She escaped in the middle of the night. Resisting the comfort of her bed, Goldie rested on the divan that faced her bedroom's outer door. She'd told Tam the bed wouldn't look slept in—that was their arrangement. That meant avoiding it altogether because if there was anything Goldie was bad at, it was folding the sheets and covers on her bed the way a maid would, with crisp corners and fluffed up pillows placed just so. She smiled as she listened to the quiet roar of the ocean waves, salty air and the pollen of jungle flowers coating her lungs through the open door. She was doing this for Tam as much as for herself.

Her fans believed in her selflessness, and in moments like this one, it was their faith that kept her resolve high. They had no idea what lengths she would go to, of course. That was part of being selfless—sometimes you had to hide your biggest acts of kindness from the world. And other times, you had to be okay with compromising certain aspects of yourself if it served a larger purpose. That's what steeled her for tonight's secret mission. She would do this big thing, and no one else ever needed to realize it.

At three in the morning, she slipped out of her door onto the wide deck that lined the back of the villa. Another selfless act—choosing this room instead of the oceanside suite she would have preferred. She'd have plenty of ocean views in her life. That's what she'd told everyone when she'd opted for the quieter back bedroom. She liked the lush greenery of the treetop canopy. So different from LA's dry, brushland hills. Besides, she could still hear the waves, tucked away on that side of the house. The ocean permeated everything.

It made her escape easier. All she had to do was step away and keep going. No one lingered in the shadows. No one sat on the deck's rattan couch because they'd been unable to sleep and asked her for an explanation.

She walked away as though she was never meant to be there.

The flashlight on Goldie's phone guided her down the narrow road connecting her villa to the neighboring villas. As she'd planned, it died a few minutes in. Now that she'd cleared the forested part of her walk, the moonlight was a better guide anyways. It shone down on her, showing her the path forward. Twenty-five villas on this island, spread out enough to accommodate green zones in between each of them.

It took less than ten minutes to find her way to the rendezvous, a tennis court where, in a few hours, a litany of professional players would be lined up to coach the resort's guests. She leaned against the fence designating the barrier between court and lawn, the exhaustion of travel and a sleepless night making her feel like she was trying to balance a large stone on her head. She couldn't let anyone else see that the bravado she'd felt when first stepping onto the island had disappeared with the sunlight. This was the sort of exhaustion she'd meant to leave behind with her departure from LA. It had no place on this island; it didn't fit into her plan.

A figure in the distance, silhouetted by moonlight. Goldie watched with heavy lidded eyes as it loomed larger, the sound of footsteps a hypnotic beat. She pinched her arm, stepped away from the fence, and waited for the figure to speak.

Right in front of her now. She remembered during the pandemic when people were supposed to stay their distance. Six feet. The wingspan of a bald eagle. The length of a lioness. After vaccinations became commonplace, it had still taken months for Goldie to wave off those measures, to be okay with closeness again.

The figure breached the old social distancing parameters. "Are you ready?"

She nodded. She was doing this for her family, for Tam, for her fans. She understood the end of things before the beginning had begun. She was always ready.

#

Not charging her phone proved to be a strategic move. She wouldn't need to lie when questioned about it. Sorry, but my phone died. I always forget these things. Explaining why she'd been gone for the better part of a day would take more finesse on her part. She'd meant to be back only a few hours after sunrise, but here she was, on the other side of her secret mission, and it was already approaching evening.

It had to be this way, she told herself as she stepped through the trees onto the lawn stretching up to the back end of the villa. Even Tam, who knew she was abducting herself, must be second guessing Goldie's safety by now. As it should be. She wanted their genuine reactions. Her phone genuinely died. They were genuinely concerned. Maybe her mother had insisted they call the police. That last bit might be good or bad—she couldn't decide.

She calmed the frantic thoughts racing through her mind. She was to be the relaxed one while everyone else panicked. That's how she'd seen this play out. Cops or no cops, it didn't matter. She'd done what she'd had to do.

Jasper spotted her first. Catching her movement, he glanced out the window of her bedroom. She'd predicted his nosiness, his desire to solve problems. Jasper had always been driven by logic. He liked to make sense of everything and if he couldn't, he would feign understanding anyways.

She climbed the stairs and met him at the threshold. This wasn't what she wanted. Or rather, she'd hoped he would have been searching her room for clues of her disappearance earlier. She'd have to make him do this part over again with everyone else present and the camera recording.

"Jesus Christ, Goldie." He clamped his hand over her wrist. "Your mom's about to have a stroke."

"Let's save this convo for when it matters." She smiled and extracted her wrist from his grasp. "Where is everyone? And why were you in my room?"

"They're downstairs. And you know why I was in your room."

"Do I?"

Shaking his head, he took out his phone.

"Are you going to call the police and tell them they don't need to come and investigate?"

"We were giving you until sundown before we involved them. Come back in another two hours if you want a law enforcement level of drama."

"You think you've got me figured me out, don't you?"

His fingers flew over his phone before sliding it into his back pocket. "I texted my dad. He's going to start filming."

"Good! If you could go ahead of me so that you're all together when I make my return, that would be perfect!"

#

Becca clung to her. She stroked her mother's head. "I'm fine, mom. I met fun people when I went for a midnight walk and we ended up staying up all night. Then the day got away from me. Simple as that."

"How could you, Goldie? I called and called."

She broke away from her mother. "My phone died. Of course, I would have texted you back if I'd realized you were trying to reach me."

"You can't do these things anymore. You're not a child. What would we have done if you'd really disappeared? You have the Wanton Cosmetics deal to consider. What would happen to that if something happened to you?"

