Pandora's Box (69 page)

Steve
Sckenda
, for all the magnificent reviews he wrote on his Goodreads profile. They made me think and learn, and this is absolutely priceless.

And all my fans, for their incredible reviews: Thanks for your time dedicated to writing them.

Now, for my right and left hands - and feet too:

- My cover designer, Renata Fontanive, for being, from the start, my most constant and reliable partner, helping me not only with the awesome covers, but with the elegant personal cards, bookmarks and tips. You’re the best.

- My funny, patient, loving editor, Edward M Wolfe, who was always available; who chatted and laughed with me; who supported and virtually hugged me through my crying moments; who explained all my doubts and answered asap all my emails, no matter if he had already eaten or not; during day, night and weekends; and for his icy-cold editing, not applauding me but for once (you, ogre!) as he was searching for the flaws, mistakes, wrong tones and pointing them out to me, so, in his own words: ‘
To remove the fly from the ointment.’
Thank you, Edward, I’m sure you made my manuscript
way better and consistent as it could never be without your professional - and friendly - editing. You
have a special place in my heart;

- Stefania Angelieri Cicogna, who help me design the arts for the Facebook posts and much more, thank you for being so sweet;

- Also, I could not forget to thank Carla Kasumi, the gentle and competent editor of the first and second installments of the TRUST TRILOGY, who in spite of not finishing the editing of this installment with me, helped me a lot with its planning and the grammar correction and intelligent insights of its first manuscript.

NOW!

For the hearts of my heart, in chronological order of arrival in my life, my biggest thanks:

My parents, Sergio & Lilian Allevato, for being proud of my work;

My brother, Sergio Allevato, my best friend, who drew the most amazing eyes for the first cover and commented on all the others;

My broad, six-foot-six, stubborn, loving husband, Raphael, who hated this trilogy with all his might. In spite of his many official (and unofficial) complaints against it, he supported and helped me, as any other husband wouldn’t do, through all those long two-and-a-half years.

My brilliant, older daughter Raphaela, who cried and hated me when I killed Ethan’s dog in the first installment, but encouraged me when I couldn’t kill Ethan. Go figure!

My blue-eyed, spirited, youngest daughter Giovanna, who since she was a toddler called my books and my Kindle ‘
The enemy’,
and was so much jealous of this trilogy, but never failed to like my FB posts;

And last but not least, a prayer to my real companion on those long, long hours, Duda, my husband’s British Bulldog, who slept and snored through all those lines. He passed away just a few days after I finished this last book. I miss you, Duda, and I hope you are in Heaven;

I feel that I have completed a very important stage of my life and that without your help I wouldn't be here now. (That doesn't mean I'll stop writing... Give me just a few months...)

For all of you, who have accompanied me on this journey, my heartfelt thanks.

About this book

It’s my personal opinion that a work, be it a fictional romance or not, should bring some enlightenment to the readers.

This book is a work of fiction and the characters, and dialogues, places and incidents involving them are drawn mostly from my imagination or are used fictitiously, but I tried my best to pass on some of what I have learned, seen and shared in real live, using part of blueprints to make it more believable.

This book was researched to the limit of exhaustion, so:

All the literary citations made are absolutely accurate and they have been attributed to their authors;

All the hotels, restaurants, menus and chefs mentioned exist; They are described as they were furbished in the period; Wherever I used real locations, I’ve stuck to reality; all the details and descriptions were written as real as possible;

The legend of Eimhir,
the elusive mermaid of Assynth,
is true. In the exact place I built Ethan’s Altreck Caisteal existed a castle called
Ardvreck.
This castle doesn’t exist anymore. It was completed destroyed
;

Mycoplasma Genitalis is a STD recently discovered and is a silent disease, difficult to detect. There is not a public exam to detect it yet;

The daily weather, sunrise, sunset or moon phase are accurate at all times;

When cited, the clothes are from the collections sold at that period;

It’s impossible to withdraw huge amounts of money from a bank – any bank – without a deed or an agreement, in a short space of time. There are strict laws that forbid that in civilized countries, exactly to avoid corruption, drug dealing, kidnappings and other crimes that attempt to disrupt the order;

Organized crime is one of the greatest threats to the UK’s national security and, of course, to the world. In 2011, the Home Secretary announced the creation of the NCA to lead the UK’s fight to cut serious and organized crime; 

Indeed, UK police forces routinely seek CCTV recordings
after
crimes. Moreover, CCTV has played a crucial role in tracing the movements of suspects or victims, and systems in the United Kingdom accounted for the majority of the crime decrease.

