Earlier that afternoon, Logan had expressed concern about whether some sort of contraception should be available for them in case things went further than planned, as they had indeed ended up doing. An accidental pregnancy might end up derailing all of Sidney’s plans and, while he would not personally be upset to keep her around for longer, the last thing he wanted was to see her disappointed. Martha, who knew Sidney’s cycle as well as her own and who, despite the advice she gave, knew her young employer well enough to recognise the wisdom in having this conversation, had assured him that it wouldn’t be a problem.

“Thank you.” Sidney spoke softly, lovingly, as she put her arms around him and rested her head on his chest. He stroked her wet hair and kissed the top of her head. They were still cuddling this way when there was a knock on the door which connected the bedroom to the playroom. “Come in!” Sidney smiled, finally breaking the embrace but holding onto Logan’s hand. The door opened part way and Caitlyn’s grinning face appeared around it.

“Sorry to interrupt!” she grinned, “But it’s time to get ready for dinner!” She came all the way into the room, clutching a large bag containing the tools of her trade in one hand with a garment bag slung over her other arm.

“This is my cue to leave!” Logan leaned down and gave Sidney a tender, romantic kiss on the lips, tilting her face towards him with a finger under her chin. “But I’m not going far, don’t worry!” He smiled down into her big, sparkling eyes. “I’ll be back to escort you to dinner. Let Caitlyn do her thing!” He gave a final kiss, shorter than the last but no less romantic then left the pretty little urchin with dripping hair and wearing nothing but a towel around her shoulders, knowing that next time he saw her she would have been transformed into an elegant young lady!

Knowing the time was limited and she still had to change herself before going down to dinner, Caitlyn practically shooed the young man out of the room and set out her equipment on the bed after pulling the duvet discretely over the well-used sheets below and making no comment about what had recently transpired there. She patted the edge of the bed, inviting Sidney to sit down, and she did so. Caitlyn, Sidney knew, had three daughter of similar age to her – one within a month or so, one just a year older and another a little over a year younger, and she liked the way the beautician always talked to her like one of their friends, a normal eleven year old, and not like a “rich girl”.

“So how did you feel watching Hazel slaughtered?” Caitlyn asked, sounding more intrigued than anxious, pretty sure that witnessing the reality of what awaited her would have strengthened her young employers resolve rather than made her waver.

“Oh it was so hot!” Sidney giggled. “It made me feel…” she blushed. “It made me feel horny!”

“Well good job Logan was around!” Caitlyn chuckled as she began to brush and dry Sidney’s hair, although without the curlers this time. Sidney giggled in agreement while keeping her head as still as she could to make the nice lady’s job easier.

“And… Hmm…” Sidney frowned a little. “Is there a word that’s like being horny but for wanting to be eaten?”

“Not that I know of!” Caitlyn laughed. “Funnily enough, I don’t think it comes up too often!” Both were silent for a while as she continued to work. “You know,” she remarked after a minute or two, “you’re the one who got people to accept that eating girls could be a good idea, perhaps you could come up with a word?”

“Ooh good idea!” Sidney grinned. Caitlyn was now working on her makeup and Sidney closed her eyes to make it easier. At least three or four minutes passed without either of them talking before Sidney suddenly opened her eyes and exclaimed loudly: “YUMMY!”

“Excuse me?” Caitlyn chuckled, setting down her makeup bush and looking at the young girl with amused confusion.

“The word for when you’re horny to be meat!” Sidney giggled. “I think it should be yummy! What do you think?”

“Sounds good to me!” Caitlyn grinned. “Now, are you ready to try this dress?”

Despite being no stranger to nice and expensive things, Sidney still gasped when the dress was revealed, emerging from its bag like a butterfly from a chrysalis. It was a light but rich shade of blue, silky and shimmering. It was strapless, with a thickened, sculpted bodice flowing seamlessly into a long skirt that looked designed to hug her figure, with a split almost to the waist up one side.

