The Camp (Chateau Book 2)

by Penelope Sky

  All those things didn’t scare me. I’d never thought about having a family of my own. I never thought about having a wife. But once Raven and I were committed to each other, all of that seemed natural. I never even told her I wanted those things. She said she wanted them, and then I did too. “I won’t.”

  The elevator doors opened, and Fender and Melanie joined us in the living room.

  I pulled away from Raven and regarded my brother. “Are you ready?”

  He nodded.

  Melanie looked as pale as a ghost. Her cheeks had no blood, her lips were the same color as her skin, and her eyes were dull. Her gaze was on the floor as if she didn’t want to look at the scene before her.

  “Alright.” There was nothing left to do but say goodbye.

  Fender turned his gaze on Melanie and studied her for a few seconds. His gaze was cold and hard, like he wanted to make this a clean break. But his eyes remained on her face like he would never be ready to look away.

  She whispered to him. “I’m scared…”

  He moved into her and cupped her cheeks with his big hands, cradling her face so her gaze was locked on to his. “You’ll be safe.”

  “That’s not why I’m scared…”

  He regarded her for a long time before he leaned down and kissed her. “Beautiful, I love you.” He pulled his hands away and stepped back without waiting for her to say it back.

  She grabbed his arm and pulled him back. “I love you too.” She wrapped her arms wrapped around his neck and hugged him tightly.

  I didn’t want to say goodbye to Raven. But the sooner I left, the sooner I would be home. This was the last thing standing in our way. We could bury it in the past and move on.

  She came in close to me. “Kill anyone who stands in your way. I don’t care who they are. Don’t let anything come between us.”

  “I won’t.”

  She leaned in and kissed me on the mouth. It was the kind of kiss she gave me when it was just the two of us alone in bed, full of passion and desire, warm breaths and wet lips. “I love you.” It was only the second time she’d said those words to me, but it felt like she’d been saying them to me since the moment we met. She never really needed to say it at all to show how she felt. It was almost redundant.

  But I liked hearing her say it anyway. I like watching her say it. I liked feeling her say it. “I love you too.” I gave her a final squeeze before I turned away and walked off.

  Fender joined me, and together, we took the elevator to the bottom floor and got into the car. He was the one behind the wheel, and he hit the gas to take us away from the apartment.

  We didn’t speak to each other for a long time. We got on the main road and joined the other guys with their cars hooked to the trailers with the horses, including Rose. We had a couple hours before we got to the drop-off point.

  With one hand on the wheel and his eyes on the road, he said, “I never understood what you saw in her. But now I do.”

  Thirty-Six

  Redemption

  In a single-file line, we made our way through the terrain and approached the camp from the rear. With the light of our flashlights, we made it through, crossing the river and getting closer and closer. It was a few hours before sunrise when we approached the wooden fence.

  We turned off the flashlights.

  We got off the horses and tied them to the trees.

  As Raven requested, I took Rose. She was a good horse, well trained, handled the dark without any reluctance. She crossed the river like it wasn’t her first time…because it wasn’t. I opened a bag on the saddle and grabbed a handful of oats. I opened my hand wide and fed them to her. “Thanks for the ride.”

  When I joined Fender, he already had the ropes ready. “I’ll help you over. We should be near the stables, so the water pipes will be on the other side. Tie the rope there.”

  I nodded.

  He leaned against the fence and cupped his hands together for me to step into.

  I held on to his shoulders, stepped into his hands, and then he lifted me up until I reached the top of the fence. He gave me an extra boost from down below so I could pull myself over and drop down again.

  The camp was quiet.

  I was still as I searched the grounds, to see if they had guards on duty. The only ones I saw were near the front gate. Two were at the top of ladders looking over the edge, as if they did expect us to show up. There were two other guards down below, both holding rifles.

  But they were all looking the wrong way.

  Fender threw the rope over the fence.

  I caught it before it slammed against the wood and made a noise. I secured it to the water pipes by tying it in a triple knot. Then I gave a few tugs so he would know it was ready to bear the weight of the men.

  One by one, they climbed over.

  Fender was the next one to join me. He kneeled and looked around, seeing the men posted by the front gate. “Good thing we came from the rear. Good call, Magnus.”

  When our men were over the fence, we fanned out and spread throughout the camp, ready to take each cabin silently. We didn’t want open gunfire if it could be avoided. We would rather save the bullets anyway.

  Fender went to one cabin to take out the guards, and I kept moving to the rear. I suspected Napoleon was staying in Fender’s old cabin since it was the largest on the premises. I wanted that man dead, and I wanted to be the one to do it.

  But I never made it.

  An alarm sounded, blaring so loud that it would wake up everyone in the camp. It wasn’t ours, so it was something they must’ve installed when they settled.

  I turned around and watched chaos explode.

  Men ran out of the cabins with their guns and shot at our men. They were still outnumbered, so our guys were shooting most of them down. My first instinct was to check on Fender, but when I looked across to the cabin he had entered, he stepped out and glanced around, and no one came up behind him.

