Smoke And Mirrors By Michael Faudet

Smoke And Mirrors By Michael Faudet

Prologue: It was another night lost in paradise. Swaying palm trees caressed by a warm tropical breeze blowing gently from a moonlit sea. She lit the cigarette he had made her give up. Her quiet act of defiance a release from a habit far worse than the curling smoke inhaled with smiling lips. Blond hair falling over sun-kissed shoulders. The old bruises painted by his fingertips fading to a lighter shade of yellow in the flickering glow of a swinging kerosene lantern. As she walked slowly away from the beach house that had become her private sanctuary. Far from the broken shards of a heart swept under the rug by a lover incapable of love. “Listen to me. I know what’s best for you.” He never really knew her at all. How she yearned for something more than the cage he had built with golden bars. Keeping her trapped within the insecurities that he created. Sabrina ripped the necklace from her delicate throat. The pearls spilling down the steps made of driftwood and dry seaweed, like all the empty promises he had made, falling from cruel lips. Her freedom now found beneath the twinkling stars. Standing naked on the wet sand, swirling salty water running between her toes. Remembering the words her mother once said, all those years ago. The wisdom finally understood.