“We thought you deserved a big of elegance.” Caitlyn smiled. “Martha had this commissioned especially for you from Harvey Nichols in London!” While she had no issue going nude, or next to nude, at public events, that was her uniform after all, and in her every-day life she was a total tom-boy, more often to be found in baggy jeans and a hockey jersey than anything feminine or figure-hugging, in fact, other than the formal dresses she had for weddings, going to Church or other formal occasions, she was not actually sure she owned any skirts or “girly” clothes in general, she had rather been looking forward to being able to “dress up” a bit as her celebrity status grew and had been a little disappointed when it turned out people who invited her to events where the great and the good were gathered expected to see her “in uniform”. It warmed her heart that Martha and the rest of the team had understood this and arranged for her to have this one chance to be an elegant young lady.

“No granny-pants with this one I’m afraid!” Caitlyn chuckled, pulling a thong out of her bag. “Might spoil the effect a little if an inch or two of white cotton is showing at the top of the split!” Sidney giggled and took the skimpy underwear from her, wondering a little if they might chaff uncomfortably after her afternoon’s entertainment, but, slipping them on, she found them surprisingly comfortable. Although she had never gone in for underwear like this generally speaking, she had worn similar bikini bottoms before. Despite the proven legality of her “Sidney Costume”, there had been several TV shows and even magazines early on in her campaign that had been very reluctant to feature a stark naked ten year old and so she had compromised, adding a matching bikini to the ensemble, or even occasionally a pair of hot-pants for those who proved especially prudish.

This had always struck her as a little silly – she was trying to display her body as meat, to convince people that it would be good to eat. What was so special or shocking about a particular fold of skin or two little pink circles that they needed to be covered? Although being raised in a wealthy, conservative household and continuing to hold many of those values, she would never understand the big deal over nudity. She knew parts of Europe and Scandinavia had much healthier attitudes towards their bodies. She loved her country but could not help feeling it could be really stupid at times!

The dress unzipped down the back and Caitlyn held it open for Sidney to step into. The measurements were perfect and it seemed to mould to her body like a second skin, closing around her hips and torso so that when the zipper reached the top of its track and Caitlyn used the tiny clip to secure the top, just below her shoulder-blades, she had no doubt about its ability to stay in place.

“Wow!” Sidney gasped, looking in the full-length mirror and twirling one way then the other. “It’s gorgeous!”

“You’re gorgeous!” Caitlyn smiled warmly. “The dress just brings that out! “Okay, let me finish fixing your hair then I need to go change myself. Martha will be up with some shoes in a minute, okay?” Sidney nodded and sat back down once more, carefully this time so as not to crease her lovely dress, and sat still while Caitlyn brushed, clipped and sprayed her hair into a beautiful, swept-up style worthy of Audrey Hepburn. “There we go!” the stylist smiled, enjoying the look on Sidney’s face as she admired her reflection, feeling a mixture of affectionate warmth and professional pride. “Just sit tight for a few minutes then it will be time for dinner.”

“Thank you.” Sidney smiled, both for the support, the work she did and her friendship. Caitlyn grinned, collected up her equipment and hung the garment bag on the outside of Sidney’s wardrobe, ready to put the dress back into later, then left the room, leaving Sidney alone for the first time in several hours to collect her thoughts about the afternoon’s events. She had expected it to be a quiet afternoon at home, maybe sorting out her belongings or just taking it easy before her last trip to LA where she would face a veritable barrage of interviews and media appearances before her big moment, her last real chance to relax, but instead she had seen another young girl slaughtered, gutted and cleaned then given her first blow-job and her virginity to a sweet young man who, in a different life, she might have fantasised about dating. Now she was about to be among the first modern Americans, to the best of her knowledge, to taste roasted girl-meat.

