Sappho Intl (Songs of Silk Book 1) Page 29

  “I can just slip out of the door and leave you to your precious Sappho Intl. It would be like I never was here at all.” She yelled with a stark sarcasm.

  And as her voice echoed from the other side of the room, I began to look at the painting of my mother on the wall. Sir Sheik was right—It was time to end this.

  Sir Sheik had violated and ended the life of my friend, had violated my home and was now attempting to violate and destroy PrimaDonna, as well as the vitality of Sappho Intl and the Sapphic Trust. This was an un-warranted assault on a life that I was just beginning to accept as my own. And it was time to step up and end this madness.

  Sir Sheik’s wielding hands and clasped gun passed slowly before my eyes. And right before she had the chance to pass the rest of her body beyond me, I had leapt from my crouched position to grapple with her wrists in an attempt to loosen her grip around the glock.

  I banged her hand against the antique desk, with as much force as I could muster, and the gun slid out of her grasp and onto the floor. And as she struggled to pick up the gun, I slid my body around her back and my forearm around her throat to administer a firm sliding collar choke. I was now wrapped around her like an anaconda and showed no leniency, as she flailed her arms and body about desperately. She backed me mercilessly against a column in an effort to slacken the hold that my constricted arm held around her throat. And when that failed she tried again, to no avail. She finally fell forward over the same chair that I’d been crouched behind and we both tumbled, head over feet, over the arm of it to crash upon the floor.

  The gun was now in our sights again and we both scuffled and rushed to regain our balance. She was ahead of me until I tackled her back to the ground and scissor swept her to become mounted on top of her.

  I grabbed the lapel of her velvet jacket, wound back and struck her across the jaw. And despite the wincing pain that’d been delivered, her gaze was crude and filled with hate.

  With my adrenaline spiked and jutting wildly, I glared into her dilated blue and green eye and couldn’t help but see a dying Flourish. So I punched her again in anger. I began to see my own hidden fury in her eyes. It was a deep and unsettling rage that dwelled and rose from the inner recesses of my mind. Over and over again, I would strike her with an unrestrained wrath, despite her futile attempts to shield my strikes—until I heard PrimaDonna yelling and crying.

  “Silk! Please!”

  I finally caught myself. And with a bloodied fist, I picked up the nearby gun and stood to tower over Sir Sheik’s blood-spattered face, which for once lacked even a hint of smug repulsion.

  I aimed the gun’s barrel to her head, even though she lay unconscious. I’d never wanted to cause harm to anyone like I wanted to end the mortality of Sir Sheik.

  My whole body shook with the violent surge and begged my finger to pull the trigger. And even as she struggled to open her eyes, within her bludgeoned and weakened state, she too dared me to fire the deadly shot to her temple.

  “You can’t do it. You’re…soft…and weak. You will never belong.” She whispered and faintly smiled.

  She would be an asshole to the very end. There was no hope for her. And as she lay powerless on the ground, my hand shook and urged me to end the terror and existence of this loathsome creature.

  “Don’t do it, Silk. Please, she’s not worth it.”

  I took a deep breath and steadied my focus. The breath of life began to fill my lungs and the love of the cleansed air began to soothe my broken spirit. I began to function with a newfound clarity and was resolved to stand down. Fighting fire with fire was not the answer—I had to be the bigger stallion.

  “When I first saw you, I thought you were one of the most stylish studs that I’d ever seen. And then when I heard your name, I assumed that you must’ve been very wise and revered. But you're no sheik—you're nothing but a sad and sorry soul. You thrive on the illusion of control by using people's fears against them—all to mask your own fear of loss, betrayal and abandonment. All to mask your own insecurities and the things that you can’t control. Right now you lack the ability to even love yourself. You've made a joke of yourself and I feel sad for you. I pray that you find peace one day…Sir.”

  I laid the gun down onto a nearby table as Sir Sheik lay on the ground defeated and bloody.

