All Chapters of The Island: Chapter 71 - Chapter 80

"Please. I can't." Sarah's eyes were beginning to fill with tears and rather than look panicked, she actually looked frightened. With a flash of insight, Mark wondered if it was him she was afraid of or someone else."Because someone has something on you, and you're being pressured to do as you're told?" He guessed.Sarah started crying, sobbing. Her hands came up to cover her face."Sarah!" He snapped, drawing her eyes back up to meet his. "Tell me.""I.. can't. He'll...""Henry?"She looked at him and then nodded, crying all the harder now.Mark's mind raced. If Henry was blackmailing Sarah, then he'd sent her to seduce him. The question was why? What was he trying to achieve? Was it a video-recording so he could threaten release of a sex tape? Was it something else? Either way, Henry was trying to create leverage for something."So Henry sent you to my room the other night,

Mark walked back to the house, trying to appear physically tired but inside he was elated. The conversation on the Chinook with Sarah had yielded more, much more than he had hoped. He knew that Henry was guilty of manipulating the poor girl, lying to her, sexual harassment, hell, probably sexual assault, blackmail and a load of other stuff thrown in too.Now Mark had an ally, had confirmation that Henry was a manipulative fucker, and had the location of the entry point into the safe house. He just had to figure out a way to let Connor know where and ask him if he could stake it out somehow.First though, he had to get to his suite, get into a bath or a shower or something and hopefully avoid an argument with Jasmine too."I could just tell her everything that's going on," He thought to himself, but for some reason it didn't feel right. It wasn't that he didn't trust her, but that he knew the fewer people who kne

Mark took the opportunity to call it a night a few minutes later. Between his late night exercise with Jasmine the night before and the draining day he was shattered. To his surprise, Maddy and Myra got up and walked with him, following him upstairs until they were sat on the balcony. Mark lit up and smiled as Myra stole her daily cigarette out his packet."This is my favourite part of the day," Myra admitted. "But today's been a lot of fun."Mark smiled. "Glad you're enjoying yourself.""Sage and Louisa think you're really cool," Maddy said to Myra. "They really like you."Myra made a surprised face, and smiled a little. "That's good, I guess.""You guys should hang out when you're in New York," Mark suggested.Myra nodded. "Sounds good. Hey, how's your LA trip looking?""Exhausting," Mark replied. "I've got a manic schedule from six or

Breakfast was eaten and over depressingly quick, the high point of which was Sam and Sage showing up a little late and getting a bit of a ribbing about making too much noise. Mark knew the rooms were all nearly soundproof, but they didn't know that and he found it funny watching them squirm a bit.All too soon though, their briefing on the media started and Sam, Sage and Louisa excused themself to go for a walk round the Island. Mark sat through the importance of controlling the flow of information to the media, be it the paparazzi and gossip columnists or the tech magazines and business press. Feeding the beast, they called it.His visit to Doctor Kerr perked him up a little though as she gave him a full physical, complimenting him on how rapidly he'd got into shape, and then kicked him out with a clean bill of health. Taki gave him a trim, showed him a couple of different ways to style his hair and then got Mark to do it and

Mark got dried and slipped on a pair of jeans, boots and a t-shirt then wandered out to the balcony and lit up. He slumped down in his favourite seat and put his feet up on the railings."Why are you so upset, Mark?" He muttered to himself, and the answer came back to him. Because you wanted her to be your girlfriend."So becoming a billionaire with a hot secretary that'll blow you while you bone your way through the FHM Top 100 transforms you into a crybaby man-bitch, does it?" Ant shouted over the noise of the speedboat as the three friends raced the girls around the Island. "Man, you need a punch in the balls to remind you they're there.""Ignore him," Sam said, shaking his head. "I just think you're too close, buddy. You need a little distance from the problem is all.""How do you mean?""Step back and think about what you want. Look at the big picture," Sam said, mentally reminding Mark of the hundreds of