As she sat on the bed, she looked around her very familiar bedroom. She had been happy here, she thought. She had experienced a happy life in general! And yet, right from when she was very small and had been read stories of famous women, meant to inspire her, she had felt that she needed to do something with her life that would make a difference. To change the world for the better in some way. She was intelligent enough to do well in school and could have gone on to study whatever she felt inclined to, and with her father’s money behind her she could have, if she had felt so inclined, looked forward to a future as an “influencer” of sorts, maybe even bagged her own reality TV show. But she would have been one among many. Just another girl with a rich daddy who had too much money and not enough responsibilities to fill her time, looked up to by a few but mocked by many more.

And then, that day when her friend Jessie, who’s mother worked for her dad at the time, had brought that funny little book round to show her, she had known her purpose. That evening, fascinated and a little confused by the feelings the book had stirred in her she had started to research the topic online, looking for information about real cannibalism in history, finding a few stories of incidents where it had been practised as a survival necessity but far more intriguing where the tales of cultures in which it was common practice, the rituals and reasoning surrounding it. In the course of her reading she had come across a comedy song from the 1950s, written and performed by an English duo who had apparently been quite famous at the time. The song was called “The Reluctant Cannibal” and told the story of a young man in a cannibal tribe who decides one day that he’s not going to eat people any more because, as he explains in the song, “eating people is wrong!” His distressed parents, wondering what kind of strange madness has gripped their son, offer various counter-arguments and there was one that really struck her, playing over and over in her mind long after the story had finished.

“But people have always eaten people! What else is there to eat?
If the Juju had meant for us not to eat people, he wouldn’t have made us of meat!”

It made perfect sense to her young mind! Was there really an objective reason not to eat the meat of other humans? She had seen adverts from militant animals rights charities in the past challenging people to think about why they found eating some animals acceptable but not others. Why, for example, the posters asked, was it okay to eat a pig or a cow but not a dog or cat? Sidney understood their logic but wondered why, if meat was meat, the same should not extend to people? After all, from a purely ethical standpoint, would it not actually be better to eat a person who could agree to being butchered than an animal that couldn’t? There were, she knew, food shortages around the world and there had been plenty of reports that the Earth’s population was growing faster than the planet could sustain – surely there was an easy and logical answer to both issues, if only people could see past their pre-conceptions and embrace it!

The more she had thought about it, the more she felt a desire to be meat. To become food for her fellows and hope that, by doing so, she would encourage others to follow her example. But would there be others who were willing, she had wondered? Grateful that her dad had never thought to have a filter put on her computer in her bedroom, she had continued to search and come across an entire subculture dedicated to the idea of consensual or at least legalised and culturally accepted cannibalism. For many people it was clearly just a fantasy, a form of pornography, but she came across posts, pictures, messages, stories and photographs by many others which implied that, were the opportunity to be offered, there would be plenty willing to follow her path. Of course to get access to most of these boards, forums and pages she had needed to lie and claim to be over eighteen but since it was so easy for her to do so, she realised there was really no real way of knowing how old those posting were.

That night she had gone to bed with her head swimming, filled with the images she had seen. After fingering herself to climax at least three times she had finally been able to sleep and her dreams had been filled with situations where she found herself in the place of the girls in the stories and pictures – roasting on a spit, climbing into a pot with others to boil, trussed up in an oven, kneeling with her head on a block awaiting an axe or offering her throat to a butcher, inviting the fatal kiss of his knife. She had awoken in the morning with an unshakable resolve. Finally she had known her purpose and the change she wanted to make in the world, the legacy she wanted to leave.

Full of excitement, she had called Jessie and told her about her epiphany, only to find that her friend’s evening had been much the same! With squeals of excitement, the friends had pledged to campaign together and to cook side by side. It had been Jessie’s mum who had put a stop to that plan, forbidden her daughter from participating, leading to the friends falling out and Jessie strongly resenting Sidney for, as she saw it, taking the whole spotlight in the public consciousness that they were supposed to have shared. Sidney missed her friend deeply, although not enough to make her question her mission. She would have preferred that she and Jessie campaigned together and would be going hand-in-hand to slaughter but, since that could not be, she would complete her task alone. Jessie and her mum were among those very select few invited to watch her slaughtered the day after next and partake of her meat. She sincerely hoped that she would come and planned to write her a letter the next day in a last effort to repair their friendship.

