The morning of the wedding, Cynthia, Jade, Leah, Phire, Opal and Ruby were in Monique’s room making plans on setting up Luke and Sasha’s suite for the wedding night when they heard a banging outside the door. Monique opened her door to see Stephanie at Sasha’s door. Monique knew Sasha was having breakfast with Sally, Lena, Tracy and Ryan. Luke was with his brothers.
“What in the hell do you want?” Monique asked.
“Where is she?” Stephanie hissed. “Where is that little bitch? If she thinks for one minute I ain’t getting paid, I got news for her ass.”
Monique and Phire looked at each other.
Phire shook her head. “You have got to be kidding me.”
“You know, I’m sick of you.” Monique walked back into her room, then came out with a device in her hand. She pointed it at Stephanie. A clear foam covered her mouth. “Pull her in the room.”
Opal and Ruby ran out and grabbed Stephanie. Leah looked around to make sure no one was coming. Jade held the door open as they dragged Stephanie into the room.
“Oh, I like that,” Phire exclaimed. “Is it available for use yet?”
“Prototype,” Monique said as they stood over a wiggling Stephanie.
“How long does it last?” Phire asked.
“We’re still testing it, but it seems like it can only be removed by this device.” She put her hand on her hips. “That creates a problem.”
“Right, what if you have to leave the target to take someone else out? How will they get it off?” Phire asked.
“Why would you want the target to have the ability to take it off?” Monique questioned.
“Excuse me,” Opal looked up at them. “A little help down here would be nice.”
“Yes,” said Ruby, who was holding Stephanie’s feet.
“Grab all the sheets you can get from our rooms and bring them here.” Leah and Jade ran out the door to do as instructed, while Opal pulled the sheets from the beds in the suite. Monique opened her balcony door, then looked down. She came back and looked down at Stephanie. “I see you still haven’t learned your lesson. Okay, we’re going to finish what Sasha started.”
When Jade and Leah returned, they started wrapping Stephanie’s arms in the sheets.
“Be sure to wrap her arms thick,” Phire said as she continued her conversation with Monique.
“I don’t think we have enough sheets to wrap her in,” Cynthia suggested.
“Here, I have more,” Leah dropped more sheets on top of the wiggling Stephanie.
“What are we doing with the sheets?” Jade asked as she began wrapping the woman’s legs.
“We’re making her up like a mummy,” Phire explained. “Do you remember the younger brother in the movie A Christmas Story? Remember how his mother wrapped him up so tight he couldn’t put his arms down?”
“Oh, yeah. I remember,” Jade nodded.
“We need her arms wrapped thick with the sheets so we can tie the rope under her arms, then lower her over the side of the ship.” Monique looked directly in Stephanie’s eyes and said, “We don’t want the ‘man overboard’ alarm to sound.”
Phire looked down at her, too. “Since she can’t seem to let Sasha and Luke be happy, maybe she can make a shark or two a happy meal.”
Monique stood. “You know these waters are not shark-infested … right?”
“Yes, but she don’t know that.”
“Works for me,” Monique shrugged.
They hoisted Stephanie to her feet. Her arms and legs were spread wide from the multitude of sheets that had been wrapped around her body.
“We are all going to jail,” Leah exhaled.
“Or to hell in a handbasket,” Ruby added.
“Oh, I don’t know,” Jade added. “I think the gods are looking down on us and thanking us for ridding the world of a speck of evil.”
“I think you might be right,” Monique pulled her whip from her waist and stood in front of Stephanie, who was moaning with tears falling from her eyes. “I told you to leave my sister alone. You ignored my warning. Time to pay up for your actions.” She pushed a button on the handle of the whip. The rope sprung out with the flip of her hand and wrapped around Stephanie under her outstretched arms.
The woman became animated. She was trying to walk, causing her to look like a real-life mummy moving about. Phire walked behind her and placed a secondary rope, similar to the material that is used for fishing rod string, around Stephanie’s body.
“She’s ready to be fed to the fish,” Phire stood back to look at her handiwork.
“Look at the fear in those eyes,” Monique laughed. “I think she is pissing in her pants.”
