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His eyes fell as a new level of disappointment hit him like a ton of bricks.
“You called my bluff and won.” I nodded to the guards to release the crying women and put out the torches. I’d allowed my brother to humiliate me publicly because killing him was something I just couldn’t do. So, I had to do something else instead. Something deep. Something permanent. “I won’t kill you. But we aren’t brothers anymore. When you leave…I don’t want to see you again.”
Hurt moved into his features, as if what I said was just as bad as a knife to his stomach. Now he was the one who looked betrayed. I didn’t take his life, but I took our relationship—and that was just as bad.
I spoke to my brother one last time in this life. “You’re dead to me.”
Days passed.
Once that final conversation happened, I didn’t think about my brother again.
He didn’t exist.
When he left the camp, it would be over.
I wouldn’t have a brother anymore.
My decision spared some of my humiliation, but not nearly enough. And that wasn’t the only reason why I did it.
I did it because I wanted to.
I watched the TV in the dark, my thoughts drifting to Melanie. Now that my brother had been exiled from my life, it would complicate my relationship with her. She’d want to see her sister, and I wouldn’t be there in order to avoid Magnus. But she wouldn’t leave me.
I knew that.
She was the only family I would have left.
Magnus’s voice was audible on the other side of the door, talking to Eric. He overpowered Eric and entered the cabin, sharp hostility in his eyes. His anger hadn’t abated over the course of the last few days.
Neither had mine.
I turned off the TV and stared him down.
He stared back.
“Say what you want to say so you can leave.”
His eyes narrowed at my coldness. “I’ve never been disloyal to you—”
“Bullshit.”
He stepped closer. “I haven’t. I would take a knife for you in a heartbeat. I would hang for your crimes. I would do anything for you—”
“Clearly not.”
His hands tightened into fists before he dropped into the chair across from me. “The reason this camp has been untouched is because I’m here. I’m your eyes and ears when you’re elsewhere. You trust me, and without me, this place will go to shit. You fucking know it.”
“And it hasn’t already?” I gave him a cold look.
“No. It’s being remodeled, which we needed—”
“Wasn’t it remodeled when your little cunt burned it to the ground?”
His eyes immediately flashed in anger. “Let’s not forget that your fiancée burned it down too. Let’s not forget that she killed the executioner. The woman you’ve vowed to love your entire life feels the same way I do. You’re the only one who feels otherwise. So, stop being stubborn.”
I grabbed my scotch and took a drink. “It has nothing to do with stubbornness.”
“It has everything to do with it. I’m not leaving my post. I will continue to work here since I need to watch your back because no one else will do it. I have no problem with what we do for a living. I feel no remorse for putting drugs on the street. I feel no remorse for killing men who deserve death. But I can’t do it at the expense of the innocent—not anymore.”
“That’s only been a concern to you since your dick got wet.”
“Fuck you. It’s always been a concern to me. But I admit loving a prisoner has definitely put me over the edge.”
I would never understand his fascination. She wasn’t worthy of love.
“Fender, we just need to change this aspect of the camp. That’s all.”
“We’ve talked about this. It doesn’t work—”
“Then we make it work.”
I shook my head slightly. “If it were feasible, I would do it. I won’t sit here and say the killing of those girls is justified. It’s wrong. Irrevocably wrong. But I have other priorities that are more important to me.”
Magnus shook his head. “There is no priority more important than innocent lives.”
I looked away, annoyed with this conversation.
“I’m not gonna let this go, Fender. You can banish me from the camp, but I’m going to get back in here just the way I got into your cabin.”
I turned back to him, eyes narrowed. “Are you threatening me?”
He held my gaze without flinching. “I’m warning you.”
“Sounds like the same thing to me.”
“Trust me, you would know if I were threatening you.”
I shook my head. “Don’t make me do it when I don’t want to.”
“But you do want to stop killing the girls.”
“No, I’m not talking about that.” Both of my hands tightened into fists. “I’m talking about you. If you keep opposing me, you’ll leave me no choice. Don’t put me in that position.”
Magnus inhaled a slow breath.
“Take the girl, and go live your life. Don’t interfere with mine.”