  He must’ve killed them all with his knife.

  I’d wanted this to be a simple takedown, but I’d underestimated Napoleon.

  He knew I would get away. And he knew I would come back.

  I was about to join the fray and kill as many men as I could, when something heavy slammed down into the back of my head.

  I hit the ground, and my arms couldn’t break my fall. I hit the earth, blood dripping from my skull and mixing with the dirt. My vision blurred for a moment before I could turn over and look at my assailant.

  Napoleon stood with his cane held in his hand, and he looked down at me with an unforgettable sneer. “You little rat.” He raised his cane and prepared to slam it down on me again.

  Raven’s words came into my mind.

  Kill anyone who stands in your way.

  I rolled out of the way, and the cane missed me by a few inches. I stumbled to my feet, still disoriented, and pulled out my gun.

  He smacked it away with his cane, and it flew across the ground, out of my reach. “You could’ve just lived your life. You could’ve accepted your surrender gracefully. Instead, you chose to come here to get beaten with a stick by an old man.” He swung his cane again, moving with a speed that defied his age. I backed away so he wouldn’t crack my ribs. But I tripped in the process and fell on my back. Gunshots and screams rang through the night as the camp was filled with pandemonium.

  My gun was far away in the other direction now, so I reached for my knife.

  But he was quicker because he didn’t have a head injury. He struck me with his cane, hitting me in the chest and making me cry out.

  “Scream like a rat!”

  I kicked him in the shin and made his knees buckle underneath him. I tried to crawl away.

  “Magnus!” My brother’s angry voice came from across the clearing.

  Napoleon got on top of me and put his weight on my arm so I couldn’t stab him with my knife. He slammed his knee into my leg and made me cringe while he banged my wrist into the dirt so I would lose my hold on
the hilt of the blade.

  Heavy footfalls came my way, my brother coming to rescue me. “Get the fuck off him!”

  Napoleon slammed his head down into mine and made me see stars. Then he seized the knife out of my hand and turned it at the right moment.

  Stabbing my brother in the stomach.

  My brother stilled, immediately went weak, couldn’t speak, and then fell back and collapsed in the dirt.

  Everything happened in slow motion. It also happened at double speed. I heard my scream come out of my mouth, mixed with angry tears. My body was so weak from the kicks and the hits, but a sudden jolt of energy came out of nowhere and cleared away my blurry vision, the throbbing headache behind my eyes, all the aches from the injuries Napoleon had caused.

  Napoleon spat on my brother. “The two for one special.”

  I slammed my boot into his chest and hit him so hard, he flew back.

  I rolled onto my stomach and crawled for his cane.

  Just when I snatched it, Napoleon grabbed me by the ankle and dragged me back.

  I turned over and slammed the cane straight down on his head.

  Blood burst from the wound in his skull.

  I kicked off his hold and crawled on top of him.

  I slammed the cane down on his head again.

  Again. “Die, motherfucker!” I beat him again and again, splashing blood all over myself, delirious in my anguish, screaming and crying out in pain and rage. I kept hitting him when there was nothing left, until his skull was open and his brains were mixed with the dirt. By the time I was done with him, it looked like a semitruck had run over his head.

  I leaned back on my heels and caught my breath, seeing the damage I had caused, the vengeance I’d finally gotten. I threw the cane down on his body and went back to my brother. “Fender!” I moved over him and saw the blade still stuck in his stomach, blood everywhere.

  He was still awake.

  “I’m here.” It was one of those moments when I shut off all my emotions and became a selfless vessel for the other person. His wound was so bad there was no chance he would survive. The blade was too big, it was too deep, he’d already lost too much blood. “You’re gonna be alright.” I looked over my shoulder. “I need a medic! Satellite phone! Get over here!”

  Fender looked up at the night sky, so calm it was like he’d just had a glass of scotch and was ready to drift off. “No, I’m not.” He shifted his gaze away from the stars and looked at me. “But thanks for lying.”

  I pulled my shirt over my head and looked over my shoulder. “I need a few guys. Now!” I grabbed the hilt of the blade and pulled it out of his stomach, ignoring the way he cringed in pain. I wrapped my shirt around his injury and put the pressure on. “Fender, you can get through this. I need you to stay with me, alright?” I kept my voice steady even though I was so fucking scared. There were already tears in my eyes because I wasn’t ready to say goodbye. I wasn’t ready to lose the only family I had left.

  His voice was still calm. “Magnus.”

  The guys came over, one of them bringing a suture kit and bandages, while the other had a satellite phone. The battle was still going, but the victory was ours. I took the bandages. “Call our pilot. Tell him to bring the chopper here now. Fender needs to get to a hospital.”

  The guy stepped away and made the call.

  I knew he had a lot of internal bleeding, and there was nothing I could do to stop it. All I could do was keep the pressure on and hope he made it.

  His voice came again, weaker. “Magnus.”

  I couldn’t look him in the eye. I just couldn’t do it. My hands pressed against his stomach, putting pressure on the wound that was supposed to be mine. I was the one who was supposed to be stabbed. Not him.