A knock on the door jolted Sidney out of her rather melancholy reminiscences.

“Come in!” she called brightly, standing up and smoothing out her dress, front and back, with the palms of her hands. The door from the playroom opened and in walked Logan, looking stunningly handsome in a well-fitted black tuxedo complete with cummerbund and bow-tie. With his glasses and the way his hair was slicked back, she thought he looked even more like Clarke Kent than usual! Seeing him made her heart beat a little faster and she felt a distinct tingle under her thong. “Logan!” she greeted him in delight. “Hope you recognise me like this?” she asked, trying to sound like she was teasing but with a genuine undercurrent of nervousness. “How do I look?”

“You look absolutely beautiful!” he assured her, genuinely struck by the transformation. “Stunning! Now, my lady,” he smiled and offered his elbow as she beamed happily, her cheeks pink and not just from the blush Caitlyn had applied, “would you do my the honour of allowing me to escort you to dinner?”

“It would be my pleasure!” she smiled as she stepped forward to take his arm.

“Oh wait!” Sidney exclaimed in amusement as they started to walk towards the door and she wondered why her senses were telling her something was wrong. The feeling of the soft carpet beneath her feet had been what tipped her off. Logan looked at her in concern, puzzled as to what could be bothering her. “Notice anything missing?” she giggled, lifting her bare foot and wiggling it around.

“Oh! I see!” chuckled Logan. Just at that moment, Martha came into the room wearing a salmon pink dress as elegant as Sidney’s with her hair up in a similar style. She was grinning, clutching a small purse which matched her dress in one hand and a pair of silver shoes with a small heel in the other.

“Sorry!” Martha apologised, chuckling a little. “Doing my makeup took a little longer than expected. I don’t have a Caitlyn to do it for me!” she teased, winking to show that she meant nothing malicious by it. Quickly, without letting go of Logan’s arm, Sidney took the shoes and put them on one at a time and then the three of them made their way out of Sidney’s suite of rooms and to the elevator. Since it was a small, intimate occasion, the dinner was to take place in the family’s private dining room rather than the much larger function room that Orin and Sidney’s brothers who were also involved in managing the business used for entertaining. Sidney did not let go of Logan on the walk to the lift, as the trio rode it down to the right floor or on the short walk to the dining room.

Entering the room, Sidney saw that they were the last to arrive. The table was circular and her father, who stood to greet them as they came in, was seated on the far side. There was a space to his right for Martha and two to his left for Sidney and Logan. Next to Martha’s currently vacant chair sat Caitlyn, now as formally attired as everyone else, then Flava the butcher and finally Hazel’s mother, completing the circle in the seat next to Logan’s. Sidney finally released Logan so she could hug her Daddy and he kissed her on the cheek before showing her to her seat, tucking her chair in like a proper gentleman.

“Happy Birthday, honey!” he smiled warmly at her. “I know it’s not really until the day after tomorrow but you’re going to be a little busy on the day itself and, while you’ll certainly be joining us for dinner,” this was met with polite chuckles around the table, including from Sidney herself, “it won’t be quite the same so I want you to think of tonight as your own private celebration.” Smiling happily as Logan and Martha took their seats, Sidney looked around the table. It was set very formally and in front of each diner was set a bowl with a porcelain lid to keep the contents warm and a small side-dish with three canapés. There were dishes all around the table from which people could help themselves containing vegetables and potatoes prepared a number of different ways as well as some that were covered like the individual soup bowls. There were ice-buckets with bottles of wine, especially chosen for the occasion with low alcohol content meaning that Sidney could drink the same as everyone else without risking getting sick, and baskets of fresh-baked crusty bread rolls but what really drew Sidney’s attention was the large silver-plated covered platter set close to her father’s seat. It looked like something out of a cartoon and there was no doubt what so ever in her mind as to what was under the dome.

