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Penny

Present Day

An Island

A slender girl placed a fresh sparkling water next to my beach chair and I wondered how lass before she died

Not thatKaspar’s servants would help, but I was tempted

“Do you need anything else, Miss Penny?”

She smiled sweetly She was one of the few staff members that went out of her way to be nice to me

I’d still choke her if it meant freedom

“No, thank you”

She gave e how coiven whatever I wanted, whenever I wanted

It was dangerous

It made me soft, content

Desire could be just as deadly as poison

But desire sated? That was even worse

When the serving girl was gone, I got out of ht cover-up fall down to the sand as I walked toward the clear blue ocean waves My bathing suit hite—Kaspar said he liked htly too small Not that it le forest pressed up against the beach nearby, pristine trees and lush bushes and beautifully blossoes and pinks

It was paradise

I was ready to die to get away from it

I tipped my toes into the warm Caribbean water At least, I assumed it was the Caribbean—I didn’t know of any other place with such a beautiful landscape Nobody at the compound would tell me where ere, and every time I asked Kaspar, he told me not to worry

Not that I had many chances to ask him In the week since I woke up in an unfamiliar bed surrounded by unfamiliar furniture and a view of the ocean out my fourth-floor , I saw Kaspar exactly three times