The Camp (Chateau Book 2) Read online

  The Camp

  Chateau #2

  Penelope Sky

  Hartwick Publishing

  One

  Punishment

  There was nothing left.

  The cabins had turned to ash.

  The coke on the tables had burned too.

  A camp that had stood for a decade was now a graveyard. Some of the guards lived. Some had died. Most of the women got away, except a few we retrieved. The guards rode down the path lit by torches and rounded up the ones who’d fled. If they resisted, they were shot.

  I sat on a wooden bench that had survived and looked at what was left of the camp.

  And that wasn’t much.

  The night had passed, and now it was morning. The sun shone down, highlighting the damage.

  The damage she caused.

  My hands still shook in anger. My veins popped out of my arms. My entire face hurt because the muscles were so fucking tight. There were seldom times in my life when I got this angry.

  This might be the worst.

  I wanted to kill her.

  I stared at where she lay in the snow…and almost did it.

  I was too angry to kill her. Was that possible?

  The guards had ostracized me because they recognized her running through the camp with her sister. They didn’t know I’d helped her escape, but they knew I’d helped her in the past, so they spat on me as they passed.

  Horses were audible as they approached, galloping through the patches of snow and the hard earth. There were several, an entire entourage.

  I kept my hands on the ground, not in cowardice but indifference.

  The horses neighed as they came to a stop.

  His boots thudded against the ground as he got off his horse. Then the footsteps came toward me, thudding louder and louder as they came near. Then they stopped.

  I looked up to see my brother standing over me.

  He wore the exact same expression as I did when I looked at Raven.

  Like he wanted to kill me.

  One of the guards found a chair from somewhere and placed it behind him so he could take a seat if he wanted.

  He didn’t.

  I didn’t rise to my feet or speak a word. I had no defense for the events that had transpired last night. If he decided to kill me, I would accept that decision. After all, this was entirely my fault.

  I should die.

  After minutes of angry silence, he lowered himself into the chair. “Leave us.”

  The guards all stepped away to give us privacy. There was nowhere for them to go since not a single building had survived. They just walked farther into the clearing full of snow and ash.

  He stared at me, wearing his bomber jacket, jeans, and thick boots. His hair had been shaved, so he was bald with a shadow on his head that matched the one on his jawline. With wide nostrils and lips that quivered with rage, he looked at me with more than anger.

  Shame.

  When he spoke, his voice was surprisingly quiet. “Everything I built is ash—because of you.”

  I held his gaze.

  “Because you helped her.”

  I gave a slight nod but didn’t apologize.

  “You didn’t just humiliate yourself. You humiliated me.”

  I had done everything for that woman—and she’d stabbed me in the back. The one time I dropped my guard, the one time I had empathy, the one time I felt human…blew up in my fucking face. Both of my hands tightened into fists because I was so fucking mad. I started to breathe harder, the headache returning because the vein in my forehead stuck out so far.

  He studied my reaction. “The humiliation isn’t enough. The anger isn’t enough. I must punish you.”

  I’d betrayed my brother, the only family I had left in the world, for a woman who’d gutted me like a fish. My softness had callused into stone. My kindness had turned into blood lust. If I ever saw her again, I wouldn’t be able to resist putting a knife to her throat and watching her choke on her own blood.

  “You will pay me for everything I’ve lost.”

  I relaxed my fists because my knuckles had started to ache.

  “You will rebuild this place with your bare hands—and your own money.”

  I had already assumed.

  “You will work day and night to get this done as quickly as possible so we can resume normal productivity.”

  “Where will productivity—”

  “This place will be better than it was before.”

  I stared at my brother’s face, seeing the disgust in his eyes.

  “I will bring that cunt back here to work. She will pay for what she’s done with her body, her blood, and her spirit.”

  She deserved worse for what she’d done to me. “Kill her.”

  He shook his head slowly. “She doesn’t fear death. She fears this place. That’s why she burned it to the ground—because it’s in her nightmares. Her punishment will be to live this nightmare forevermore.”

  Just the thought of seeing her again made my stomach flood with acid. All she’d had to do was live. But she chose to throw it all away. She chose to betray the one person who kept her alive all that time.

  That wouldn’t happen again.

  “I won’t kill you—because you’re my brother. But I will punish you to satisfy the men who want me to kill you.”

  I expected nothing less.

  “Anything you want to say before I start?” He pulled out a knife from his pocket and held the hilt between both hands, his eyes slightly down, patiently waiting for me to speak my final words before the torture commenced.

  I shook my head.

  He got to his feet and turned to his men. “Hold him down.”

  Two

  Executioner

  Winter turned to spring.

  Months passed, and we rebuilt that place.

  It was tough work because we couldn’t get shipping trucks out there. All the essentials had to be carried in wagons, and while that became easier as the snow disappeared, it was never simple.

