. It’s my sister’s baby.” I took a deep breath in.

“Demi!” He put his hand up and silenced me. I flinched back in fear he’d hit me.

“They will not be let go of. You will be the best wife, partner, and eventually, the mother to my children, and in return, I will not peel Layla’s nails off. I will not slit her throat and allow her to bleed out. I will not chop Bradley up and blend him into our wellness smoothies. I will not skin her face and sew it onto another nightingale.”

I closed my eyes.

“Do we have an understanding?”

I nodded. There was no negotiation.

“Wonderful. Now, if you’ll stand up and come with me, I’d like to take you to the live cinema tonight as my date. You are to be introduced to the business and be more involved. As my wife, I’d like you to be by my side. Truthfully, I’ll need you to occasionally come with me to check inventory on all fronts. It’s becoming a challenge to have no one to lean on the way I know I can lean on you, my Demi.”

He stood and brushed the sand from his pants before lowering his hand to lift me up.

Wincing again, I shook my long, white cotton gown off.

Glancing once more at the ocean, I thought about drowning.

“And if you ever think about killing yourself, the torture that Layla and Bradley will endure, along with any child they bring into this world, will shake the earth to its core with their screams.”

“I understand.” I clutched Alister’s hand and together, we made our way back to La Gabbia.