Goldie blinked. "The Wanton Cosmetics deal?" She'd seen this play out—her tear-filled reunion with her mother. A makeup contract had never factored in.

"Yes. Have you forgotten?"

"Is that what you were worried about? That Wanton Cosmetics would fall through?"

"What is wrong with you? I raised you to care about your responsibilities."

"You absolutely did not. I do that all on my own."

Becca raised her hand to her heart. "What a thing to say to me."

The world tilted. She needed sleep and another vacation far away from her mother. "Paul, stop recording. We got what we needed."

"You sure? Fans love a little tension between you and Becca."

"Stop recording!" She shoved her hand at his camera until he stumbled backwards. "You're exactly like her sometimes."

"Goldie," her mother crooned. "Come on now. I'll leave out Wanton Cosmetics. I won't say a peep about Lucre. We'll do another take."

"Fuck another take. I said I got what we needed." She stormed out of the living room, heading for the kitchen where Jasper and Tam waited.

They sat at opposite ends of the bar, each watching the chef prepare fish curry. The smell of garlic and cardamom wafted towards Goldie as she slid onto the middle stool.

"You have no idea where I've been all this time. Aren't you going to ask me?"

Tam swiveled her chair around until she faced her. "I asked you before you left, and you made it pretty clear it was none of my business."

Fair enough. "What about you, Jasper?"

He sloshed ice cubes around an empty tumbler on the counter in front of him. "Pretty sure I'd rather not know."

"I could have been with bad people though. I might have been in danger. They could have been planning something terrible."

"Like blowing up a building or something?" Tam asked.

"Sure. Or selling me on the black market to the highest bidder."

"Doesn't that only happen in movies?"

"No, Tamara, human trafficking is very real."

"Yeah, of course. But, like, celebrity trafficking?"

"All I'm saying is, it would be nice for people to show a little gratitude that I made it home from the clutches of kidnappers."

"You told us you were, of your own volition, with a couple of socialites from Prague." Jasper's mouth twitched like he wanted to suppress a laugh. "You changing your story now? Because we're going to have to refilm your miraculous homecoming if that's the case."

"I said what I said and no I'm not changing my story." She glanced at each of their faces. Tam's tight frown, Jasper's alcohol reddened eyes. "Forget it. Chef, I'll have a Maldivian Lady."

Nodding, the chef reached for a bottle of white rum. She hadn't paid much attention to him before, but now that she sat in front of him, she could see his appeal. Not exactly tall, but dark and handsome, with a smile that made him look like the boy next door grew up to become an alluring daredevil. She could work with that.

"What's your name, Chef?" she asked as he placed her drink in front of her.

"Johnny."

"Johnny." She brushed her fingers across his hand "That's perfect."

"It is?" His cheeks dimpled as his smile deepened.

"Oh my God, yes. You're too adorable. I love you already." She sipped her drink, letting the sweetness settled on her tongue before swallowing. "Would you like to be in one of my EpiGolds?"

"Goldie," Jasper's low voice grumbled like a motorcycle before its rider revved the engine. "Jesus, give the guy a fucking break."

"That's what I am doing—giving him a break. I can make him famous. I can do that."

"Does he want you to do that?"

"Maybe someone could ask him," Tam said. "He's standing right there, and he can hear this entire conversation."

"I did ask him. 'Johnny how would you like to be in an EpiGold?' is exactly what I said." Goldie placed her hand over his again, this time letting it weigh his down.

"That's what you stated but there's a lot more to it," Jasper said. "Be aware of that, Johnny. Answer accordingly."

"What do you want me to do?" He asked.

"You're a good-looking man. I'm sure Tam has noticed that."

Tam coughed. "Goldie!"

"See? She has noticed."

"You want a love triangle?" Jasper's motorcycle roared to life. "Seriously? It's too soon for that, especially with you adding in your disappearance. We can't have another major plotline. Save the triangle for another EpiGold."

"An EpiGold can be complex. Besides, it's never too soon to bring in tension."

"As long as it's someone else's, you mean. And not the tension between you and your mom?"

He might as well have slapped her. She made every effort to keep her expression neutral, but Jasper understood her too well. He swiveled his chair to face the other direction as soon as he'd said it.

Johnny, whose hand he'd gracefully pulled away from Goldie's, focused his attention on wiping down the kitchen counter. He seemed inclined to pretend he hadn't heard Jasper's lowball. "You'll have to forgive Jasper for being so rude. He doesn't like it when I go off on secret adventures that don't include him."

Jasper scoffed. "I didn't even want to come on this very non-secret adventure with you."

"Anyways, Johnny, just think about it. All you have to do is have fun and flirt with a pretty girl."

His eyes lit. "With you?"

"Well, I won't complain if you do," she giggled. "But that's off camera. On camera, it's Tam you'll want to direct those beguiling eyes at."

Johnny looked between Tam and Jasper. "Oh, aren't the two of you a couple?"

Jasper's and Tam both shook their heads.

Laughing again, Goldie winked. "But my fans don't know that."

Her fans didn't know lots of things. Even Jasper was far more clueless than he believed himself to be. Only Goldie realized everything—who she was with, what she had done, who would reap the benefits of her hard work.

The most difficult part was keeping so much to herself, but if she didn't, her efforts would yield nothing.

Only Goldie knew who would stand in the middle of the field she had planted and take and take and never be satisfied.

-----

My first mid-week update! Hope you enjoyed it. It was important to me, when exploring Goldie's character, to make sure she appeared as a complex person. She is far more than the image she has so carefully cultivated for herself.

What do you think? Don't forget to push that little star, and I'll see you this weekend for Chapter 6!