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“Yes. I’ve owned the island since the fourteenth century. I’ve accumulated wealth and land, and I’ve hidden away much of it. Terrible things have happened when I revealed my…” He grimaced. “My luck. I made the mistake of telling a few. Now, only we know, and Inigo. We can never tell the world, for reasons I discussed weeks ago.”
“Okay. Assuming you’re immortal.” Cassius looked at him sideways. “This is making my head hurt, seriously. I get why the secrecy. Tell someone like Jacob and he’d use it in the worst ways. Why not form a secret cabal to get world domination and maybe angle us toward world peace? It doesn’t have to be a bad thing. Does it?”
“People fuck things up. Immortality is power. The rich would have it. They’d have a chokehold on the means to immortality within a few decades. The poor would still be there, being stomped on.”
I had to agree with him there. Even democracies seemed to favor the power mad and the billionaires in the climb to the top of the heap.
“I get that, doctor. So, what did you do with this?”
He still hadn’t said how he achieved immortality. I was not asking. All in good time, I figured. The man looked strained to his limits as it was. Cassius might ask, but I would not.
“I lived. I changed from someone who lacked a certain empathy for humanity, to someone who accepts our weaknesses, but never condemns all of us. We are all different, and it will always be so. I’ve grown rich, yes, but I use it wisely, I hope. I help people, anonymously for the most part. I decided I would likely let you both know who I am a week ago. I want you to work for me temporarily, Cassius. You seem to thrive on that. Learn from me, and then if I die one day, you can reap the benefits. Just swear to me, both of you, that this will remain a secret.”
“Done. I will swear, doc. Even if I’m still feeling a bit lost.”
“I promise I’ll keep your secret. It’s your secret anyway, sir. I know there is more you could say to us, but that can wait. And…” I shrugged one shoulder. “If you never tell us more, that’s also okay.”
“Hah.” The doctor leaned forward, snagged my upper arm, then pulled me up the bed and past Cassius, to sit between his legs. He smoothed back my hair from my forehead. “We’ll see. You are the only lost girl who has sorted this out long before I wanted to say anything. Some of them, I never told. Some, I released back into the world once their problems were resolved.”
Cassius crawled up to the top of the bed to join us. “Can I ask you this one thing?”
“Sure.” The doctor waited but he kissed the top of my head.
“She said you had a list of men who were killers? Were you killing them off? I recall you asking me what I would do if I was immortal.”
“And now you’re sleuthing too. Did I kill some bad men? I did. I killed more than are on that list. The others have been lost to time. I did tell you I was doing good. I see that as good.”
“Excellent. I’ll cross out Satan-worshipper then. Phew.”
The doctor reached over and punched Cassius on the arm. “Asshole.”
I leaned my head back to see the doctor. “Tsk. Bad language!” I thought I may as well add to the antics. Anything was better than the serious drama we’d just endured.
He chuckled then wrapped his arm about my neck. “If you weren’t already so very bruised on your behind—”
“And branded. You wrote your names on me.”
“That’s what we forgot to discuss,” he added. “How to punish you without involving spanking your ass.”
I held up a finger. “Safewording here. Defiance? Distress! I already need a retread of my clit due to yesterday.”
“How’s that immortal memory, doc? Do you recall a safeword for this girl? I don’t.”
I had to smile. They were only teasing me. I knew we hadn’t extracted everything from the doctor, but that was fine. We had a lot of time to get used to this and to learn about each other.
The doctor mock strangled me then encouraged me to turn around. He held my face and kissed me, generously, with great care and very slowly. When Cassius cleared his throat, he looked to him.
“I am not kissing you. You can have her, though.”
I untangled my legs and moved to Cassius. Before we could kiss, the doctor spoke.
“We have to visit the first house before we return to the island. I have things to do, security to check. Your ex-employer was removed from CNC membership last night.”
30
CHARITY
We were going to the first house, where this had all begun. I would never have imagined this would be the denouement, the result of those days. I had been despairing of a future, and now I had two lovers—two exceptionally sadistic yet adorable lovers. If one could ever call sadists adorable? It was probably illegal.
