The Palace (Chateau Book 4) Read online

  He looked away, his hands moving to his hips.

  “Fender.”

  He looked out the window for a long time, his thoughts somewhere else.

  “Tell me.”

  He turned back to me, his look less angry and more restrained.

  “Your hatred for her can’t outweigh your love for me. I need her in my life—period. She escaped, burned down your camp, turned your world upside down. But let’s not forget that you took her against her will, and the only reason you despise her is because she’s given you nothing but hell. I’m proud of her. I’m so fucking proud of her for not giving up. So, you’re just going to have to let that go—”

  “That’s not why.” His voice turned quiet and calm, which was somehow more intimidating.

  “Then why?”

  His eyes shifted back and forth as he looked into mine, as if debating whether he should tell me. His arms crossed over his chest, the muscles becoming more pronounced. “I’m scared of her.”

  My reaction was uncontrollable. Eyebrows spiked. A breath escaped my slightly parted lips. Unbridled surprise entered my features. Fender wasn’t scared of anyone—let alone a woman. “You think she’ll try to kill you?”

  “No. If she wants to keep Magnus in her life, that’s not an option for her.”

  “Then…I don’t understand.”

  He stared at the ground for a moment before he looked at me. “This is exactly what will happen. She’ll talk in your ear. Poison your mind. Remind you of all the reasons you shouldn’t be with me. She’ll turn you against me—like she always does. Then you’ll leave me. That’s what fucking scares me.”

  He was right on the money. That was exactly how that would go.

  “I know what she says to you—even when I’m not in the room. I know she’ll never feel differently about me and what I do. We’ll always be at odds with each other. And you picked her once—you’ll do it again.”

  His dark eyes bored into my gaze, impatient for a response.

  “I did pick her once…and I was miserable.”

  He sucked in a deep breath.

  Those months had passed so quickly but so slowly at the same time. Even though Raven and I were free and had successfully liberated everyone from the camp, I’d had no reason to go on. There was no zest for life. My nights were sleepless. My heart was heavy. “But I won’t pick her again.”

  His gaze turned stoic, like he didn’t believe that.

  “Because I won’t have to. You’ll do the right thing.”

  He closed his eyes and released a long, drawn-out breath. “Stop saying that shit—”

  “You will.”

  His skin started to flush red again, but his anger didn’t explode. “I won’t let you go again, so I guess it doesn’t matter.”

  “Yes, you will.”

  His eyes narrowed.

  “You would never do that, Fender.”

  “You underestimate me—”

  “I could walk out the front gate right now, and you’d let me go.” I knew him better than he knew himself. I knew the real him—not this shadow.

  His eyes drilled into my face, but he didn’t refute me.

  “You’re forcing yourself to be something that you aren’t. Aren’t you tired?”

  Silence.

  “You’ve accomplished everything that you ever wanted. It’s over—”

  “I will consider your request.” He dismissed the conversation by stepping away from me and moving into the sitting area. He opened a bottle of scotch, filled a glass, and then sat at the table to eat his dinner.

  And that was the end of it.

  Twenty-Two

  Freedom

  Fender

  We didn’t speak through dinner and the rest of the evening.

  But when we made love, all of that changed.

  She slowly came back to me. Her nails dug into my back. Her kisses turned hard. She whispered her love to me. The last time we’d had a fight, I’d left, and we both could have died. She learned from that and didn’t hold on to her anger.

  I didn’t either.

  I got dressed and prepared to leave.

  In my t-shirt, she sat at the edge of the bed, a mess from all the sex, but a beautiful mess. She watched my movements, her arms over her chest, dread in her eyes.

  “I need to show you something.”

  She followed me downstairs. I led her through the foyer, behind the staircase, and down a hallway behind the kitchen. In a room was a bookshelf that took up the entire back wall.

  “Pay attention.” I walked over to the books on the shelf, specifically War and Peace, and tilted them back simultaneously. Then I went to the piano and hit the first white key.

  The bookshelf turned just enough for someone to slide inside.

  Her eyes widened. “The safe room…”

  “Come on.” I slipped inside and stepped into a square room made entirely of metal.

  She looked around, seeing nothing but four walls.

  There was a pad on the wall, and I hit the button.

  The room started to move.

  She jolted as we descended to the ground, looking around even though there were no windows to see the earth pass by. “It’s an elevator…”

  We made it to the bottom, and the doors opened.

  I stepped into the concrete passageway. Guns and supplies lined the beginning of a long, dark tunnel. “This tunnel goes all the way to Paris. If the alarm ever goes off, don’t hesitate. Run down here and join the staff. If the elevator isn’t there, give it a second because it’ll rise again.”

  She nodded her understanding.

  “I’m sorry I didn’t tell you before…” Gilbert might still be alive if I had. No one had ever tried to take me down at my residence, so it was a possibility I never seriously considered. My arrogance had cost lives.

  We rose back in the elevator to the main room. The bookshelf was righted once again, and we walked to the foyer. My car was ready in the roundabout. I turned to her in front of the open doorway, my heart heavy because leaving her was the most painful thing I ever had to do.