“The water will wash it away,” Jade said. “Let’s get her over to the balcony.”
“Okay, before we do that, let’s think about this,” Leah cautioned everyone. “Are we going too far?”
On the deck below them, Luke, Matt, Samuel, Joshua, Timothy, and Adam had possession of the ball against Zack, Grant, Devin, Theo, LT and Blake in a pickup basketball game. JD, Calvin, Brian, Douglas, Al, Tucker and James were watching from the sideline, awaiting the winner of game one. One of the secret service agents protecting JD glanced up. He and his team immediately circled JD, causing the men to all look around to see what had caused the men to move so quickly.
“What the …” Luke stopped talking. “That’s …” He took off running.
“Stephanie,” Al finished his sentence.
“How can you tell?” Brian asked. “It’s covered in sheets.”
“It looks like a damn mummy,” Douglas added. “Why is she hanging from the balcony?”
“OH SHIT!” Tucker and Brian took off running.
“The question isn’t why, the question is who is hanging her from the balcony?” Al leaned back against the railing, watching the action with a smirk on his face.
“Aren’t you going to do something?” JD asked Al.
“I’m going to watch,” he replied.
“Samuel,” JD ordered.
Samuel rushed off, followed by Douglas. “If your sisters are involved, you’re going to need a little help.”
“He’s going to need more than a little help,” James glanced at Joshua and Adam.
“Man, do we have to?” Adam asked. “I don’t want to battle with the girls.”
“If they have her hanging, she’s good.”
“What the hell do you mean she’s good, Joshua? She’s hanging from a balcony over an ocean. If the rope breaks …”
“It won’t break,” Adam replied. “It’s reinforced with steel inside the cording.”
They all turned to stare at him.
“What? I designed it. I didn’t tell Monique to use it to hang the woman,” Adam declared.
“Monique?” JD yelled, then started walking from the room but was stopped by Calvin.
“We are in international waters.” Calvin held him back. “You cannot be getting involved in this.”
JD pulled away, then looked up. The face looking down at him was Phire. “What the hell?” He glared at LT. “It’s Sapphire. Do something. She’s your fiancée.”
LT shook his head as he took a seat on a lounge chair, then crossed his legs at the ankle. “I’m only a mayor of a small metropolitan city in the South. You’re the President of the United States and you can’t do anything with her. What, pray tell, makes you think I can?”
“Uh, oh,” Phire snapped back up from looking over the balcony.
“Uh, oh? What the hell do you mean?” Monique asked. “There is no uh, oh in our line of work.”
“I think we better pull her up.” Phire pointed over the balcony.
Monique tightened her grip on the handle of the whip, then leaned over the railing and looked down. “Oh, hey Al, Uncle JD.”
A snap sounded through the air so loud it could have been a car backfiring.
“Uh, oh.”
“What’s with you and the damn uh, oh?” Monique turned to see the string Phire had attached as a backup had broken. At the same time, Stephanie began wiggling like crazy. Monique braced her feet to counteract the wild movement of the woman hanging from her whip. “Stay still, crazy woman,” she yelled down.
“What in the hell are you doing?” Luke burst through the door.
“I knew it … I knew it. We’re going to jail.” Leah threw her hands up in the air.
Tucker ran over to Monique who was beginning to struggle with the whip. “Pull her up … pull her up.”
“I’m trying,” she yelled back.
Luke reached over the balcony, grabbed the rope, and began pulling the frantic woman up. Brian and Douglas entered the room just as Luke and Tucker pulled Stephanie back into the room. They laid the shaking woman on the floor, then began unwrapping her.
Opal, Jade, Leah, and Ruby began walking towards the door.
“Going somewhere?”
The girls looked up to see Samuel standing in the doorway.
“We … have to meet …” Opal began but was cut off by Ruby.
“Sally…,” Ruby added. “That’s right…we have to meet Sally and Sasha about a party.”
“Really?” Samuel raised an eyebrow. “Were you planning on using her mother as the piñata?”
“Possibly,” Opal replied.
“That really would not have been a bad idea,” Jade nodded.