  He placed his hand on mine, becoming soaked in his own blood. “I deserve this.”

  I shook my head. “Stop it.”

  “You know I deserve this. The girls are free, and I’ll be dead. That’s how it should be.”

  “You aren’t going to die! Stop it!”

  “Brother.”

  I struggled to keep back my tears. “Please don’t…”

  “Look at me.”

  I breathed hard as I felt more blood stick to my hands.

  “Magnus.”

  I turned my gaze on him, feeling the tears in my eyes. It was so hard to look into eyes identical to mine, to remember everything we had been through together. He was my friend, my ally, my everything.

  “You are the man I could never be but always wanted to be. You said I was the one you looked up to, but it was always the other way around. You’re a good brother…and I love you.”

  Tears fell down my cheeks, and I couldn’t breathe anymore. “I love you, brother.”

  He squeezed my hand. “Tell Melanie…nothing would’ve made me happier than to see her in that white dress and make her my wife. Tell her to forgive me…but I did what I had to do. And I would do it again…even if I knew what would happen.”

  I squeezed his hand.

  He started to grow weaker, like he didn’t have the strength to talk anymore.

  I kept the pressure on his stomach even though there was no hope. My brother was dying right before my eyes, the shouts dwindling in the background, the world becoming quiet as I waited for his soul to pass. All I could do was sit there…and watch my brother die.

  Thirty-Seven

  Truce

  None of the men approached me. They let me sit with my brother while they took care of the camp. They unlocked the cabins to release the girls and let them out into the clearing. I had accomplished what I’d set out to do, but it felt meaningless now.

  My brother closed his eyes and went still, his skin becoming pale and gray. My hands remained on the wound, even though it was pointless. There were tears on my cheeks, and they continued to flow because I knew the loss would never stop hurting.

  The sound of propellers sounded in the distance, and it grew louder and louder as the chopper approached. When wind started to blow my hair into my eyes, I knew they were landing behind me.

  But it was too late.

  The helicopter landed, the engine shut off, and then the wind died down. The medics left the chopper and ran to us to start their procedures.

  As hard as it was, I let go.

  I stepped back, my hands dripping with his blood. I turned around to embrace Raven, but then I realized she wasn’t there. I was alone. I’d thought I would always have my brother, but now I didn’t. I watched the guys stare at us from a respectable distance, assuming the worst.

  That the boss was dead.

  They placed Fender on a stretcher and lifted him from the ground to carry him into the chopper. I walked at the rear, assuming all they could do was take him to the morgue at this point.

  They placed all the equipment on his body, taking his blood pressure, his pulse, putting oxygen into his nose. They got the monitor working. One of the medics said, “He’s got a pulse.”

  I stilled at the announcement.

  “It’s weak. Probably won’t make it to the hospital. If we can give him some blood, he might hold on.”

  The engine started, and the propellers started to spin.

  The medic turned to me. “Are you coming?”

  I turned around and gave the orders to the men before I climbed into the helicopter and shut the door. Fender looked dead, looked like there was no hope, but there was still a chance…even though it was so small. “What can I do?”

  The helicopter lifted from the ground and rose above the forest on its way back to the city.

  One medic got an IV line going, while the other pulled out vials and medications.

  “Do you know what his blood type is?” the medic asked.

  “Yeah,” I answered. “A positive.” I only knew that because mine was the same.

  The medic turned to the cabinet and searched the packets of blood. “We’re out.”

  “Take mine.”

  The medic turned to me. �
�You have the same?”

  I shouted over the engine. “Yeah.”

  “Alright. Take a seat. We have to do this fast.”

  I sat down at the table and extended my arm, directly beside my fading brother. “Stay with me, alright?”

  The medic started the process. “Don’t get your hopes up. I don’t think he’s going to make it.”

  When we landed at the hospital, the medical team rushed him into the operating room right away. No one said anything to me. No one gave me false assurances. He was just taken away.

  All I could do was sit in the waiting room and stare at the floor.

  For injuries of this magnitude, we couldn’t use our own medical team. We needed surgeons and equipment to get this done. It wasn’t a simple bullet in the arm that could be pulled out with tweezers and an old-fashioned suture kit.

  He would probably die on the table.

  I didn’t know what to do. The girls didn’t have a cell phone, so I had no way to reach them. I could call Miranda and have her go by the place and bring them here, but by the time they arrived, he might already be dead. Raven wouldn’t care less about my brother’s demise, but she would care about my sorrow. And Melanie would care, obviously.

  I couldn’t bring myself to talk on the phone, so I texted Miranda and told her what to do.

  Then I waited.

  I hadn’t moved from my spot in over an hour, staring at the floor and remembering the final fight with Napoleon. That man had always been a liar. He’d purposely made us underestimate him. There was no mistake; he was a force to be reckoned with. He was savage, brutal, straight-up evil.

  I wished Fender had believed me. I didn’t know Napoleon was all those things, but I always knew I didn’t like him.