Chapter 37
“Ventura!” Callum exclaims as our car comes to a halt outside the Marina. His sudden remark jolts us out of our sluggish stupor. “Isn’t this where they filmed that animal movie Ace Ventura?”
He glances at Asher expectantly as if seeking confirmation.
Instead of dignifying Callum”s query with a response, Asher responds with a quizzical raise of the eyebrow and a sneer that speaks volumes.
“No idea, mate,” Jagger interjects on Asher”s behalf.
“Wasn’t asking you. But I know Asher probably does.” He quips, shooting a smirk at Ash, sitting next to me.
“Piss off, mate, it’s four in the fucking morning. You’re way too awake,” Asher scoffs.
The guys were keen to scrap the rest of the filming schedule, but I stood firm. The last thing I want is to be the reason for setbacks. We need to do this regardless of the psychopath trying to ruin this for us and kill me. I’m determined to see this through, and the stalker can go to hell for all I care.
The film director decided that the safety of their crew was crucial, so they limited it to just the people necessary and changed the location and the yacht at the last minute, ensuring only a few trusted team members were informed.
We’re going to film on a yacht where no one other than the film team and us will be. Rick had already vetted the staff on the yacht, and everyone had checked out. He’ll be joining us on board, and the other guy, Marcus, who is currently hired to be his second in command, is guarding Brittney and Storm back in LA.
I”ve made it clear to Catalina that she should stay put in New York for the time being. There is no way I’ll drag her into the line of fire again. We had a conversation last night over the phone, and the moment she found out we were still shooting on the yacht, she expressed serious misgivings and warned me against it, citing some seriously bad juju vibes she was having.
I love Catalina, but she’s no real witch. And I’m still upset with her about drugging my tea all these years and making me think I suffered from narcolepsy brought on by stress. We haven’t yet had the talk because I want to do this in person and not over the phone.
“Actually, FYI, Ace Ventura was the name of the Pet Detective operating in Miami. Nothing to do with Ventura, California,” Asher says, getting out of the vehicle before anyone else has a chance to say anything.
“Such a nerd,” Callum chuckles, and I can’t help how sexy my animal geek is as I watch his ass in those fitted ripped denim jeans. I tilt my head as I step out onto the pavement, watching him stride confidently down the gangway towards our docked yacht.
“Stare at his arse any longer, and your neck might get stuck that way,” Jagger murmurs in my ear as he joins me.
“Yeah, we’ll have to call you Slanted Roof!” Callum jokes, earning a chuckle from the others.
“Seriously, bruv,” Haze adds, “You’re way too energetic for this time in the morning.”
As the guys continue ahead, I linger behind and pull Callum aside.
”You alright, babe?” I ask, tilting my head forward toward him.
“Yeah, siren. Why do you ask?”
“Because usually, you’d be the one cursing at how early in the morning it is.”
“Can’t a bloke for once be happy?”
“Hmm, I guess so,” I say, vaguely apprehensive, joining the others on the docks to board the massive yacht.
I’ve been feeling weird all morning like a bad cold one can’t seem to get rid of. Except I don’t have a cold, nor am I ill. It’s more like a feeling, but I think it has more to do with the other day and my trailer blowing up, causing my nerves to be frazzled.
Bastard’s trying to kill me, but this time, he warned me it would be his end game. But I refuse to hide. Nor will I be running anywhere. At some point, he’s going to slip, and it’ll be his undoing.
We decided against staying the night in Ventura or on the yacht, so we’ll be filming until quite late this evening and returning to LA when we’re done. Everyone’s on deck having lunch right now, but I’d feel better if I lay down for a quick nap before we start shooting again. The makeup artist had to put a ton of concealer to hide the dark bags under my eyes due to the lack of sleep I’d been suffering.
With someone trying to kill me, it”s hard to find relaxation, let alone sleep. I’m hoping that the calm rocking of the yacht and being far away from civilization might help slow down my twirling nerves and give me the much-needed rest.
I open the door to one of the many cabins, and Rick’s silently trailing behind me. Technically, I don’t need him here, but the guys threatened him within an inch of his life if he left me when one of them wasn’t with me. I’ve nicknamed him Silent Bob, from Jay and Silent Bob, but he didn’t get the joke even though he’s decades older than me. He’s a pretty serious, older guy who wants to do his job.
This is a luxury superyacht, and everything so far has been on par with the fancier glam lifestyle. I have no idea who this yacht belongs to or whether it was rented for the day, but this cabin is something else. The floors are light grey wood, and the bed is freaking massive.
“Yup,” I say aloud, “This’ll do.”
“Hey, Eddie!” I turn to catch Asher coming down the stairs towards us. “I thought I’d join you.”
“Ha! Yeah, but no,” I smirk. “I came down here to get away from all of you. I’m drained.” I step inside and go to close the door, but he puts his foot between, blocking the entrance, looking peeved.
“I’m a little knackered too. Come on, Eddie, we can snuggle up together, and I promise that’s all we’ll do.”
I roll my eyes, and he closes the door behind him. Strolling over to the bed, I remove my shoes and leather mini-skirt.