  I rarely left the camp, unless I had other business to attend to.

  Fender and I hardly spoke during that time.

  He was still angry with me.

  I was angry with myself.

  I didn’t spend my free time thinking about the woman who’d made a fool out of me, but the humiliation had left a deeper scar than the one my brother gave me. It was a part of me now, an integral piece to my puzzle. I was bitter, angry, and spiteful.

  I wished death upon her.

  After everything I’d done for her…everything…she did that to me.

  How fucking stupid was I?

  I actually felt like shit for what had happened to her, to her sister, to the women who had to hang from the noose every week. I questioned the camp altogether, considered another way of doing business without the loss of lives.

  But then she reminded me why it could never change.

  Why it should never change.

  The camp was built in a similar fashion as last time, the same foundation of cabins scattered throughout the field between the cover of trees. But this time, we built a wooden fence around the perimeter.

  No one was escaping this place again.

  Fucking no one.

  When Raven was returned to the camp, I would make sure she stayed there for the rest of her life.

  The camp was completed by late April, before the summer season hit. It would be too hot to work in those conditions, so we busted our asses to get everything done before that time. The surviving guards didn’t speak to me, seeing me as a traitor, but they didn’t try to harm me…probably because my punishment had been sufficient.

  But I never dropped my guard because a knife could slice int
o my back at any moment.

  It was unlikely they would kill me because my brother would slaughter them all.

  But if it looked like an accident…maybe they would.

  Once the camp was completed, Fender came for a visit.

  On horseback, with some of his men, he entered the camp, strong and bulky in the saddle. He looked around as he held the reins, scanning the wooden cabins, the clearing where the new prisoners would work all day, and then he stopped his horse in front of us.

  The prisoners were locked in the cabins, so there was no reason to hide our faces. We wore work jeans and t-shirts with sweat on the backs of our necks. Fender was dressed similarly, and when he threw his leg off the horse and landed on the ground, the thud from his body was loud.

  He moved forward and looked around, taking his time examining everything.

  I waited outside with the guards as he went into the cabins, the bunks, the weapons room, and the clearing to inspect everything with his highly trained eye. He wanted this place exactly as it’d been before—but better.

  Some of the guards looked at me, making it clear if Fender didn’t like it, the blame would be mine alone.

  Alix, the one with the dark beard who tried to coerce Raven into a blow job, stared me down with malice in his eyes. The other guards disliked me, but he particularly hated me. “The boss doesn’t like it, it’s on you, Romeo.”

  That was my nickname now—Romeo.

  Because I was a fucking pussy.

  Fender returned, scanning the area before he finally placed his gaze on mine. His brown eyes were the same, but his were innately furious. Even when he laughed, he looked livid. He stared at me for the first time since that night, really stared at me. The other times we had been in the same room, he’d ignored my existence.

  Like he was ashamed of me.

  He gave his approval with a slight nod.

  Alix narrowed his eyes on my face, as if he’d hoped Fender would hate it so I’d be cut again.

  “We’ll get our first drop tomorrow. The girls will get back to work.” Fender looked at the clearing where the tables were prepared, exactly as they’d been before. There was a new noose hanging on the wooden pole, ready for the first victim. There was no snow, but the ground would still bleed red. “More workers will be delivered to the camp throughout the week.” He moved toward me, his boots thudding against the earth with his muscled weight. His arms didn’t even swing by his sides because his posture was still so rigid. It was hard for him to look at me because I still made him so angry. He stopped right in front of me, so he could speak quietly enough for only me to hear. “I’ll personally retrieve that cunt.”

  I didn’t blink.

  He waited for me to argue, as if the past few months would have given me a change of heart, as if I would stick out my neck for her again, humiliate myself to keep her out of this place. It was a test.

  I passed.

  “Help her escape again…and I’ll kill you.” His gaze burned into mine, ferocious.

  I knew he wasn’t bluffing. He would grant no more mercy—even if our blood was the same.

  He turned away and raised his voice so the other guards could hear. “We need a new executioner.” He turned back to look at me, like he would nominate me for the role as an opportunity to prove my loyalty to him, to everyone. “I think Magnus—”

  “I’ll do it.” Alix’s eyes gleamed with mirth, as if nothing would make him happier than putting on that mask and butchering innocent women who were in the wrong place at the wrong time. They went to the grocery store alone at night. They rode the metro alone after a long night at the office. Just regular women…who should have taken a different route home.

  I kept a straight face, but my lungs relaxed when Alix volunteered because no amount of anguish would make me want to take on that role even once, let alone every week. It’d been offered to me before, but I never volunteered myself. Now, my brother put me on the spot, but Alix came to my rescue without even realizing it.

  Fender accepted the offer. “Then let’s get to work.” He headed back to his horse with his men to leave the camp. After he got into the saddle and grabbed the reins, he gave me a final look before he rode off. “No one escapes this place. No one.”

