Nothing compared to the rush of powerful emotions she got as she dropped through the air toward the crashing waves and rocks below.
She didn't care if she survived the fall or not, all that mattered was that for the first time in so many years, she was in charge of herself and what happened to her, and nobody else got a say.
Those men dressed all in black could claim all they wanted that they weren't going to hurt her, but she wasn't stupid enough to believe that. Everybody hurt everybody else in this world, and they’d shown up in this world, so they had to be part of it.
As if she’d be stupid enough to believe they were going to take her home. As far as Maya was concerned, she didn't even have a home anymore. Her family was no longer part of her. Although she hadn't stopped loving them, she wasn't broken enough to recognize there was no going back.
Which was why she didn't care if her body got smashed to pieces on the rocks below her. Or if the waves dragged her under, giving her a watery grave. She’d been living out a death sentence for years now, her fate sealed the moment she was abducted by human traffickers, and she was more than ready to just get it over with already and die.
“No!” a voice shouted from somewhere above her. The man who had carried her out of her cage, who had touched her tenderly in the car, and who had tried to convince her to trust him, sounded genuinely horrified that she’d just jumped to what she was sure was certain death.
He didn't get it, though.
Couldn’t.
Even if he thought he did because he claimed he’d been kept in a cage as well.
Despite drifting away in her mind so often, she wasn’t lost inside its depths. Maya wasn't so far gone that she didn't knowthe name of the man who called himself Master. His name was, in fact, Dr. Gardner, and he was a crazy, sadistic, delusional, psychopathic scientist who believed he was a god who was going to create a new and superior race.
Seconds were ticking past, carrying her further away from Master, and closer toward her chosen destiny. The man above her could be worried she’d just jumped off a cliff, but she knew it was only because he would get in trouble for not delivering her to be sold to her next owner. Never again would she make the mistake of believing anything anyone said to her.
The landing was harder than Maya had been expecting, probably because she hadn't properly prepared for it, too busy being lost in the freedom that her fall gave her.
Still, the freshness of the cold water engulfing her in an icy embrace quickly overrode the shock to her system. The water felt so good against her bare skin, it was nature at its finest, and she didn't care about anything else.
She was free, and for this blissful moment, that was all Maya cared about.
Making an attempt to swim to the surface was the furthest thing from her mind, and instead, she allowed herself to sink deeper into the depths of the ocean. The current was strong, tossing her about like she was nothing, and since she already knew she was nothing but a teeny, tiny, little dot in the vastness of the universe, she didn't worry about it.
Worry had no place down there.
Here she could drift, be content, succumb to whatever was going to happen, and on her own terms.
When darkness began to edge into her mind, Maya didn't fight against it. Why would she? She was ready for the end, proud that she’d managed to fight through the fog she usually encouraged to waft around her and find her own way out.
Lulled into a sleepy state by the water that was constantly rocking her, she had a smile on her face as she finally slipped away.
Death was a mercy that she would never take for granted again.
Her mouth opened, her burning lungs screaming for air she couldn’t care less about, and in its place came a rush of water.
Then there was nothing.
Until a burning rush of bile choked her as it rushed up her throat.
Someone was touching her, rolling her, stroking a hand down her back, and immediately Maya was gripped by fear.
No.
So close to freedom, only to be snatched back from the brink.
She wasn't dead. The man from the cliffs must have jumped into the ocean after her, found her and somehow gotten her out of the water. Now he was bringing her back to life, but she didn't want to live.
It was so unfair.
But there was nothing she could do about it. Like always, she was never in control of herself. She had no autonomy and was something to be used and abused for other people’s desires.
“Come on, babydoll, get that water out,” the voice soothed, and it was so gentle, so encouraging, all soft and sweet, that she hated this man more than she’d ever hated another person in her life.