“You’re so full of shit, Ash,” I say, pulling the crisp, pristine linens off the king-sized bed. “Since when do any of you climb into bed with me just to sleep?”
“I promise, darling,” he raises his hands at me as if that’s supposed to support his argument.
“Any hanky panky and you’re out, I mean it!”
He chuckles, removing his shoes and socks. “Hanky panky?” he looks at me bemused. “What are you 70?”
“If I don’t get my rest, I risk looking like one soon. So cuddle me, but if a hand starts to roam, you’re out.”
He slides into bed with me, chuckling, and I turn my back to him so he can cuddle up and wrap his arm around my front. His aftershave smells fresh and sweet, and I love how I fit so perfectly in Asher’s body, like I was made to fit for him.
I feel the yacht gently rocking with the rhythmic movements of the calm sea, creating a soothing lullaby. The large window surrounding the cabin offers panoramic views of the tranquil ocean stretching out to the horizon. The sunlight plays on the water’s surface, casting a warm, golden glow that fills the room.
Closing my eyes, I allow the gentle caress of the sunlight to warm my face. The sound of seagulls’ calls in the distance blends with the gentle lapping of waves against the yacht’s hull.
With each passing moment, the worries of the world seem to drift away, replaced by a profound sense of peace. My mind is in a blissful rest.
It all reminds me of a time when I was on a yacht like this. His arm wrapped around my body, as it does now. Feeling the rhythmic rise and fall of his chest on my back. Far out at sea, undisturbed by the outside world. I’d stir in my sleep to find him facing me, his black mask on, concealing his facial features, and if I attempted to sneak away through the large windows, my chain would alert him, and those dark brown, almost black eyes would pop open.
“Where are you going, little mouse?”
“Please,” I’d beg.
Every day, I’d beg him to let me go, promising to never tell anyone, and he would yank the chain around my neck, pulling me back to his bed. Those large ugly hands on my skin. Touching me everywhere.
“Please, stop.” I’d beg as he’d lick my skin as if wanting to devour me, and I’d be unable to move because of the drugs he’s injecting me with.
“Please take me home,” My tears were the only parts of me that freely moved.
“Eddie.”
“My name is Little Mouse, Mr. Mask.”
“Eddie.”
“Eddie.”
“Fucking hell, Eden Rivers!”
“Wake up, princess.”
Suddenly, the dream fades, and I’m staring at four faces.
“What?” I ask, unsure how I got here.
“Was he here?” I ask, terror ripping through me.
“No, baby. He’s not. He’ll never touch you again.” Callum scoops me up from the corner I’m crouched in and goes to take me back to the bed.
“Not the bed, please. Not the bed!”
He looks around, and one of the men tells him to settle me in a large brown leather armchair.
All four men gather around, crouching down to my level.
“What happened?” I ask, confused, running a shaky hand through my hair.
“Do you remember when we lay down to sleep?” Asher asks, positioning himself beside my knees; he takes one of my shaking hands and squeezes it with reassurance.
I nod.
“It probably wasn’t more than ten minutes later when you started screaming, begging, talking gibberish, and then when I tried to calm you down, you fell off the bed and rolled over to the corner of the room, screaming and crying. Rick broke the door down, thinking someone had broken in from the window, and I told him to get the others here.”
“Siren,” Callum addresses me with concern all over his face. “Did you have a flashback? Of him?”
I nod, trying to catch my breath back. My free hand goes to my chest scar, and I caress it as if it’s to soothe my nerves.
“You know what happened?” Jagger asks him.
“I asked him not to tell you three because I knew the truth would set you into monsters and on a mission to find him. Plus, I wasn’t ready to talk about it. Now I know why I was never ready to talk about it.”
They remain stunned but silent, obviously wanting me to continue.
“My mind blocked the truth. I spent ten years trying to piece what happened to me together, and at some point, years ago, I thought I did, but something always prevented me from talking about it to someone. Even to you guys. Now I know why.”
Each man takes a seat somewhere nearby. Asher remains close to me, still holding my hand.
“They deserve to know what happened,” Callum says. “But it’s your story to tell, siren.”
I nod. “As do you, Callum, you only know a small part.”
Asher squeezes my knee with his free hand, “We’re here for you, Eddie.”
“I think what I have to tell may ultimately change the way you view me. It may completely destroy us, but I shouldn’t have to bear the weight of this anymore.”
These men are the catalysts to free me from the prison I put myself in all these years.
“I can’t just erase my past. What happened to me happened. I have to be strong and let you know, be completely honest, and have faith in the outcome. Fear is a weapon he’s using against me, and I need to liberate myself.”
Jagger brings me a glass of water. I free my hand from Ash, take it with a shaky hand, and drink it. The liquid is like velvet, going down my dry throat.
I hand it back to someone and push my hair back with both hands as I contemplate telling my story.
I’m really going to do this and tell them everything
“Ten years ago, Brittney, the girls, and I went to a bar in LA to celebrate her getting a role in some series or movie. I don’t remember what it was. You guys had already flown back to England as Oliver summoned you for something,” I close my eyes as the images play in my head.