“Could have been fun,” Ruby smiled, then frowned up at Samuel. “You should have come up with that idea sooner, Samuel. If you had, we wouldn’t have had to resort to teaching Stephanie a lesson this way.”
“Yeah, you were holding out on us, Sammy,” Opal frowned at him.
“What is this on her mouth?” Brian asked as they worked frantically to try and free the woman.
Samuel looked over to the balcony. The girls took that as their cue to leave. Leah hesitated until Opal grabbed her arm and pulled her from the room with them.
“That’s a prototype from Adam,” Monique replied as she pulled out a device from her pocket, then pointed it at Stephanie’s mouth. The clear strip dissolved.
Stephanie cried out, “Get me the hell away from these crazy-ass women. Get me out of here.”
Luke and Tucker were unwrapping the sheets as fast as they could, but it didn’t seem Stephanie wanted to wait on them to free her. She stumbled to her feet, tripping over the multiple sheets around her.
Samuel walked over, taking pity on the woman. He put his hands on her shoulder and held her in place. “Stay still. Let them free you from bondage.”
Douglas and Brian looked up at him, then burst into laughter.
“I’m gettin' off this damn ship. All of y’all are crazy as hell. You can have Sasha for all I care. She’s never been anything but a pain in my ass. I’m going to sue all your asses as soon as I get home. Then I’m going to sell my story to anybody who is willing to pay me to talk.”
Luke and Tucker stopped what they were doing.
Samuel pressed down on her harder. He exhaled. “Get Adam up here and lock the door.”
“What? Let me out of this room,” Stephanie screamed out.
Samuel looked at Monique, then nodded his head.
Monique pulled the device from her pocket and pointed it at Stephanie again, silencing her.
“Sorry, mother-in-law,” Luke replied. “We can’t do that.”
Grayson walked in the door with Royce, then looked around the suite. “Did we miss a party?”
Adam and Joshua walked in behind them. “I understand my services are needed in this room.”
Royce turned to look at Adam and Joshua. “Is this something I need to know about?”
“No!” everyone in the room responded.
Royce turned to walk back out when Monique said, “Baby you should go, too. You’re not going to like this.”
Grayson gazed at his wife. “Red catsuit tonight?” He raised an eyebrow.
“With feathers,” Monique replied with a smile.
Grayson smiled, then followed Royce from the room.
“Backup plan is needed,” Samuel stated.
“Are you good with that, Luke?” Adam asked.
“Yes,” Luke nodded.
Adam nodded. “Okay, everybody out.”
“I need to stay,” Luke stated.
“No, you are the main one who should not be here,” Monique argued. “I will stay.”
“So will I,” Phire added.
Luke looked around.
Samuel walked with Luke from the room. Brian and Douglas followed.
“Joshua and Tucker, I need thirty minutes of no interruptions.”
They nodded. “We will be right outside the door.”
Adam looked at Stephanie and exhaled. “I’m going to do something for you that you do not deserve. I’m going to erase some of your sadness and open your mind to receiving therapy, so that one day you can be at peace with yourself. You are going to accept the fact that your daughter will no longer be a part of your life. If she opens the door to you in the future, you will welcome her with open arms. What I am doing is not for you. It is for Sasha and my brother. They deserve happiness, and one day, you may find it as well.”
“This is too good for her, Adam,” Monique stated. “She has caused Sasha a lot of pain.”
“Her journey is not going to be easy, Monique. She has a lot of issues that will have to be worked through. That is going to be her punishment. The hope is that she will be a better person on the other side of all of this.”
“You can’t do too much at one time,” Phire stated, “Sasha will notice a change in her behavior.”
“I will proceed with caution,” Adam said, then began his magic.
Stephanie was physically fighting against him, however, her mind was weak and it did not take long for Adam to penetrate her thoughts. Once she was under his hypnotic spell, he proceeded to fill her mind with suggestive thoughts regarding her mother, Sasha and therapy. Last he filled her mind with longing to find love from a good man and eventually, acceptance and love from Sasha.
An hour later, satisfied with his work, Adam added one more suggestion he felt was vital to Stephanie’s own safety. “Whenever you see Monique…run.”