Rachel was deflated. “You mean this is how I am going to spend the rest of my life?”
“Who knows how long they’ll keep us here.” All of a sudden, Diedre’s own words sank in. She shuddered, realizing that they might never be allowed to leave. They knew too much. A prickly sensation crawled up the back of her neck.
Rachel noticed the instant change in Diedre’s demeanor. “You okay?”
Diedre shook herself back to being nonchalant. “Yeah. Must be the buzz I got off the smokes.” Rachel knew right then and there that she had to figure out how to get off the island alive.
Rachel’s mind went to the unthinkable. She just didn’t let on.
“Okay, girl. Let’s put on our costumes and slap on a smile.”
Diedre reached down and pulled Rachel off the bed.
They got dressed in silence, each wondering what the other was thinking.
Rachel donned the one-shoulder gold lame D&G gown Yvonne had picked out, gold sandals, and hoop earrings.
Diedre was equally glamorous in her Versace metallic animal-print cocktail dress.
“Ready to roll?” Diedre asked wryly.
“Do I have a choice?” Rachel replied.
“Now you’re getting it.”
Diedre gave Rachel a quick lesson in the garb the men would be wearing. She also instructed her to say very little, smile, nod, and touch her guest’s arm from time to time, pretending to be interested.
Diedre led the way to the main hall and elaborate staircase. As they descended, Rachel spotted several men wearing the same type of clothing she had seen earlier. It was a caftan-type robe called a thawb, and a turban-like headdress called a kaffiyeh, wrapped with an agal leather band.
Rachel thought she recognized three of the other women. But, like her, they had gone through a metamorphosis from plain and frumpy to gorgeous and glamorous. Two things stood out to her—their teeth and their rings. The Pledge rings. Diedre didn’t have one because she had never moved from Tyro to Pledge. Rachel politely introduced herself to the group, and the men simply bowed their heads. Then she recognized a person from all the newspapers and the society pages, Daniel J. Ruffing. This must be the playground people whispered about. It hit her like a ton of bricks. I’m in way over my head.
The dinner lasted for almost three hours as the men discussed their latest acquisitions, including boats, planes, chateaus, and small islands. One of them implied he had just bought a US senator, which caused a roar of laughter among the powerful men.
As Diedre had instructed, the women barely spoke to the men. They simply pretended to hang on every word, smiling, nodding, tossing their hair, and giggling when one of them made a joke. It was purely theater.
After dinner, drinks were served on the veranda, where the men enjoyed their Cuban cigars and sipped Rémy Martin Louis XIII Cognac costing over four thousand dollars per bottle.
The moment that Rachel was dreading had finally arrived. The women lined up, side by side, each man choosing one. They were escorted to the area behind the grand staircase, where several rooms awaited. The rooms looked like something out of a porn movie from the 1970s, with mirrored ceilings, red shag carpeting, and black satin sheets. Rachel started to tremble. She didn’t think she could go through with whatever lay ahead. Earlier, when she was offered wine and cognac, she politely declined, thinking she wanted to keep her wits about her. Now she wished she had drunk more than enough to withstand what was next.
The man guided her to the bed, pushed her down, and proceeded to undress her. He wasn’t rough in the beginning, but when she was down to her bra and panties, he tore them off. She was about to cry out when he put his hand over her mouth and shoved himself inside her. He hadn’t even taken the time to disrobe. The man grunted and groaned and finished his business in less than three minutes. Rachel was relieved that he was not a man of huge girth. Maybe that’s why he needed to come to this place. He could have sex without being concerned about ridicule over his size or lack of endurance.
He rolled over and got tangled in his garb and clumsily fell off the bed. Rachel thought it was almost comical, except for the rape part. He straightened himself, nodded at her, turned, and left.
Now what? Rachel thought to herself. Would there be another horny man waiting in the wings? A few minutes later, there was a soft knock on the door. It was Yvonne. “You may go back to your room now.” She sounded like a receptionist talking to a client. Or a nurse to a patient. Rachel’s mind was in total chaos over what had just happened. She was back to pinching herself; but this time, it wasn’t from anticipation about the glorious future she hoped for. Her grand dream had turned into a nightmare.
Chapter Twenty-two
Noah knew he had gotten himself, and his brother, into an extremely unpleasant situation. It wasn’t so much what was being said, but it was about what wasn’t being said. Lots of conversations between Ruffing and his flunkies, or pals, were in some kind of code. And Ruffing seemed to be getting richer by the day. Ruffing was also busier with offshore deliveries, calling Noah at all hours of the night.
During his latest midnight run to a charter fishing boat, Noah had noticed lights from other nearby boats. Most of them were white, indicating they were anchored, but he thought he saw one flash several times before going out. As he approached the fishing charter, one of the crew tossed a rope to Noah so he could tie up next to it. They would exchange the packages, using a boat hook or a pulley. That night, as one of the coolers was coming off the fishing boat, it hit the side of Noah’s cigarette boat and nearly went into the drink. Noah was able to grab it and pull it onto his deck. They signaled each other that the exchange was complete, and Noah untied the rope and headed back to Miami.
When he reached the dock, he noticed a big gash in the cooler. As he inspected the container for damage, he realized that the crack was a split in one of the seams. Hoping none of the contents were waterlogged, he tried to pry it open since he didn’t have a key to the lock. He didn’t think anything of it. He had been running delivery errands for several years and had never questioned the contents. Until that run, when he saw bags of white powder. Lots of them. He started to sweat, even more than from the Florida heat. Daniel’s other cronies would be picking up the coolers shortly. He needed to think. Try to glue the container back together? Toss it overboard? He was in a panic.
In the distance, he spotted Rico heading in his direction. Rico was one of Ruffing’s top men. Would Rico believe him if he told him the truth? Or would Rico think Noah was trying to steal from Ruffing? The fishing-boat captain could corroborate his story. Noah could also pretend he didn’t see anything as he clumsily tried to push the two sides of the cooler together. He decided to go with the truth.