  I moved across the room to embrace and comfort a drained and damaged PrimaDonna.

  "Everything will be alright.”

  “Our security is on the way.” She held onto me with eyes closed and trembled as she sobbed into my shoulder. “Oh, Flourish.”

  As I looked up at the painting of Sappho, I gave my appreciation to her guidance and her protective light. And although the damage had been done, it could have been much more fatal.

  And then I saw a shadow moving out the side of my eye. A bloody Sir Sheik had somehow gotten up and yet again I found myself at the tail end of her pointed gun.

  “You just don’t quit do you, Sir Sheik?”

  “Silk, I knew you were weak.”

  PrimaDonna looked up as I slowly stepped away from her.

  “Not weak—just well intentioned.”

  “Well, it seems that I'll have the last laugh…” She smiled mockingly. “…because the joke…it appears…is on you.”

  She pulled the trigger.

  And once again, it seemed that I was protected—as the gun had not fired.

  She looked at the gun and tried again, as I braced myself.

  Sir Sheik’s gun was out of bullets.

  "Incredible!" She shook her head and sniffed. "Well, I guess, every stallion has her turn.”

  The Sheik looked at her long time friend and lover with contempt.

  “Good-bye PrimaDonna.”

  She flung the emptied gun and ran out the door.

  PrimaDonna looked at me in amazement. She clutched my neck and resumed her grief-stricken release as the sound of Sir Sheik’s footsteps echoed down the hallway.

  The Sheik had gotten away, but her reign of terror was finally over.

  13

  Inhale. Exhale. Purge.

  This week had been a moment of silence and a deep and healing meditation in my life, as I’d been programmed to execute in moments of tragedy before. I allowed my mind to take this time to absorb the truth, and my body to absorb peace, in order to see my soul steep within a cleansing bath of forgiveness in the weeks to come.

  PrimaDonna slid into the white leather seat of the black Lincoln town car ever so coolly, despite being wrought with grief and anguish over the untimely death of the perished Flourish. And as we passed through the memorial park that held her burial plot, PrimaDonna still dabbed at tears shed for her closest friend, with a black satin handkerchief. Her tombstone had been marked with the sign of Sappho as Flourish now rested in peace amongst all the Sapphians that passed before her.

  We hadn’t spoken a word to each other, even as we paid our respects to Flourish. And as we now sat next to each other within the deafening silence, it seemed that I still searched for the words to break the pain that Sir Sheik’s betrayal left between us.

  “Her mother and father had long since passed. We were the only family she had left.”

  She peered through her black funeral veil and out of the window to the far distant memories that she was now left with.

  “We were all so close…I still can't believe this has happened.”

  Her black opera gloves now clutched onto her handkerchief for strength and consolation.

  “Sam betrayed not just my trust, but the trust of all of us. I don’t think things will ever be the same.”

  “What doesn’t kill us makes us stronger, Prima. If you give up hope now, Flourishes confession and death would’ve all been for naught.”

  “You’re right. I just miss her so much, Silk.” She looked at me with blood shot eyes.

  She continued her cold gaze onto the outside world, as the town car crept slowly through the streets.

  PrimaDonna was a goddess whom, in my eye
s, deserved to live an unblemished life. And although the Sheik forewarned of her current marital status and inability to ever bequeath her love to another, I still managed to feel that I was hopelessly in love with her.

  I desperately wanted to take her from this place of anguish to an escape far, far away from grief. I wanted to be the solution to the crisis. I wanted to be the peace to her mourning.

  And yet Sir Sheik’s words still haunted me. I needed my own answers and right now might be the only time that I would get them.

  “Prima, why didn’t you tell me that you were married?”

  “It was irrelevant at the time…there were much larger things at play.”

  Her voice was low and somber.

  “There were much larger things at play?”

  I shook my head. It was no use pussyfooting around. I needed to be direct.

