Chapter 1 #2
“Really?” Michael raised an eyebrow and retrieved a folded piece of paper from his breast pocket. “Even your parents agreed you haven’t been in your right mind. This paper grants me total custody of you.”
“You can’t do that,” Madison said, but maybe he could? She felt a numbness crawling up her limbs. That her parents would do this to her…
The man with the tablet and the glasses cleared his throat.
“Sir, I am Voif Hikko of the Tipua-9 System, hired as a facilitator of this project.” He waved a hand when Michael gave him a blank stare.
“It’s far away. You haven’t been there. This woman has endured enough examinations, testing and analysis to be considered perfectly healthy in every way.
I’m afraid I’m going to have to ask you to release her and step away. ”
Madison couldn’t believe her ears. This Voif person was an alien, and he was calmly telling the all-powerful Michael DeLoray to step away. Those were words she was sure Michael had never heard in the whole of his overprivileged life.
She watched her former boyfriend’s face transform from his handsome, genial public facade to the cold, arrogant one she saw all too often in private. His grip turned brutal.
He snapped the paper in the air. “This says she is mine.” Then, as if to emphasize this, he reached out and moved to rip the necklace off. Instead, the chain held and Madison was jerked forward.
In the next instant, one of the Virilian males who had escorted Ferias appeared beside Madison.
With narrowed eyes, he lifted Michael DeLoray’s hand off the necklace and squeezed.
Hard. There was a sickening pop and Michael made a cry of pain.
He released her arm and staggered backwards, cradling his injured hand to his chest.
Madison backed up, knowing she would be the likely recipient of his anger.
But in doing so, she bumped right into the other Virilian male’s broad chest. His hand came up to steady her, then dropped away.
Michael’s glare melted to a sad, imploring gaze.
“Madison. Madison…” he said in a broken voice.
“I love you. You must know I’m nothing without you. ”
Yeah, she’d heard that before. She wouldn’t be falling for it again. This time, with that custody paper—was it even legal?—she’d be spending the rest of the foreseeable future locked in a room, right where he wanted her.
This Voif fellow, who was not a human like he appeared to be, spread his hands. “You can choose to stay or leave, Ms. McGurdy. The decision is yours.” The cunning smile curved Voif’s mouth again. “Not his.”
Madison reached back and grasped the Virilian male’s wrist to keep them from leaving.
Her worst fear was that these Virilians would change their mind and depart without her, but they did not budge.
The one at her back held still and did not pull from her grasp.
The one who had injured Michael’s hand stood partly between her and the sadistic man she’d been unable to escape for two years.
“I’m leaving.”
“That settles it.” Voif nodded and tapped something on his tablet. “Madison McGurdy confirmed for departure.”
Michael took a step forward.
Voif shook his head and made a tut-tut noise with his tongue.
“I would get back in your silly vehicle and leave, Michael DeLoray.” Madison caught a glimpse of the alien’s eyes, which flashed black and red before settling back to brown.
“If you think your hand hurts, it’s nothing compared to what you would feel if I had to restrain you. ”
The threat must have registered, because Michael eased back. “When you come back, I will find you, Madison. I will wait, and I will find you.”
Madison gave him a faint smile, feeling free for the first time in several years. “No, Michael. You won’t.”
She wouldn’t be returning to Earth. Not to him, not to the parents who wanted her to stay with Michael and endure his controlling behavior because of the status, and not to the system that allowed men like Michael to do as they liked.
She turned her back on the man, the people, the world she would never set eyes on again.
The Virilians moved to either side of her. One gestured toward a ship, but she hesitated. That couldn’t be right. It was the Sage, Ferias’ ship. She looked up at the Virilian with questioning eyes.
He nodded and gestured again toward the Sage’s ship. Well, it had to be right. She walked up the ramp with the two males and did not look back. The ramp closed, shutting out the last rays of the evening light and the sound of Michael DeLoray bellowing her name.
“Well, now,” said a heavily accented, feminine voice. Ferias stood before her, hands folded and chin high. She spoke English! “Are you ready?”
“I’m really going with you?”
“You are.” The female held herself with the air of royalty, which she probably was. It would have been intimidating had Madison not grown up being relentlessly groomed to know how to behave among these sorts of people.
Madison nodded, light with relief. “Where are we going?”
“The planet Virilia.”