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“As I said before, she is the most beautiful woman. She always has been, and it was a talking point around here. Everybody knew of her and yet nobody ever got close because Apollo was infatuated with her from a very young age.”
He squeezes me tighter as he breathes a little faster.
“The day she went missing, we were on the mainland attending to business, which wasn’t uncommon. When we returned, they told us she never made it back from the town.”
I remain silent, but my heart is racing as I unravel a little more of the mystery.
“We searched for her for two days straight. Traced her footsteps and found her bike by the side of the road. Apollo was out of his mind, and I shared his worry. It didn’t look good and yet despite all our best efforts, nobody knew anything. She just disappeared off the island and was never seen again.”
He exhales sharply. “We used all our contacts and our best interrogation techniques to find her and only a chance encounter last month gave us some hope. We were in New York, helping the Vieris with a problem they had and overheard two guys in a club talking about Madeira Island. The conversation was very interesting.”
“What did they say?”
I am holding onto every breath he takes because this will concern me and he says in his sexy voice, “They were discussing the owner, Hosea Madeira. They referred to him as a mad son of a bitch and swapped stories. Then they spoke about a young girl who he brought out every night in some kind of ceremony before the party got started.”
“Ceremony?” This doesn’t sound good, and he turns on his side and stares deep into my eyes and I swear the moon dips behind a cloud in fear of what is reflected there.
“This girl was painted black and brought into the main hall and made to stand in the center of the room beside him while he greeted his guests and made his selection from the visiting women. Then they would follow a procession outside where she was tied to a crucifix.”
“That’s seriously creepy.” I shudder, and Adonis stares at me with a grim expression.
“Hosea won’t allow anyone to touch her. She is guarded and worshipped as the keeper of pure souls.”
“I don’t know what to say. It’s kind of fucked-up.”
He nods. “It’s how his mind works. Hosea Madeira is dangerous. He lost his mind many years ago, and this is just another crazy example of that.”
“But I don’t understand what he hopes to achieve. It’s madness.”
Adonis shrugs. “It makes perfect sense when you understand the story behind it.”
He reaches out and touches my face with a gleam of lust in his eye. “Hosea is one step away from madness, but he is also obsessed with Greek mythology. He studied it at college and most of his properties are riddled with statues of the Greek gods. It’s his obsession, and he is using his island to re-enact one of his favorite myths.”
“Eros and Psyche.”
I understand now, and Adonis laughs. “You know your subject well.”
I shrug. “I see the appeal, but I doubt I’d take it to those extremes.”
Adonis nods. “It makes sense why he came to the island to search for the most beautiful girl that everyone was talking about. You see, Psyche was an impressive mortal girl who even surpassed the beauty of Aphrodite herself, and men from all over the land would visit to admire her beauty. Psyche also means soul and for a man with one of the rottenest souls on earth, he saw Phoebe as a cleanser of his. She is the antithesis of him. The fact Phoebe was engaged to a man named after a Greek God was probably the icing on his cake. He removed her to his island and is praying she falls in love with him.”
“Love cannot live without trust.” I remind him of the powerful message behind the myth and he nods. “He will not touch her to gain her trust.”
“But how do you know it was her?”
“We didn’t. That was only confirmed later when Alexei was sent a photograph from one of his contacts. However, the men’s description was enough to capture our interest. They told us the only way onto the island was via Hosea’s boat, which you could only board with a gold leaf invitation. Don Vieri has been working on securing one so we can check out the story.”
“What will you do if it is her? You said the island is heavily guarded. I mean, this man is a Columbian drugs lord. Security will be off the scale.”
Now I’m worried and Adonis grins, a malevolence surrounding it that takes my breath away, and he growls, “The Vieris are a family who are extremely capable of taking on a man like him. If they have the backing of the Romanovs and us behind them, they don’t really stand a chance.”
He stares deep into my eyes and hisses, “That is why I want someone else to go there in your place. If Phoebe is there, she will be leaving with us, and you may get hurt.”
I fall silent because I never considered it’s dangerous, but my heart is racing at the promise of the adventure I am seeking.
This is a world I know nothing about. People I don’t understand and would ordinarily never encounter. The romantic in me wants to help liberate Phoebe, and the warrior in me wants to see Hosea Madeira get what he deserves. But most of all I want to prove I’m not just some airhead heiress who shops for a living and does brunch, so I stare back at him with a determination that shocks even me as I whisper firmly, “Don’t you dare try to stop me, Adonis. I gave my word, and I will not take it back.”
For a moment, he just stares into my eyes with an expression that is impossible to read. Then he tugs my face to his and kisses me slowly, deeply, and with purpose. It’s as if we are signing our agreement in a far more intimate way and when he pulls back, he whispers, “Come with me.”