  “So, did you feel anything for me that night? Was any of what you felt real or was I just another fantasy fulfilled for you? Was I just another game…a cheap thrill?”

  “Of course not, Silk!”

  She placed her handkerchief into her tiny purse and took out a silver compact mirror to apply foundation around her eyes, as she quickly began to recompose herself.

  “Sure seems to look that way from my angle.”

  “Listen, Silk.” She closed the case and placed it back into her purse. She then removed her veil and looked me directly in the eyes, as her words began to seep from her classic, red lips.

  “Sir Sheik said a lot of things that night. I can only say that you’ve made me feel like no other person in the world. But I’ve learned that sometimes you have to look way beyond yourself, to the greater good, to be able to secure a way of life that you believe in.”

  “Did you love the Sheik?”

  “I cared for and loved the Sheik more than anyone has ever loved the Sheik. More than she even loved herself. But I was never IN love with the Sheik. She was bewitching and had become dangerously infatuated. I've been in denial for a long time and she’d been brooding and brewing for just as long, if not longer. I guess her pot finally boiled over. I've been a fool... a fool to think...”

  Her words trailed off as she returned to her solace that hovered outside her window.

  “Do you love your husband?”

  “He was a childhood friend and we grew up together. Ours was a marriage of convenience and a business arrangement between our families, while I was still attending the University. My father was very wealthy and so was his family. Back then, I learned to be so guarded yet accommodating in my life. I felt it was my duty to fulfill my father’s wishes. But after my mother and father divorced, I’d been faced with my own decision—do I learn to love this man or do I excuse myself of this obligation, as my mother had done. I chose to learn to love him. And he learned to live with my attraction to both sexes.”

  “However, after our time together, Silk, I do question if I ever have or could be IN love with him.”

  She turned to face me again.

  “Silk, I can say that you are the embodiment of love. It flows through your veins easily—so much so that it's almost overpowering.”

  She gazed deeply into the windows of my soul and rubbed my face.

  “I look into your eyes and you place me in a state of vulnerability that I've never felt before. I’m afraid of your purity and of what would happen to me and to this organization if I were to fall in love for the very first time…I mean, your passion is so intense and I’ve had a peak into both sides of what this passion would look like if ignited positively AND negatively. I’m afraid of what this kind of love would do to both of us.”

  “Sometimes you just gotta take a chance, Prima.”

  “I took a chance with the Sheik and...” Her voice trailed off and I interrupted before she could finish.

  “I’m not Sir Sheik, Prima!”

  PrimaDonna turned again to look into the distance.

  It was then that we pulled through the small parking lot of an all-white stone building that stood nestled within the vast acreages of a lush tropical landscape. It was quiet and desolate, save for one limousine that was parked in the far corner of the lot. Our car rolled to a stop.

  “Where are we?”

  “This is the Nucleii. It’s the central hub for top-level Sapphians that reside and meet within the Miami cell. My mother and aunt require our attention.”

  “Come with me.”

  PrimaDonna quickly exited the vehicle and I followed suit. We ascended the double steps to the front door and entered.

  Pharaoh, Diana, and Madison sat calmly within the center of the large and marbled lobby of the imperial Nucleii’s interior.

  And like the outside lot, the stately room was quiet and uninhabited.

  We passed leather seats and descended down the marble steps and into the pitted nucleus of the Nucleii’s massive interior. I immediately greeted Diana and Madison each with a hug. Then Pharaoh stood up to hug me, although her arm was secured in a sling.

  “What’s good, bruva?”

  Pharaoh’s voice was low and solemn. And her eyes were red and swollen with grief.

  “It’s level—all things considering. How’s the arm?”

  “I’ll manage. The bullet went through and through, so it’s healing quickly.”

  “Good! Good…” My voice trailed off. I had yet to thank her for saving my life. But as I stared deep into her eyes and patted her on the back, there was an unspoken understanding that we were now closer than just mere buddies or passing associates. I would now consider her to be a lifelong friend.

