I suspected that wouldn’t change anything.
“I need to see her.”
“Fender’s at the camp.”
“Even better.”
I wasn’t sure how Fender would feel about Raven and Melanie spending time together in his absence, but if he really intended to marry Melanie and have Raven be free, then he must know that the situation was unavoidable.
“Magnus, please.”
I nodded. “I’ll talk to him tomorrow.”
I spoke to him over the satellite phone.
“What?” Fender knew I wouldn’t call unless it was an urgent matter.
It wasn’t urgent, which would probably piss him off. “Raven wants to see her sister.”
He was silent.
“I already know how you feel about Raven, but that is something you’re going to have to disregard. If you want to spend your life with Melanie, Raven is going to be a piece of that. Fight it, and you’ll make your wife unhappy. So, I’m going to take Raven over there to spend time with her sister. I’m not really asking, just telling.”
He was quiet for a long time, processing all the different things he could say in response. When none of those answers were good enough, he decided to hang up instead.
I put the phone down.
Raven looked at me, searching my expression. “What did he say?”
“It’s fine.”
We pulled up to Fender’s estate and headed to the door. Gilbert greeted us and invited us inside. Fender must have informed the staff that our visit was permitted because there was no resistance at any of the checkpoints. “May I get you something to drink?” His English was getting much better, probably because that was how he had to converse with Melanie.
“Wine is fine,” I said. “Whatever you have open.”
Gilbert nodded. “I’ll let Mademoiselle know you’re here.” He headed upstairs to the second floor.
I moved farther into the house and entered the sitting room. The energy of the house was different when Fender wasn’t around. A lot calmer, more peaceful. When I looked outside, I saw the gardeners attending to the massive acres of perfectly sculpted landscape, trimming the bushes, watering the flowers, continuing to make it look like a picture in a storybook.
Raven sat across from me, wearing a pink dress, with her brown hair over her shoulder. She sat upright with perfect posture, but she fidgeted like she was nervous, afraid of the conversation she was about to have.
Melanie came downstairs moments later, her eyes on her sister, her affection knowing no bounds. She sat on the couch beside Raven then wrapped her arms around her.
Raven held her sister with the same depth of emotion, squeezing her tight.
The embrace continued for minutes.
Melanie pulled away and looked at her sister like she couldn’t believe she was there. “You look good.”
“But never as good as you.” Raven gave her a slight smile showing she wasn’t being disingenuous.
Melanie turned to me. “Could you give us privacy, please?”
I rose to excuse myself.
“He’s fine. I’m just gonna tell him everything we’re about to say anyway.”
Melanie stared at her sister.
I lowered myself back to the couch.
Melanie didn’t argue with her sister, but she did look surprised.
Gilbert came in a moment later and placed the glasses of wine on the coffee table. He also brought a cheeseboard with a sliced baguette for us to enjoy. He silently excused himself and left.
“Magnus told me that you agreed to marry Fender in exchange for my freedom.” Whenever Raven talked to her sister, she had a different tone, a note of authority. Instead of being sisters, it was more like mother-daughter. Raven always filled the role of caretaker without thinking twice about it. “I really appreciate that, I do.”
Melanie dropped her gaze and stared at her hands in her lap. “I tried to get him to free the girls, but he wouldn’t. At least he gave me you.”
Raven gave a slight nod. “I’m glad you tried. But I suspect his mind is so corroded and he doesn’t understand how terrible he really is. He’s lost all humanity…”
Melanie lifted her chin and looked at her sister.
“But you don’t have to marry him.”
She looked slightly confused.
“Because I don’t want to be free.”
Her eyes narrowed. “Raven, if you think you can destroy that camp from the inside, you’re delusional. We tried to get rid of it and free all the prisoners, but it didn’t work whatsoever. You need to let this go.”
Raven shook her head. “That’s not why. The only way that place is going to end is if Fender ends it…or he himself is ended.”
“Then I don’t understand…”
Raven took a long time to answer, like she knew how crazy she sounded before she even said anything. “I can’t live apart from Magnus.”
Melanie stared at her sister for a long time, realization slowly sinking in.
“Where he goes…that’s where I go.”
Melanie was still in disbelief. “But it’s so terrible there.”
She nodded. “I know.”
“And if you’re in Paris, we can see each other all the time.”
“I know that too. But when Magnus goes to the camp, he’s gone for a full month, and I just can’t live with that kind of separation. All I’ll be doing is waiting for him to come home.”
Melanie clearly wanted to say more but held her tongue because I was sitting there.
“So, you don’t have to marry Fender. I’m not choosing to go to the camp to protect you. I’m going because I want to be there…with Magnus.”
I grabbed my glass and took a drink, feeling slightly out of place witnessing such an intense conversation that was about me, but that I wasn’t actually a part of. I eavesdropped on everything they said, but this felt different. Raven basically told her sister I was the man she was choosing to spend her life with.
Melanie clearly didn’t know what to say because she stayed quiet.
“You’re off the hook.”
I knew Raven was fiercely intelligent, but I also knew she couldn’t think straight when it came to Melanie. She didn’t see the truth because she thought so highly of her little sister.
Melanie looked at her sister again, trepidation in her gaze. “I’m going to marry him anyway.”
Raven stared. She was still, absorbing those words with painful slowness. “Why?”
Melanie dropped her gaze like she was ashamed, too ashamed to look her sister in the eye. “The same reason you want to be at the camp with Magnus…”
“No…”
Melanie kept her head down.
“How can you feel that way for the man who subjects innocent people to a lifetime of imprisonment, and then a departure from life with a cruel execution? How? Melanie, ignore the diamonds and the gowns. I know you’re scared to be on your own, but give yourself more credit than that. You can do it. You don’t need him.”
Melanie looked at her hands. “It’s not like that. It’s not about the money and the security.”
“What is it? The sex?”