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“I’m fine,” she answered. “Just a bit overwhelmed. But I’ll get over it.” When she pulled back and looked at me, there was nothing but pure love there too. She didn’t agree with my decisions or who I loved, but that would never change the way she felt for me. Ever.
Fender continued to pace like he didn’t know what else to do. “How did he know where the camp was?” It was the first time he’d ever looked panicked. Calmly panicked. Moving and shifting as if staying still were impossible.
Magnus’s eyes followed his movements. “I think he followed you.”
He faced the opposite wall, his hands on his hips, his breathing increasing. The fury was starting to grow, beginning with a small fire and rising into an inferno. Invisible smoke left his nostrils. Rage exuded from his entire presence. So angry, he couldn’t even look at his brother.
Magnus shook his head slightly as he stared at Fender’s back. “One by one, they executed each one of us. I was with Alix, Eric, and Nathan while they were shot in the skull. I don’t feel bad for what happened to them, but they didn’t deserve that either.” He turned angry himself, his voice full of furious accusation. “Your men died because you failed to listen to me.”
Fender stilled.
Magnus spoke with heated emotion, like he needed to get it out for his own sake. “And the only reason I’m alive now is because Raven saved me. I was on my knees in the dirt, the last one to get a bullet in my head, but she shot him first.”
There was a long stretch of silence.
I looked at Raven, surprised but also not.
Fender remained still, his back no longer rising and falling with his deep breathing.
Then he slowly turned around.
He didn’t look at Magnus.
He looked at Raven.
For a very long time.
He was still angry, still furious, but there was something else there now.
Raven held his gaze and didn’t blink.
Neither did he.
He stared at her the way he stared at me, like a few seconds weren’t enough to absorb what he wanted to see.
Magnus spoke again, pride in his voice. “I am the sole survivor because of her.”
Fender didn’t say a word as he stared, but he didn’t need to.
The look said it all.
Twenty-Six
Napoleon
Fender
I sat across from my brother in the parlor. Minutes passed even though we didn’t have them to waste. The door was closed, so we were alone, but I felt Raven’s presence outside, registered her in a different way from before.
As an ally.
It was hard to look at my brother. Not because of anger, resentment, or anything that I’d felt for the last few days.
But because I was ashamed. “You were right, and I didn’t listen.”
Magnus stared at me stoically, without a hint of gloating. There was actually pity there—even though he was the one who’d almost died.
Because of my stupidity. “Now the camp is lost.”
He still said nothing. Didn’t say I told you so. Didn’t even seem angry with me.
I rubbed my palms together as I considered our next move. “We have to take it back.”
Now he had a reaction. “Why?”
“Because we can’t let him get away with that, Magnus. We don’t let someone make a fool out of us.”
Now his fury emerged. “You mean, make a fool out of you.”
I swallowed the insult like a man. A big pill without water. “We still have to do something. We have to take that camp back. We can’t just let them overrun our business like this.”
Magnus cocked his eyebrow and released words dripping in sarcasm. “So, after all this…you still care about money?” He shook his head in disbelief. “Fender, you need to let it go.”
Unable to remain subdued, I lashed out like a knife at his throat. “This man killed all my men and almost killed my brother. Do you think I’m gonna let that go?” We were the same man, but we rarely agreed on anything anymore. That man tried to execute someone I loved, so no, I was not letting that shit go.
“Do you want to take the camp back for revenge? Or do you want to take it back so you can run business like usual?”
I gave no answer—because I wasn’t sure of the answer anymore.
The disappointment he gave me was brutal, like his opinion of me somehow sank even lower. “If your answer is the second one, or both, don’t expect me to help you.”
I massaged my knuckles because they suddenly felt broken.
“I will only help you if you run the camp differently. You set the girls free and hire people to do the labor. If we can’t come to an agreement on that, I’ll walk away.”
I stared at him in silence, knowing it wasn’t a bluff. Everything had changed now, and for the first time, I was starting to truly understand the error of my ways. My arrogance had made me complacent. My insatiable revenge had made me stupid. My obsession with the past had compromised my future. I’d lost Gilbert. I could have lost the love of my life as well. And to top it off…I’d almost lost the man across from me—a man I would die for.