“Your brothers send their love,” Orin continued, “and their apologies that they cannot be here. We thought it best, for now, not to tell them exactly what we’re eating tonight since the fewer people who know, the better,” Sidney glanced over at Hazel’s mum, wondering if she would look sad or maybe even a little guilty but instead saw her beaming with pride as if she were watching her daughter perform the lead role in a school play rather than sitting down with others preparing to eat her, “but they know we’re having a special Birthday meal for you tonight. They’re very much looking forward to seeing you tomorrow!”

“And eating me the day after?” Sidney asked with a cheeky grin, holding Logan’s hand under the table.

“That too!” her father laughed. “Now, we have Flava and, of course, Laura, to thank for tonight’s dinner,” Sidney realised that must be Hazel’s mother’s name, “but after all their hard work I want them to relax and enjoy the meal as our guests.” The pair smiled as everyone gave them a polite round of applause. “Now please,” Orin gestured expansively, “before I carve the main course, everyone enjoy the soup and canapés!”

The smell of the steam that rose up from the bowl as Sidney took off the lid was delicious in itself! She looked down at the soup which was a reddish-brown colour but fairly clear with finely-chopped vegetables and a generous amount of shredded meat which resembled pulled pork floating around in it. The aroma was mostly meaty, like bacon or pork sausages, but with hints of other seasoning. It fascinated and thrilled Sidney to think that the meat she was looking at had come from a young girl just like her! Of course it was not as identifiable as the main roast would be but still, she knew! She took a steaming spoonful and put it to her lips. It was beyond delicious! All the flavours working together perfectly to produce a delightful gastronomic experience. Hazel’s mum was clearly every bit as good as the celebrity chefs who had applied to be allowed to prepare Sidney’s own meat and Sidney was a little disappointed she had now known earlier so as to save a portion for her! At least, she hoped, her dad would have found a seat for her among the invited guests who would get to sample the wide range of dishes!

After three spoonfuls of the delicious soup, including a decent amount of the shredded meat which she savoured as she chewed, Sidney turned her attention to the little plate on which were three small treats – a dark oblong of meat on a bed of lettuce with some shredded carrot on top, a cracker with a generous portion of pate and a little puff-pastry bowl with something inside. She looked at them with interest, trying to work out what they might all be. Figuring there was no shame in asking, she turned to Hazel’s mum who her dad had named as Laura.

“I guess this one is liver pate?” she smiled, pointing to the middle canapé. “But what are the others?” Laura grinned, very happy to be asked and given the opportunity to talk about her culinary creations.

“That one’s tongue.” she explained, pointing to the dark oblong on the bed of lettuce. “It’s a bit of a different taste but it’s good! Of course Hazel’s wasn’t as big as the pig’s I practised with!” she giggled. “And that one is a little portion of chilli in filo pastry. It was something Hazel really liked and always asked me to make for her parties so I thought it seemed appropriate!”

“They all sound great!” Sidney beamed, before taking each in turn and eating them in two or three bites a piece, starting with the tongue which she enjoyed despite not being sure if she would and ending with the chilli which she knew she would like. “I must say,” she complimented the proudly smiling mother, “your daughter really is delicious! I hope I taste this good on Monday!” She then turned her attention back to the soup and finished it up, savouring every delectable mouthful. Gradually, everyone around the table finished their appetisers, some taking bread to go with them but most being cautious about having enough room to enjoy the treat to follow. When he saw that everyone was finished, Orin Roebuck stood up and announced that it was time for the main course!