  Her arms were crossed over her chest, her eyes sad. “How long will you be gone?”

  “Not sure.”

  “Is there a way we can talk?”

  I never made personal phone calls while I was at the camp. We had satellite phones, but the reception was poor. Most of the conversations were just static. “No.”

  The disappointment was heavy. “Be careful, okay?”

  “Always.” My arms circled her petite body, and I brought her close to press a kiss to her forehead. She was more valuable than my money, my homes, my vault of jewels. She was the single most important thing in my life—and she had a beating heart that I had to protect. I’d never known love, not like this, and I hadn’t felt love at all since the night I’d lost my family. She seemed to fix that—or at least put a gauze over the wound. “Je t’aime, chérie.”

  She pressed her forehead against my chest. “Je t’aime, mon fiancé.”

  I kissed her again because I loved the way that sounded on her perfect lips. I hugged her tighter, not wanting to let go, wanting to stay for just another moment. But I forced myself to pull away, forced myself to do what must be done.

  But I did leave my heart behind—in her hands.

  The camp was exactly as it should be.

  The guards were always surprised by my unexpected visits, but never unprepared.

  My horse was taken away, Nathan went to retrieve my dinner from the kitchen, and I silently walked beside Magnus as we entered my cabin. The second I was on the premises, I stopped thinking about Melanie and focused on the things that required my attention.

  Magnus seemed to know I was in a bad mood because he said, “Talk tomorrow?”

  “No.” I pulled my sweaty shirt over my head and tossed it aside before I grabbed a bottle of water and my favorite scotch. I moved to the couch and took a seat, getting the water down before I started on the drink I really w
anted.

  Magnus noticed my unusual behavior but didn’t comment on it. He took a seat.

  We talked about securing the deal with the Colombians, if Alix was still being a bitch, other matters that required my attention. It was all business first—the reason I was there. I drank my scotch as we talked.

  He didn’t.

  Guess he was more pussy-whipped than I was.

  “I don’t understand the risk you’re taking. The risk doesn’t outweigh current profits.”

  He resisted me at every step—and it was fucking annoying. “A business can’t grow without risks.”

  “But we don’t need to grow. We’re already the biggest—”

  “And we can be bigger.” I flashed him a hard look. “When will you understand that, even if I had everything, it still wouldn’t be enough.”

  Magnus finally backed off and rose to his feet, his mood soured by our disagreement. “Goodnight.”

  “No. I have something to say to you.” This was the real reason I was in a foul mood.

  He turned back and stared at me, a leaner and younger version of myself. We were two years apart, but sometimes that felt like a lifetime.

  “Raven is free to leave the camp. Take her to Paris. Leave here there.” My fingers rested on the top of my glass, anxious for another drink, but I’d already had plenty. That woman was the bane of my existence—and she fucking beat me.

  Magnus couldn’t recover from the shock. His open stare lingered.

  “But if she pulls another stunt, comes back to this camp and starts shit, I will kill her.” I took a drink. “Don’t call my bluff. You won’t be able to save her. Melanie won’t either.”

  Magnus finally recovered from the surprise. “Thank you…”

  “Keep your gratitude. Didn’t do it for you.”

  He gave a slight nod in understanding. “You two made up.”

  “I asked her to marry me.” I stared into the glass for a moment before I shifted my look to my brother, the only family I had in the world—until Melanie was my wife. Until she gave me children. Until she gave me a life that had been taken from me.

  My brother didn’t have an overt reaction, like he didn’t know what to say.

  “She said yes. But only if I released Raven.”

  Still nothing.

  His reaction angered me, because he’d personally asked me to do this for him in the past. “I thought you would be more cheerful.”

  He shook his head slightly. “You wouldn’t have to let Raven go if we ran this camp differently—”

  “Melanie already tried. If I won’t do it for her, why would I do it for you?” Now I understood his disappointment. He’d hoped that Melanie could leverage me to do more. But not even she could make me do the impossible—despite what she believed.

  His eyes dropped for a moment.

  “She said she would only marry me if I freed all the girls. I said no. Then she asked for her sister instead.”

  He gave a slight nod.

  “What?”

  “I’m just surprised that she made the request in the first place.”

  Annoyed, I looked away. “Don’t be. You don’t know her. And frankly, her sister doesn’t either.” Raven and Magnus had a low opinion of my woman, but in reality, she was the one who didn’t give up. She was the one who kept trying to change me. Over and over.

  Magnus remained quiet.

  I knew he was hiding something from me. “What?”

  He held my gaze without blinking, giving it to me straight like a man. “Melanie only came back to you to save Raven.”

  If Melanie hadn’t confessed that to me already, his words would have caused a deep wound. But she came clean because she respected me, because she loved me, because she wanted to marry me and start that marriage off with complete honesty. But my brother’s deception stung. “You kept this from me.” His loyalties had never been so muddled until now—until Raven.

  He continued to hold my gaze. “I didn’t think you’d care. Didn’t realize your feelings were so profound until now. Assumed this was just a physical relationship, infatuation, lust—”

  “Have you ever seen me this way with a woman?”

