Fender was still speechless, processing all that nightmarish information in a single instant. He released the rail and came down the stairs, in just his sweatpants like he’d been in his office upstairs. He reached the bottom and stared me down. “This all just happened?”
“About eight hours ago. We got to my motorcycle at the house and drove straight here.”
Fender didn’t know how to contain his anger, so he turned away and ran his hands over the stubble of his jawline. One hand was on his hip, and he paced in the entryway, his bare feet striking the tile with his movements.
Melanie emerged at the top of the stairs, in a dress with her hair in a braid over one shoulder. Her eyes were on her sister before she took the stairs and embraced her.
On her left hand was that enormous rock.
“Are you okay?” Melanie held her sister and pulled back to look her over.
“I’m fine,” Raven answered. “Just a bit overwhelmed. But I’ll get over it.”
Fender continued to pace like he didn’t know what else to do. “How did he know where the camp was?”
“I think he followed you.”
He faced the opposite wall, his hands on his hips, breathing hard.
I stared at his back as I felt a swirl of many emotions. “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. Your men died because you failed to listen to me.”
Fender stilled.
“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.”
Fender slowly turned around and looked at me.
“I am the sole survivor because of her.”
Fender shifted his gaze and looked at Raven. While he was still cold and angry, there was a new look in his eyes.
He suddenly walked past us and into the sitting room. “Magnus, just you.”
I left the women alone together and joined him in the other room. He sat on one of the couches. I sat on the other.
Fender rubbed his fingers through his hair and over the back of his scalp, taking deep breaths and letting out long sighs. “You were right, and I didn’t listen.”
I thought I would get a lot more satisfaction out of that, but I didn’t get any at all.
“Now the camp is lost.”
Men I’d known for years were dead, probably going to be burned in the woods somewhere.
He rubbed his hands together as he thought about everything. “We have to take it back.”
My eyes narrowed in surprise. “Why?”
He looked at me. “Because we can’t let him get away with that, Magnus. We don’t let someone make a fool out of us.”
“You mean make a fool out of you.”
He didn’t snap at me because he knew he deserved the insult. “We still have to do something. We have to take that camp back. We can’t just let them overrun our business like this.”
“So, after all this…you still care about money?” I shook my head. “Fender, you need to let it go.”
“This man killed all my men and almost killed my brother. Do you think I’m gonna let that go?” He stared me down, turning angry.
“Do you want to take the camp back for revenge? Or do you want to take it back so you can run business as usual?”
He didn’t answer.
“If your answer is the second one or both, don’t expect me to help you.”
Fender massaged his hands like he had broken knuckles.
“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 knew Napoleon would do the exact same thing with those girls, make them work for the rest of their lives. He might not execute them weekly like we had, but he would probably do other unspeakable things.
Fender stared me down, silent.
“We do it my way. Or we don’t do it at all.”
After a long silence, he spoke. “Well, my way obviously doesn’t work…”
I watched my brother finally come to his senses.
“And if we do nothing, those girls will never be free. They’ll continue to be prisoners, just changing owners.” He stared at his hands for a while. “I’m not sure if I’m fit for the drug business anymore anyway. I let greed get the best of me. I almost lost the most important thing that matters to me—you.” He lifted his gaze and looked at me. “I want revenge for what Napoleon has done. He humiliated me. He took what’s mine. He killed my men. And then he touched my brother. I want him dead.”
I nodded in agreement.
“And if I rescue those women…maybe our mother won’t hate me so much, won’t be so disappointed in the monster I’ve become.”
“She doesn’t hate you, Fender.”
“She should. I became a worse version of our father. I became everything that I hate.”
“So, you’re with me?”
“You know I’m always with you, brother.” He watched me, his eyes unblinking. “I guess that means I’m about to retire. What do people do in retirement?”
“No idea. Have a couple kids? Go on trips? You’re asking the wrong person.”
“Well, what are you going to do?”
“I haven’t thought about it.” This had all happened so suddenly, and if I survived the attack, I had my whole life ahead of me.
“I guess we get old…and fat.”
His joke made me smile. “I don’t think the girls will stick around if we let that happen.”
He stared at the floor for a while, his mood suddenly somber. “You’ve got a good woman, Magnus. She’s earned my respect.”
“Thanks. That means a lot to me.”
“I owe her my life…since she saved yours.”
Thirty-Five
Nothing Between Us
We knew we had to move quickly. We couldn’t take days or weeks to organize our crew and make a plan. The best chance for success was to hit them when they didn’t expect us to come.
We rounded up the remaining men we had and made some calls. We had access to weapons and horses, so we had everything we needed to do this.
“You said there were thirty men?”
I nodded.
“We’ll bring at least fifty. We’ll have one man sneak ahead and attach a bomb to the front gate.”
I had a better idea. “Then you’ll announce to everyone that we are there, and also, exactly where we are. I think we should come from the rear.”
“Come from the rear how?” Fender asked. “There’s no road.”
“Exactly. We’ll sneak up on them, and they’ll have no idea. We can make it by horse. We don’t need to bring wagons or anything else.”
“I guess that could work…”
“I know the way. We can move in the dark. When we reach the fence, we can climb over. They won’t even know we’re there.”
He sat across from me on the couch and looked down at the maps. “Was Napoleon killed? Or just wounded?”