There were gasps and coos from all around the table as the lid of the platter was carefully lifted off, revealing the delicious roast below! Once again, Sidney found herself thinking how very much like a turkey and yet still instantly recognisable as a girl Hazel looked. She must have been cooked very carefully at a steady temperature and well basted throughout as, other than the puckering and slight swelling at the stumps of her ankles, wrists and neck, her skin was perfectly preserved with no cracks or shrivelling as might have been expected. Her vulva, displayed proudly between splayed thighs, looked plump and juicy and Sidney was intrigued to see that her nipples, once pink against her pale, almost alabaster skin, were now the same golden brown as the rest of her carcass. She wondered whether this was a result of the cooking itself, roasting the small girl the same colour all over, or whether it was simply the many layers of glaze and sauce coating the young body. Despite having no head, laid out roasted and ready to serve before her, Hazel looked both more beautiful and more delicious than Sidney could ever have imagined!

The lids of the smaller dishes were also taken off revealing addition treats including small links of sausage and slices of something pale that Sidney couldn’t identify at first but which she quickly realised was brain, fried in garlic butter. Taking up the carving set which lay beside the platter, Orin turned to his daughter.

“So,” he grinned, “guest of honour gets first choice! What will it be?” Hazel’s roasted carcass looked so perfectly beautiful that it almost seemed a shame to cut into it. On the other hand, she both looked and smelled so delicious that Sidney’s hunger and craving quickly overtook and aesthetic objections!

“I think it has to be her pussy, please!” Sidney giggled, offering her plate. “It’s looks so good!”

“It sure does!” chuckled Orin as he pushed his fork in, through the smooth but crispy skin, causing clear juices to run out, then began to carve the tender meat. Under the golden-brown skin was a very thin layer of pink, then the meat below was white. “Plenty to go around,” he waved his utensils over the roast which was certainly a lot of meat for just seven people, “want something else too? You can always come back for more if you want to try everything!”

“Hmm…” Sidney thought for a moment as the cut that she had requested was placed gently onto her plate. “Some thigh, please! And a piece of rump if you can get to it?” Carefully, Orin sliced the meat and loaded it onto his daughter’s plate before pausing to think for a moment then also slicing off Hazel’s left nipple with a good slice of breast meat beneath it and added it to Sidney’s collection. Seeing her little girl’s body carved up like a Thanksgiving turkey was apparently causing Laura no distress what so ever as she continued to smile proudly, looking at the delicious roast that she was responsible for creating twice over, and waiting patiently to be served. Orin moved onto her next as Sidney helped herself to a couple of the small sausages and a piece of fried brain, which she was not too sure about but wanted to try anyway, then loaded up the rest of her plate with potatoes and vegetables before pouring thick, rich grave, made with Hazel’s own stock, over the entire meal. The genial billionaire worked his way around the whole table and soon everyone was tucking in.

“Oh wow!” Sidney exclaimed as she munched on a piece of Hazel’s plump vulva. “This is so good! Here!” she speared a piece on her fork and held it out to Logan. “You should try it!” He leaned in and took the offered morsel, chewing thoughtfully for a moment then agreeing that it was delectable! “I hope you get to try mine too!” Sidney told him in a softer voice. “You can decide if it tastes better cooked or raw!” This last observation was made in little more than a whisper, intended for his ears only, and he blushed so deeply that even his ears turned red!

Her dad noticed and chuckled, shaking his head in amusement. Pretty confident that she would enjoy the rest of the meat on her plate, Sidney decided to try the brain next, so as to get it out of the way quickly in case she didn’t like it. Cautiously, she tasted a small piece and found it not unpleasant. It did not really have much of a taste – like the few times she had eaten muscles or eaten a snail on a dare from her brother Hunter when on holiday in Paris, it just tasted of the garlic butter it had been cooked in. Nothing not to like, really, but nothing special about it either. But either way, she was pleased that it had been prepared, considering it important that every edible part of a slaughtered meat-girl be used! After finishing it off, accompanied by root vegetable mash, roast potatoes and other veggies, she eagerly tucked into the rest of the meat and was soon ready for her plate to be topped up.

