The Chateau (Chateau 1)

He dropped his gaze and was quiet for a while. “Right now…I’m not sure.”

I looked down and started to breathe hard, terrified that I’d have to live the rest of my life without her, knowing she was out there and I couldn’t help her. “If you can’t do this, I’m just going to do it myself.”

“You’ll be killed.”

“Then I’ll be killed…”

He studied me, his brown eyes the same color as his coffee. “Your sister would want you to live your life. She wouldn’t want you to die for her. I will do my best to give you what you want, but if it doesn’t work, you’re going to have to learn to let this go.”

“Would you let it go?” I snapped. “What if this was your sister?”

His eyes burned into mine, turning slightly hostile, like something I’d said struck a nerve. When he spoke, his voice was shaky, as if he used all his energy to control his rage. “I don’t have a sister…”

I didn’t understand what happened, what I said to provoke this reaction from him, but I knew to steer clear…because I’d triggered something.

“I said I would do my best, and you should appreciate that I’m willing to try at all. You have no idea what I’m putting on the line by going to his place and making a request like this. You have no idea how pathetic, how weak it will make me look. But I’m doing it anyway—for you.”

He was in his black jeans, boots, and his black t-shirt.

He looked good in black, especially with that dark hair and those brown eyes. He had a wallet in his pocket, and the outline of the front of his jeans showed his phone. He never took it out around me, and it was crazy to actually see one again.

He moved to the front door.

I followed him.

He turned around and looked at me, his eyebrow raised.

It was seven in the evening, so it was dark outside, and there were more raindrops on the window. “What?”

“What are you doing?”

“Coming with you.”

He turned to face me head on. “I go alone.”

“No.”

His eyes darkened in anger.

“That’s where my sister is, and I’m going.”

“You have no idea what you’re doing.”

“I need to come. Because if you get her out, I need to see her then and there. And if you can’t, then I want to make my own argument—”

“You do not speak.”

I couldn’t stay in that apartment and just wait. “Please…”

“You have a lot of nerve—”

“Please.” I moved into him and gripped his arm. “I can’t just sit on the couch and wait. I’m not a coward. I can look him in the eye and plead with my eyes. Maybe that will make him feel—”

“It will make him feel nothing.”

“Magnus, come on…”

After staring at me for a while, he closed his eyes and sighed.

I knew I’d gotten what I wanted. “Thank you—”

“You do not speak. If he says no, you say nothing. You understand me?”

I nodded. “Yes, absolutely—”

“Your word. After everything I’ve done for you, breaking it would be a pretty shitty thing to do. I’m putting my trust in you. Don’t make me look like an idiot.”

I intended to fight to get her out of there if I didn’t get the answer I wanted, but when he put me on the spot like that, I couldn’t betray him. If I gave him my word, I had to keep it…even though it killed me.

“Your word.”

I bowed my head and sighed. “Yes…I give you my word.”

We drove in his Bugatti through the rain.

His phone kept vibrating and lighting up in his pocket.

There was no music on the journey.

We left the city of Paris and ventured slightly into the countryside. The large estates were lit up from the roads, surrounded by cobblestone walls and iron gates. The Eiffel Tower was still visible in the rearview mirror.

When the car slowed down, I knew we arrived.

Far up the drive was a three-story villa, slightly visible through the iron gates. He turned and made the drive, moving past the large bushes that stood tall like trees. When we arrived at the gate, there were armed men outside, small buildings on either side of the gate, like tollbooths.

My heart was racing.

Magnus came to a stop and rolled down his window.

One of the guys came closer to speak to him, making an exchange in French.

The guy kneeled and looked at me in the passenger seat. “Qui est la fille?” Who is she?

Magnus stared him down coldly.

“Allons, tu sais bien que je dois le signaler.” You must tell me.

Magnus responded, still irritated. “Mon invitée.” Friend.

The guy seemed scared because he backed away and motioned to the guards.

The gates opened.

Magnus drove farther inside, and it was another long road to the three-story Parisian mansion, moving down the winding road through the fancy gardens and the brilliant up lighting.