  Three

  The Camp

  Every time a wagon arrived at the camp, it was full of bound women.

  They were assigned their cabins and put to work instantly.

  Since we had to start over and establish obedience with the frightened girls, we had a Red Snow every day until the group of women became so afraid they stopped fighting, stopped talking back, and then they became the quiet and submissive group we wanted.

  They were officially traumatized.

  Years ago, I’d told Fender that the Red Snow was an unnecessary maneuver to establish obedience, that there were other things we could do to maintain control, but Fender dismissed my suggestions.

  Eventually, I stopped asking.

  I once told Raven that after the first time, she would get used to it.

  That was a lie.

  I never got used to it.

  I was in the main cabin when I heard her screams.

  I’d recognize them anywhere.

  I sat at the table in front of the TV, blankly staring at the screen, listening to her yell and scream as she fought to be free. It was quiet and distant, but the sound became louder, right in my ear, like my mind filled in the sound from memory.

  My hands automatically tightened into fists, not from rage at her treatment, but from rage over what she did to me.

  I gave her everything.

  Fucking everything.

  I pushed the chair back with my legs, and I jumped to my feet. It was an out-of-body experience, the way I threw the door open and descended the stairs of the porch to the earth below, seeing red in my vision because I was still furious—even after all this time.

  My body would be forever mutilated…because of what she did to me.

  She was on the ground with her hands bound, Eric’s heavy boot resting on her back to keep her pinned. She tried to squirm free even though there was absolutely no chance of escape. She tried anyway, like an idiot.

  Eric kicked her in the side.

  She groaned then stilled, the air forced out of her lungs.

  “Now, if you’ll be a good little bitch, I’ll free your wrist and take you to your beautiful suite.” Eric stared down at her, returning his boot to her back to keep her in place so she wouldn’t writhe anymore. “That sounds nice, huh?”

  She breathed hard, furious and in pain.

  I walked across the ground and slowly approached where the guards were gathered, looking at the woman who had killed our own, who had torched this place to ash and tried to burn us alive. They all stared down at her with ferocity in their gazes. They would probably kill her…if Fender hadn’t instructed them to torture her by keeping her alive instead.

  I stopped near her head, looking down at her dark hair, her face turned away so she couldn’t see me.

  The guards looked at me, as if they expected me to save her ass.

  Eric cut the rope that bound her hands. “Ready to go, Your Highness?”

  She was still for a second, just breathing on the ground, like she was afraid to rise and meet her fate.

  I’d never seen her look so weak.

  She finally placed her palms against the earth and pushed herself up, wearing the camp outfit she’d been dressed in before she arrived. It was a black tank top and loose waterproof pants. Her arms shook as she got up and slowly rose to her feet. She looked around at the guards, obviously recognizing Alix. Then she turned to look at me, as if she expected another nameless face. But then she stilled, her eyes rigid and fixed in place, her breathing nonexistent.

  I couldn’t describe this rage. It made my blood boil, my chest ache with every breath, made me breathe like a knife had punctured one of my lungs through my back—because she’d stabbed me. Affection had spoiled into hatred
, and I could honestly say I hated this woman, that I wanted every bad thing to happen to this woman—because she deserved it.

  She started to breathe again, looking at me with eyes that slowly started to water. “Magnus—”

  My body instinctively reacted to the sound of my name, the name she only knew because I’d shared it with her. She humiliated me further, right in front of the guards who had no respect for me after I let a wet pussy control my dick. Both of my hands reached out to her throat, and I grabbed her tightly, choking her with a grip so hard I thought I might snap her neck.

  Her hands immediately went to my hands, and she tried to pull them off.

  I slammed her down onto the ground and continued to choke her, right on top of her so I could watch the life leave her eyes, watch her suffer so my suffering would be more bearable. I pushed her head into the earth, my hands about to pop her skin. “Don’t speak to me. Don’t look at me. And don’t you ever say my fucking name again.” My hands released her throat, and I got back to my feet, breathing through my anger, feeling the adrenaline leave my heart and circulate everywhere else.

  She rolled onto her stomach and heaved into the ground, gasping for air, coughing as she felt her neck with her fingertips.

  The guards stared down at her.

  I didn’t do it for show. I didn’t do it to earn back the respect I’d lost.

  I did it…because I fucking wanted to.

  Four

  War Begins

  I wasn’t her guard anymore.

  The position hadn’t been offered to me intentionally, but even if it had, I wouldn’t have taken it.

  I was no one’s guard.

  Now, I was the leader of the camp, overseeing day-to-day operations, managing the cocaine that came in and out. Every single ounce was closely monitored, and I had to make sure the prisoners weren’t stealing any to snort in their cabins, and I had to make sure the guards weren’t doing it either.