Unfortunately, it’s also true that hackers and artists constantly invade the system to prove a point. (What point, I wonder?);

A few facts I purposely distorted:

Ardvreck Castle
, (or Altreck Caisteal, as I called it) was said to be haunted by two ghost; the mermaid of Assynth and a tall man dressed in gray. The word
gray
in British English is written as
grey
. I couldn’t resist distorting this legend, to say what I though about the contemporary ‘
Grey’
… and his infamous story. I’m pretty sure you know whose story I’m talking about. If you aren’t, I can assure you, you gained by not knowing of it;

The restoration of The Dorchester Ballroom was only completed for its 80
^th
anniversary celebrations in 2011, but I couldn’t resist to use it for the gala ball;

The Amam, the hotel that Sophia and her entourage stayed in Dehli, was renamed to its former name The Lodhi, on January 31
^st
, 2013;

Sophia’s kidnapping is not based on any blueprint that I know of. But, unfortunately, I do know of worse real cases;

Just a few enlightening lines about the trendy BDSM subject, so you don’t get me wrong:

The line between what is ‘straight sex’, which is now fashionable to be called
vanilla,
and ‘BDSM’ has been blurred. There are some practitioners that even consider doing a strip-tease, using a costume, or playing a light fantasy, BDSM.

Nonetheless, BDSM, in its strict form, and any act of giving and receiving pain for sexual purposes, is categorized as an unusual sexual fixation referred to as paraphilia, and considered potentially hazardous to the mental stability of those who engage in such, by the DSM (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders) the definitive book psychologists and psychiatrists use to diagnose psychopathology. It has not been taken away from any of its editions, including the DSM-V, published in 2013.

In the legal field things have changed a lot since my last thesis. It’s still considered a crime in many countries and in those, state law overrules adult consent, especially if judged that life can be endangered. On the other hand, in other countries, it’s legal, and even if a person is under what could be consider extreme pain and duress for some, if it’s consensual and safe, it’s permitted.

Your attorney, mechanic, nurse, boss, best friend, colleague, or even your children’s teacher could be a BDSM practitioner. Supposedly, nothing about how a person looks or acts in public can identify them as such or will make them harm others than their own partners.

However, one thing that is often lost on people is that sadism and masochism push a person’s limits to the furthest. It is one of its goals and it can result in physical harm or cause serious psychological distress to the ones that submit and even to their dominants.

Worse, there are so-called dominants that even keep their submissives as twenty-four-seven slaves, with no right whatsoever but to obey their orders and whims.

Slavery has been abolished from our
contemporary
world long ago. Or at least, it should have been…

It’s up to you to judge when the pleasure ends and the abuse starts.

About the disgusting crime of pedophilia:

The widespread failure to protect children’s rights is a global crisis. With 0.5-1.5 billion children experiencing violence each year (Pinheiro 2006), 150 million girls and 73 million boys who are raped or subject to sexual violence (WHO 2000), and 115 million children engaged in extremely harmful forms of work (ILO 2010).

This crisis represents a major violation of children’s rights and it’s an unacceptable situation, which must be remedied urgently, no matter what the costs.

I’ll cut straight to the bone: pedophilia can knock at my door or at your door and we won’t even know, especially due to the easy access to the internet that our children have, in our home or elsewhere.

It’s an abhorrent and silent crime, it doesn’t matter the age: it could be a five-year-old child or a fifteen-year-old teenager.

People who say otherwise, or try to justify it, be it in fiction or not, by subliminal messages or not, should be judged and condemned as criminal accomplices and supporters and their messages should be erased from wherever they are.

This is not censorship.

This is a law that serves to protect children’s and teenagers’ rights from abuse, be it verbal, psychological or sexual and it’s recognized by all civilized countries.

In my opinion, those who commit this crime have no excuse, none whatsoever, and should be sentenced with the death penalty, or life in prison.

SO, if you can, volunteer to help an abused child, don’t be afraid to denounce an abusive neighbor, even if he/she is a parent, and contribute to the foundations you trust, preferably with words of love and tender caresses because money doesn’t make up for what affection, warmth and support can do.

A single gesture can save a child’s life.

It’s up to us, conscious adults, to protect our and other’s children, because they are the future; because they deserve.

About myself

I live in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, with my husband and two daughters. I’m a lawyer and have always loved to read and write. After twenty-two years of practicing law, I decided to give writing a go.

Amazingly, it was the piece that was missing in my life.

As confessions go, I also need to tell you that Sophia, Gabriela and I share a few things. Apart from being able to read when I was three and starting my first University course - Fine Arts - when I was fifteen years old, I also share Sophia’s interest in preventing abuse and violence against children and women, be it of any kind, verbal, financial, psychological or sexual. My thesis at Law School was on this subject, twenty-three years ago.

You can find more information on the TRUST TRILOGY:

On my website:
www.cristianeserruya.com.br

On Facebook:
Cristiane Serruya Author
&
Trustrilogy by Cristiane Serruya

On Twitter:
@CrisSerruya
&
@Trustrilogy

Pinterest:
CrisSerruya

Goodreads:
Cristiane Serruya

I hope you enjoyed reading this book as much as I loved writing it.