  He didn’t answer.

  “My feelings were profound the day I looked at her for the first time. Don’t pretend you didn’t know that.”

  Guilt moved into his eyes.

  “But luckily for you, it doesn’t matter. Whether she really wants to be with me or not, she’s all I want.”

  Magnus gave a nod. “Then I’m happy for you.”

  I crossed the grounds and marched toward my brother’s cabin.

  It was sunset, the sky barely lit with a sea of orange and yellow. The heat immediately dimmed once evening had arrived. The torches were lit along the cabins, casting light to replace the fading sun.

  I stopped at the door, stared at it for a while as if expecting it to open on its own. When that didn’t happen, I pounded my closed knuckles against the wood before I stepped back.

  Magnus opened the door a moment later. Barefoot and in his sweatpants, he looked at me quizzically because I never came to him. He always came to me. His hair was ruffled like he’d recently gotten out of the shower. He stepped out and shut the door behind him, silently asking what I wanted.

  I nodded to the door. “I want to speak to her.”

  It took him a moment to understand the request. Once he did, his eyebrows furrowed. “Why—”

  “That’s my business. Not yours.”

  He immediately turned defensive, as if I were his enemy rather than his flesh and blood. He absent-mindedly positioned his body directly in front of the door, like that would be enough to stop me if I wanted her.

  “It’ll only take a moment.”

  “I can convey whatever message you wish to give—”

  “Not the way I can.”

  His jaw clenched noticeably, his muscular arms tightening at the provocation.

  “Bring her out here. Or I’ll let myself inside.”

  He started to fume.

  “If I were here to kill her, she would be dead already. Stop this guard-dog bullshit and step aside.”

  He clenched his jaw before he returned to the cabin and shut the door.

  I waited.

  And waited.

  And fucking waited.

  The door opened again. Magnus stepped out first.

  She came next.

  She was in a tank top and his sweatpants, her face plain and hideous. She had muscular arms from working in the camp for so long. Her hair was pulled back in a messy ponytail. She was so ordinary that I would probably forget what she looked like the second this conversation was over.

  She didn’t tremble in fear. She stood tall and proud—and faced me head on.

  Magnus stayed.

  I shifted my gaze to him. “Leave.”

  He resisted a moment. It took all his strength to force himself back inside the cabin and shut the door.

  Her eyes never left my face. She sized me up the way I did with her. How could some ordinary woman cause me so much fucking grief? How could someone so ugly share the same blood as the most beautiful woman in the world? I stared at her just as hard as I stared at Melanie—but for a very different reason.

  I stepped toward her.

  She didn’t step back. She didn’t cower. She held her ground.

  Annoyed me even more.

  I stopped in front of her. “Let’s get something straight—because Magnus is unable to deliver a simple fucking message.”

  Her eyes shifted back and forth as she looked into mine. Her breathing didn’t change, like she wasn’t the least bit scared of me.

  “Melanie is twice the woman you’ll ever be. You think you’re brave for burning down this camp and releasing my prisoners, but where did that get you? Most of the prisoners were recaptured, and those who weren’t were replaced with new ones, and you’re still here—working for me.”

  Her breathing started to increase, probabl
y in anger.

  “You know what Melanie has done? She’s saved your fucking life. The only reason you’re breathing right now is because of her. No, not Magnus. Melanie. Because my allegiance to my brother’s dick died the day he betrayed me—for you. Your sister made me promise to keep you alive, even after she broke her promise to me, and that’s why there’s air in your lungs this very second.”

  She breathed deeper and deeper, nostrils flaring with every exhale. “Why are you telling me this—”

  “I talk. You listen.”

  Her eyes immediately lit up with flames. Flames from hell.

  “Stop making her feel like shit. Stop making her cry. Stop making her feel like she’s inferior to you—because she’s not. You think you’re better than she is? You’re sleeping with the enemy too. He’s guilty of shit you don’t even know about. Get off your fucking high horse. She accepts Magnus. You know what else she said? She likes Magnus. Because he’s there for you. Because he looks out for you. Because he’s always preferred you to her.” My voice rose and rose, echoing through the entire camp because I despised this woman with every fiber of my being. “She loves me—so you will accept that.”

  Fury exploded all over her face. “She doesn’t love you—”

  “Yes, she does.” I didn’t believe it just because Melanie told me. I believed it because I felt it. I fucking felt it every time she touched me, every time she looked at me, every time she pulled me deeper inside her. “Because I see who she really is—unlike you.”

  Twenty-Three

  The Father’s Sins

  Melanie

  Every time he left, it was hard.

  It was harder now.

  The guards at the gate weren’t enough to dim my fear. The location of the safe room wasn’t enough either. Gilbert’s dead body was forever ingrained in my mind. His pretentious voice still echoed in the hallways. His soul was probably still here, doing things for Fender without anyone knowing.

  But Fender would return in the same condition as when he left.

  And this time, my sister would come with him.

  Gilbert knocked on the bedroom door before he poked his head inside. “Mademoiselle, you have visitors.”