“Just think!” Sidney beamed as her father topped up her plate, “Soon, Jess’n’Sidney’s will give people a chance to eat like this every day!” Martha’s smile slipped for a moment and she looked rather worried. Orin shot her a warning look and she quickly corrected her expression but it was too late – Sidney had already noticed. “What?” she asked, a little alarmed. “You are going to open the restaurant, aren’t you? Girls contact me every day desperate to sign up to be on the menu!”

“Of course, honey!” her father assured her, a soothing hand on her bare shoulder. “All the plans are in place. We just can’t get final approval and the permits signed off until the laws are officially changed. But it will happen, I promise you.”

“So why did Martha look so concerned?” Sidney narrowed her eyes a little, looking at her friend across the table for an explanation.

“Oh…” Martha floundered a little. You mentioning it just reminded me of all the work I’m going to have to do over the next couple of years to get it up and running. Don’t worry ‘though.” she smiled. “We’ll hold girl-meat banquets in the hotels and even try to get Girl on our regular menu in some locations at least until Sidney’s… and Jessie’s” she corrected herself, “is ready to open.”

“Jess’n’Sidney’s, you mean?” the young girl reminded her.

“Yes sorry, just got my words a little muddled!” Martha chuckled, not entirely convincingly. “But don’t worry, the restaurant is definitely going ahead!”

“Good!” Sidney nodded, not completely convinced that there was not more going on but deciding to drop it. If she pushed much further, she realised, it could lead to an argument and that was not how she wanted to spend her last night at home. “So are you staying here tonight?” Sidney turned to Logan as she loaded her fork with more Hazel-meat. “Coming with us on the jet in the morning?” Sidney, along with Martha and her father would be travelling to LA on her father’s private jet first thing in the morning where a busy day of paperwork, media appearances and other preparations awaited her. Her last night alive would be spent in her regular suite at her father’s hotel, which had become home-from-home for her over the last few years during her campaign, and was where she would be slaughtered, butchered and eaten the day after, on her birthday itself.

“Yeah.” Logan smiled at her, enjoying the happiness on her face as she contentedly chomped on the meat of her fellow little girl. “I’ve got one of the guest suites and there was room on the plane since your brothers are already in LA.”

“Why don’t you stay with me tonight?” Sidney asked, smiling sweetly. Before Logan could respond, she swivelled in her chair. “That’s okay, isn’t it, Daddy?” she asked Orin, wide-eyed. “I’d enjoy the company and it would mean less work for the housekeepers in the morning!” The billionaire chuckled at at his daughter’s eager rationalising.

“Sure, honey!” he smiled, stroking her hair. “If that’s okay with Logan, of course? He might be my employee but my influence only extends so far and this is most certainly outside his job description!” He winked at the younger man as Sidney spun back to him with a glare of expectation.

“Well I some work to catch up on but…” he began before Sidney opened her mouth to protest. Sweet-natured as she was, she was also very used to having her own way and getting whatever she wanted. Surely, she thought, her friend was not about to turn her down? To deny her last request? “It can wait until Tuesday!” he smiled, and leaned in to kiss her.

“Well, that’s settled then!” declared Orin, to the amusement of everyone at the table. He looked around at the empty dishes and platters, then at the remains of Hazel in front of him, now little more than stripped bones to which occasional small deposits of meat still clung. “It certainly looks like we’ve done justice to our main course! May I suggest a little break before dessert?” Everyone agreed that this was a good idea. Outside, it was finally starting to get dark. “So, if you’d all like to make your way out onto the balcony,” he invited, “I’ve arranged for a firework display to make my little girl’s night extra special!”

Delighted at this prospect, Sidney stood and took a tight hold of Logan’s hand then, along with the rest of the guests, made her way onto the balcony to enjoy the display in her honour.

The End