  PrimaDonna and Pharaoh hugged.

  “Prima, luv…It’s good to see your beautiful face. We’ll get through this, luv.”

  PrimaDonna fixed her lips to feign a smile within the seriousness of the moment.

  “It’s good to see you too, Pharaoh.”

  The five of us sat down onto the oversized, marble and cubed seats that formed a circle in the nucleus, to gaze upon a recessed light that emanated from the midpoint of the whole room.

  “We are the only one’s here today and I will make this private meeting very brief.”

  “We have all lost one of our own whom was a friend, a daughter, and a sister to us.” Madison looked at each one of us. “And no doubt, we are all suffering a considerable amount of anguish and grief. Nonetheless, it is at these times that we must find the strength to stand strong and come together to support each other more than ever. This is the time for truth and an indestructible trust within the Sapphic Trust—this is a time for cleansing.”

  “Pharaoh you had indicated that you have something to get off of your chest.”

  "Yes…” She straightened her posture and began to speak. ”Sir Sheik was my best friend…umm…our best friend for over 10 years. We all knew she had problems. I knew little tidbits of some of her affairs and never participated in them. But I would hear things here and there; and I stood by idly and did nothing about it—which in my eyes is a thousand times worse. I ignored many of her conversations and did nothing. Flourish was also our best friend…our sister. And I blame myself for her death because I could’ve said something or done something about it. And I didn't.”

  A tear streamed down Pharaoh’s stoic face.

  “And now we've lost both of them forever.”

  She turned to face PrimaDonna.

  “PrimaDonna, you're my best friend, and I didn't even let you know. I guess I thought that simply being around Sir Sheik could level her out. And saying nothing would let her know that she had a real sense of family to replace the family that had abandoned her. I thought that at some point she would come around—but she never did. She got worse and worse, until even I didn't know what to do. I’m so sorry.”

  “Pharaoh, the burden of guilt is not your own.” PrimaDonna gazed at Pharaoh and responded feebly. “I think we all had a hand in turning a blind eye to Sam’s worsening behavior.”

  “It would be easy to judge you for your silence, but in sacrif
icing your own physical welfare for Silk, you've displayed a tremendous sense of loyalty and courage, Pharaoh. You are forgiven.”

  Madison continued.

  “As you well know, Samantha is still on the run. We are working with our security detail to cue in on where she could be; in the meantime, any little information can help them track her down. Pharaoh, can you tell us a little bit about what you do know about Sir Sheik's operation.”

  “Prima, you know as well as I know that after everything happened with the Sheik's sis, she never was the same. As her comrade, I think I saw it more than anyone else. It was like her psyche kind of split into two—half a scheming, brooding spirit and half the joking gentleman that we had all grown to love.”

  “After everything that happened this week, I couldn’t help but replay everything that everyone said and different conversations that I had overhead from the Sheik…and some things now make a little more sense.”

  “She’d gotten close to a whole other group of people over the years—a group of people that I was not privy to. Sir Sheik did have an accomplice—a partner who, I believe, also exists as a mole within the Sapphic Trust. I've never met this person, but I know that she operates internationally within the Trust because of how they would discuss Sapphic events and dates together. Sir Sheik has been in alliance with this person for more than a few years.”

  “At first, it was just small time hustling within the parties and the clubs. But then they hooked up in London and masterminded a whole underground operation. Because they do most everything by phone, I've managed to piece together much of what was going on by listening to their conversations. They were involved with blackmail and burglary, gun smuggling, skag and blow…err or I mean…heroin and cocaine. And they would speak a lot about a hit list.”

  “Like I said before, the details are sketchy, but this is some of the things that I can remember.”

  “Is there anything else?”

  “That’s all I can remember right now. But it seems that I’ve been recalling conversations with increasing intensity, so I’m sure I would have worked out much more in detail in time.”