Prologue

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EVERYONE HAD A PAST.

Some were secrets we liked to hide, others were triumphs we liked to brag about, and others...others were just journeys—steps we took to find who we were, what we stood for, and what sort of mark we wanted to leave behind. Along the way, there were mistakes and challenges, and sometimes, even catastrophic things like death and betrayal.

A lot of people have said that ‘life is about the journey and not the destination’, and I agreed with that...to a degree.

My life was still on a journey—it would be until I took my last breath—but now, instead of walking my path alone, I’d found the one person who made everything infinitely more bearable.

It wasn’t a monetary achievement or career accolade or any other accomplishment that triggered the end of my journey.

It was her.

A girl I bought and kidnapped.

A goddess who I commanded and manipulated.

A woman who cured me of my sins.

Eleanor Grace, Eleanor Sinclair, was my destination.

With her by my side and her hand in my mine, I didn’t fucking care where the journey took us. We could walk into squalor and famine, and I would smile because she was beside me.

Through thick and thin, Eleanor had my back, my trust, and my entire fucking heart.

And I had her.

Every part of her.

And I didn’t like sharing.

Good thing we were island recluses these days, and when we did have to travel, Euphoria gave us somewhere to be just us.

A dimension where no one else existed.

A fantasy where anything was possible.