“We already established that Oliver planned to release the video of us with ZMA media and wanted you guys out of LA and away from me when the scandal broke. That night at the bar, someone must have slipped something into my drink as I started to feel ill, so I went to the bathroom and threw up. Thinking I came down with a stomach bug, I told the girls I was leaving, but they were all so wasted that I doubt they even noticed my leaving.
“What happened next is a little patchy. I remember being at home, but I wasn’t alone. I know by that point I was drugged but still able to walk and somewhat talk, but he was controlling me as if I was a puppet, and I relied on him to guide me around. I discovered later that my passport was missing, so I knew he had taken it, and I think that was the reason for taking me abroad.
“I don’t remember getting on a plane, but I know he took me somewhere foreign. I came around in the back of a car or something, and when I looked out, all I remembered was that we weren’t in the US. Until today, I didn’t realize he kept me on a ship or yacht. I always thought it was a hotel room because of the luxurious linens and décor. But even then, he kept me drugged so I wouldn’t remember much.
“Over the years, I pieced it, bit by bit. I remember the pain of trying to stay conscious, trying to find a way to escape, trying to find something I could kill him with, but he was meticulous. For five days, he kept me chained by my neck, nude, locked in a cabin, and continuously raped me. Every night, he would sleep beside me, and if I was conscious enough, I would try and get up to escape, but the chain would alert him, and he’d yank me back.
“As my punishment for trying to escape or for biting him to hurt him, he’d use humiliation to get back at me, he’d invite his men to watch me use the bathroom, and sometimes he’d tie me up and let them watch as he did all kinds of things to me. He allowed them to touch me and do unthinkable things to me, but he never let them rape me with their dicks. That was reserved only for him. Eventually, I caved in and stopped fighting him, and he stopped inviting his men. He dehumanized me, and I became a mere vessel for him to assault me.
“ I didn’t lie to you when I told you I don’t know who he is. He wore a black mask the whole time and spoke to me through a voice device. He called me his little mouse because I was too easy to catch.
“At the time, I had no idea how long I had been gone, but I remember flying back with him on a private jet. I stayed calm as much as someone could in such a situation, afraid he wouldn’t return me if I reacted otherwise. I woke up on my living room floor, not remembering anything. But the TV in my kitchen was on, blaring out the scandal with the video, and then Oliver phoned me to more or less tell me I was being fired from the band. Things started to slowly come back, but it felt more like a bad dream than it actually happened to me.
“I had tried phoning all of you, but at the time, I never realized Oliver had planned for the video scandal to happen. The sad part was that no one even realized I was kidnapped or missing all those days. Not a single soul worried for me. I didn’t know where you were. I thought the scandal was your way of breaking up with me. You have to remember I had just suffered a nightmare for five fucking days. That same evening, the masked man with his two soldiers broke into my home. Now I realize they are pros at disabling security systems.
“He found me in the safe room, held a knife to my neck, and said my life will always be in danger. And if I ever spoke about it, he would come and kill me. So I couldn’t go to the police. I didn’t feel safe. If something slipped and he found out, he would have killed me. And then there was the whole video scandal on top. If the media got hold of this, they would have eaten me alive, saying it was probably some fabricated bullshit to take the attention away from the scandal.
“Catalina returned to LA the next day. She had taken some personal time off and went to see her family in New York, but she flew back when the scandal broke, and the media circus surrounding it blew up.
“She found me in my bedroom staring into space, wrapped in my duvet. She said I was pale, like a dead person in a zombie-like state. That’s when she suggested we take a break. I told her I needed to disappear for a while, but she insisted on joining me. What I told you about Mexico and being on the run for a long time was all real.
“For years, I kept asking myself what I did to invite this evil into my life. There had been times when I contemplated ending it all. He stripped me of my human rights. My life was stolen from me in the most violent way possible. It took an extremely long time; that never-ending feeling just lingered on, but it seemed like it took forever to reclaim the shattered pieces of my life.”
I open my eyes, my face drenched in the tears I shed, my vision a little hazy.
“Now that you know about the rape and humiliation I endured, you might want to run for the hills. Or maybe not. But I don”t need your pity. I deserve love in my life, which is why, after all these years, I decided to let you back in. I didn”t leave because of what I thought you did to me. I left because of what he did to me.”
My vision is clear now, and all four men kneel before me, their faces and bodies expressing a mix of tearfulness, deep agitation, and anger.
“Never,” Jagger declares firmly, his voice raw and resolute. “Never will I ever consider leaving you, Eden. You are my everything, and I’ll love you until my dying breath. But you need to know this, darling: it will be my life’s mission to hunt that bastard down. I swear to you, I will find him, and I will kill him.”
Each man in the room echoes similar sentiments, pledging unwavering loyalty and love. And despite everything we”ve been through over the years, I believe them. I trust every word they say, and a shiver runs down my spine because I know they won”t rest until they find the person who violated and terrorized me, fulfilling their promise to protect me.
I rise to my feet, and they follow suit, stepping forward to embrace me. My legs feel weak from the adrenaline that surged through me as I shared my story, but these men will hold me up, ensuring I don”t fall.
There isn’t a doubt in my mind about the sincerity of the oath these men have pledged to me.