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“There’s not much to tell, really. Every family was allowed one child. They had to teach them the bible. It was forbidden to talk during meals unless the men believed it was educational to recite bible passages. Then they would head to work and the children to school, returning to help with their chores and spend the evening doing bible studies.”
“You have got to be kidding me?” I’m appalled, and she nods, not really understanding how wrong it was.
“Marriage was arranged when the woman turned nineteen. The day after she left school. It was a carefully chosen path, and the husband was agreed between the father under the reverend’s direction. Then the woman becomes the man’s property and bears him a child and cares for the home and family. She is not allowed to work and must bend to her husband’s will in every way.”
Maybe it’s not so bad after all. It’s not much different to my plan for her, although luxury living will play an important role in her life. I expect the best and my wife mustbethe best. Once again, I congratulate myself on finding Purity. The hard work has already been done and she will not expect much in return.
Perfect.
Then she ruins my carefully laid out plan by saying with a deep sigh. “I always knew I didn’t want that life. I wanted more. I sensed there was more and when Miss. Sinclair came to Heaven, I saw a woman I wanted to be more than anything.”
“Tell me about that meeting.”
I’m interested and she says with excitement, “I returned from school, and I saw a huge white car parked outside our house.”
“Don’t you mean black?”
She shakes her head. “No, it was definitely white. I decided in that moment I wanted a white car one day. Anyway, Miss. Sinclair was leaning against it, and she looked unreal. She was the most beautiful woman I had ever seen, so chic and elegant, and her clothes were fashionable. Her hairstyle was sophisticated, and she stood on high heels that made her legs look incredible.”
She laughs out loud. “Beauty is cruel. I see that now because it must take a lifetime of education to walk properly on them.”
I love how her eyes sparkle as she casts her mind back, and she takes a sip of coffee and continues.
“She saw me approaching and ground her cigarette into the dust and smiled. I was curious, and she came over and acted so kind. She told me I was pretty and asked for my name. She said she loved it and if I ever wanted to leave Heaven, she would help find me a job. Then she gave me her card, but before I could say anything, a man came out of our house and called her name, quite sharply I might add.”
What the fuck?
I say casually, “This man, who was he?”
She shrugs. “I don’t know. He was just a man in a white suit. I remember thinking he was nowhere near as sophisticated as Miss. Sinclair. He appeared angry about something and before I knew it, they left. As I crept into the house, I heard my father on the telephone speaking to someone and he sounded angry.”
“What did he say?”
“Something about the wrong man and he would never do business with the monkey again. It was the organ grinder or nothing.”
She rolls her eyes. “It was a strange conversation that stopped the minute my mom caught me and told me loudly to go to my room and change for supper. You know, it was a curious encounter, but I had listened to similar conversations over the years. Many strangers stopped by our house on their way through, mainly men in expensive cars but never a woman. My father wouldneverdo business with a woman. It just wasn’t acceptable, which is probably why Miss. Sinclair waited outside.”
James reappears with her breakfast, and she falls on it with a ravenous appetite, leaving me to reflect on our conversation.
I remember the trip. Not long after Gabriella started working for me, she told me about a producer deep in the middle of nowhere we could do business with.
They had fields of opium of good value, and we could make a killing with none of the usual risks involved in importing the stuff over the borders. I sent her there to negotiate a contract I didn’t have the time to do myself, so who the fuck is this man and since when did we travel in white cars?
Something is very wrong here and I will discover what the hell Gabriella has been playing at while my attention was elsewhere.
CHAPTER25
KILLIAN
She is beyond excited. After breakfast we drove to the airport, but it isn’t any kind of airport because there is only one jet waiting, and it’s painted in black with a gold hawk on the tail.
I have been brooding since I slammed the door on her earlier and despite her attempts at conversation over breakfast, I haven’t said much at all.
I grasp her hand and pull her after me and as we head up the steps, she blinks in wonder when we head inside.
I’m guessing she’s never seen anything like this in her life as she gazes in wonder at the chrome tables with black leather seats atop a cream luxurious carpet. There are couches and a dining table with cream leather chairs set around it. Blinds hide the windows and there is even a bar set at one end. A curtain leads through an arch, which is where I head to a corridor with several doors leading off it. She gasps when I push her into the furthest one.
“Wow! Is this…?”
