The Camp (Chateau 2)

“I wanted to make sure you came home.” She stood up and pulled the strap back up her shoulder before she crossed her arms over her chest.

“And if I didn’t?”

She wore a blank look, like she didn’t know what to say.

“You would have walked out of here free.” I moved to the stairs so I could go up to my room and get in the shower.

“No, that’s not what I would have done.”

I stilled at the bottom of the stairs, my hand on the railing. I should just keep walking, but something about my foul mood made me stay. I was tired but I was also frustrated, and I just wanted to get that out. I turned around and looked at her.

“I vaguely remember where Fender lives. I would have gone there and told him.”

My hands remained on the banister, and I stared her down, annoyed by that answer.

“You act like you don’t trust me, but I know you do.”

I dropped my hand and walked back to her.

“You know I would do everything in my power to save you. I’ve already proven that to you.” She lifted up her shirt, revealing the long scar that was the exact length of the blade she took for me, the blade that almost claimed her life.

I stopped in front of her and stared her down, my eyes shifting back and forth as I looked into her eyes, seeing the innocence of her gaze, the way she looked at me like I actually mattered. No other woman ever looked at me that way…like they really saw me. To everyone else, I was just a fat wallet and a powerful man. I was just a pretty face with a strong body. I was the ultimate prize. She didn’t care about any of that. In fact, she hated all that stuff about me. She liked the deeper parts of me, the things I did in secret that no one knew about.

She was still, waiting for me to do something or say something.

I did neither.

“You’re in a bad mood… Why?”

“Shitty night.”

“What happened?” She didn’t step back despite our close proximity, but she kept her arms over her chest, her breathing quicker than usual, like my nearness made her heart pound a little harder.

Instead of walking away, I answered. “I met with a potential partner. Didn’t like him.”

“Okay…”

“I told Fender my concerns, but he didn’t see the merit. Still wants to consider him.”

She didn’t ask about her sister. “Why does that bother you?”

“Because his greed is masking his logic.”

She studied my face, her eyes absorbing my features like she was trying to understand my feelings as well as possible. “You really care about him.”

“Why does that surprise you?”

“Because he’s a monster…”

My eyes drilled into her face. “You don’t know him.”

“I don’t need to know him. Turning innocent women into slaves and then executing them will never be okay…ever. I know you agree with me, so why don’t you do something about it?”

“I never said that.”

“Then say it now.” She challenged me, turned into the fierce woman who rode out into the storm without fear.

I could walk away whenever I wanted, but I stayed rooted in place.

She started to breathe a little harder, her eyes forming a wet sheen. “Tell me…”

“You don’t know me—”

“I know you in every way that matters.” Her voice was immediately loud, like she couldn’t take this emotion anymore. “It’s not what we do in the presence of witnesses that matters. It’s what we do in secret that no one knows about. That’s how you know who you really are. You have risked yourself for me because you said I deserved to be free. You saved my sister because it was the right thing to do. Even after what I did to you, you still protect me when you have absolutely no obligation. Yes, I fucking know you! So, why do you allow this to happen? Why?”

It was impossible to turn away when her eyes shone like that, when she looked at me like I was her hero—when I was everyone else’s villain. “I tried to talk him out of the Red Snow. I told him that kind of punishment was unnecessary, and we would just lose workers that we spent time and resources to capture. But he told me without it, there was no way to keep the women in line. When we tried it, he was right. The women were slow, lazy, and useless. The threat of a whipping or a beating wasn’t enough to scare them.”

“Why do you have to take these women at all? Just hire people to do the work.”

I shook my head. “It doesn’t work either.”

“Why? You make so much money off these drugs that you can afford to pay for labor—”

“That’s not the problem. There’s no way to make sure they aren’t a spy.”