‘What’s this?’ I ask, as reach across to slide the envelope towards me.
Jeremy finally finds his voice. ‘Alexa, don’t, please!’ He looks instantly pained.
‘What’s wrong, Jeremy? Are you going to tell me or will I just open it and find out for myself?’ His face looks agonised, so much so I think he’s immobilised.
I look towards Martin before I open it. He slowly nods.
I slide out the contents and read the covering letter.
Dear Doctor Blake,
I do hope you have had a wonderful time recuperating in the Mediterranean with your lover and have enjoyed the delights of Disney World with your sweet children, Elizabeth and Jordan.
It is so unfortunate that you were not able to properly conclude the entire 72 hours at our facility. After having provided us with such useful information, there is but one element we now require.
Should you not be forthcoming in relation to our requirements we shall once again be forced to take circumstances into our own hands. The enclosed news headlines are but a small sample of the strategies we will employ to ensure that we acquire what we need from you, so please let me be clear.
We need your blood.
If, for some reason, you decide not to cooperate with our request within the next ten days, we shall be forced to proceed with our global ‘Do you really know Dr Alexandra Blake?’
campaign. Needless to say, I shouldn’t have to remind you that we have some wonderfully explicit photographs and video clips to authenticate our headlines.
While I have your attention, I should also mention that should this not procure your participation, we would look to acquire the next best thing — the blood of your children.
I shall look forward to working with you again in the very near future.
Sincere regards,
Madame Madeleine de Jurilique
I then spread the attached pages out on the table. Printed on them are mock-ups of the front pages of international newspapers.
SLUT MOTHER SHUNS KIDS FOR KINKY SEX EXPERIMENT
DR BLAKE BARES ALL — CHECK OUT HER BEST ANGLES HERE
PSYCHOLOGIST TURNS PSYCHO — Would you leave your kids with this mother?
ADULTERY — SADOMASOCHISM — is this what you teach your kids?
I take one look at the headlines and immediately throw up into the kitchen sink.
Jeremy stands behind me, rubbing my shoulders as I vomit and tears pour down my face, as if every ounce of happiness is physically extracting itself from my body. He passes me the hand towel and I wipe my face. He hugs me tight as I sob into his chest.
‘When is this going to end?’ I look desperately at the men standing before me. ‘I don’t think I can take any more.’
Jeremy and Martin immediately move into action mode and start poring over the vile papers covering the kitchen table. They talk about this strategy and that scenario, what we should do next. They make phone calls to Salina and Moira and leave messages for Leo and Ed and whomever else they can think of.
So frenetic is their activity, they don’t even notice that I leave them to go and lie on the bed with a cold washer covering my eyes.
How has this become my life?
So plain and boring one minute, so exhilarating and exciting the next. So wrong and scary, then so beautiful and happy and perfect.
Now this! How dare she! Everything I’ve worked hard for, down the drain in one malicious heartbeat if this becomes a public scandal.
Those photos will haunt me until my dying days.
Make the most of your happiness…you never know when it will be taken from you. I had it ten minutes ago and now it has vanished.
Past…present…future.
I walk into the children’s room to check on them yet again, ensuring they are still sleeping soundly, now ensuring their safety, and take a moment to absorb their innocence–an innocence I can never return to–I try to breath it deeply in to my body.
I slowly walk back to the kitchen where Jeremy and Martin are seated, still in deep, frenetic discussion.
‘Please, stop. Stop all of this.’
Jeremy gets up, his strong arms immediately opening to hold me in a firm embrace. I push him gently aside. ‘Please Jeremy, sit down.’
‘What is it, sweetheart? Don’t worry, we’ll get through this. I won’t let her touch you or the kids, I promise you.’
‘I’ve made my decision.’
Copyright
HarperCollins Publishers
First published in Australia in 2012
This edition published in 2012
by HarperCollins Publishers Australia Pty Limited ABN 36 009 913 517
harpercollins.com.au
Copyright © Indigo Partners Pty Limited 2012
The right of Indigo Bloome to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by her in accordance with the Copyright Amendment (Moral Rights) Act 2000.
This work is copyright. Apart from any use as permitted under the Copyright Act 1968, no part may be reproduced, copied, scanned, stored in a retrieval system, recorded, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without the prior written permission of the publisher.
National Library of Australia Cataloguing-in-Publication entry Bloome, Indigo.
Destined to feel / Indigo Bloome.
9780732296186 (pbk.)
9781743098028 (epub)
Erotic stories.
A823.4
HarperCollins Publishers
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Cover design by Jane Waterhouse, HarperCollins Design Studio Cover photography by John Paul Uriza
Document Outline
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Indigo Bloome, Destined to Feel
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