by Penelope Sky
“I didn’t say I’d accept him as a partner.” He got to his feet and left the living room. “I said I would think about it.” His footsteps faded as he walked farther away. “You can let yourself out.”
Thirteen
The Eiffel Tower
When I walked in the door, she was there.
Sitting on the couch in front of the TV, she quickly jolted upright when she heard me, like she’d been trying to stay awake until I returned but had fallen asleep in front of the mindless entertainment on the screen.
I looked down at her, seeing even more of her long legs because her shorts rode up while she lay on the couch. One of the straps to her top came loose and fell down her shoulder.
She ran her fingers through her hair to pull it from her face in a way she never did at the camp and got to her feet, the sleep making her eyes heavy. The makeup was gone from her face, but her eyes were still much brighter here in Paris than they ever were at the camp.
“What are you doing? You have a king-size bed, a TV, and a view of the tower in your bedroom.” I was tired from my evening because the frustration drained me. Fender was a genius mastermind who’d put this business together when we were still practically kids, but his success turned him arrogant, and that arrogance made him greedy, and that greed made him stupid.
“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.”
“A spy?”
He nodded. “There’re a lot of men out there who would kill to figure out how we are doing this. Our operation is unique, and if they knew where we operated and how this enterprise is run, they would take it from us and kill us all. Getting the product all the way from Colombia is impossible with all the new international regulations. We can pay off European governments, but not all governments. Taking these women is the only way it works because people assume they’re trafficked, and no one bats an eye over it.”
She shook her head, her eyes watering more.
Her reaction made me feel like shit. “There are two different worlds in this reality. There’s the one you know, and there’s this one. Trust me, I want to keep it separate. I want to deal with our own kind and never cross that barrier and involve innocent people. But Fender is right—it doesn’t work any other way.”
Two tears dripped down her cheeks. “There is always another way.”
There was nothing more I could say on the topic, so I didn’t. I just stood there and watched the emotions run through her, watched the inevitable pain drown her in sorrow.
She wiped her tears away then dug both hands into her hair as she took a breath, bringing herself back to calmness. She dropped her hands and her gaze, looking at the floor.
“I’m sorry.” The words came out of my lips on their own, like I had no control. It just happened…like all the other things just happened when she was next to me. She pulled out a side to me that I tried to forget, a weakness that I buried over and over, but it always rose from the depths.
She lifted her chin and looked at me again, her eyes taking in my gaze. “I know you are…”
When I walked downstairs, she wasn’t there.
Days had passed since our conversation, and she hadn’t tried to speak to me again. She spent her time in her room, never questioning my whereabouts as I came and went. It didn’t seem like she was angry at me…just disappointed.
Her bedroom door w
as open, so I stepped inside to see her sitting in the armchair that faced her window, looking at the Eiffel Tower over the tree line. A mug of coffee was beside her. She twirled her hair with her fingertips, unaware of my presence because she wasn’t paying attention.
I stared at her for a while, noticing the way the natural light highlighted her beautiful skin, her bright eyes. “Want to go for a walk?”
Her fingers stilled in her hair, and her eyes suddenly focused. She dropped her hand and turned in the chair to look at me. “Are you talking to me?”
I suppressed my grin as much as I could. “Come on.” I nodded to the door and stepped away.
She was already dressed in a dress and flats, so she stepped out a moment later, still in shock because she couldn’t believe this was real. “Where are we going?”
I shrugged. “You want to get a coffee and walk to the Eiffel Tower?”
Her eyes opened even wider. “Uh…fuck yes.”
This time, I did grin before I headed to the elevator.
“Why are you doing this?” She followed me.
“Do I need a reason?” The doors opened, and I stepped inside.
She joined me. “No…but I’d like one.”
The elevator carried us to the ground floor, and then we stepped outside.
I shrugged. “I don’t have any plans today.”
That seemed to be a good enough reason for her, so she stopped the interrogation. She moved to the gate and looked at the pond through the iron bars, like she wanted to climb over to reach it.
I unlocked it, and then we walked together down the path.
Whenever she was outside in the city, she was a different person. Her shoulders were relaxed, her eyes were open and vulnerable, and she touched everything, like the wall, the petals of a rose, anything.
A couple passed us on the sidewalk, holding hands.
She smiled and waved. “Hi.”
They flinched at her greeting then kept walking.
“What are you are doing?” I asked, my eyebrows furrowed.
“It’s just so nice to see regular people, to know that this world is still here.” When we left the park and headed to the area where the shops and cafes were, she glanced over her shoulder once more. “I’ve never been over there before. It’s so beautiful. I feel like I’m back in time hundreds of years…”
I walked beside her, my hands in my pockets, seeing the way men looked at her as they passed. Miranda had picked out all the clothes and seemed to know what would look nice without actually seeing her. Today, she was in a lavender dress, tight around her waist with a slight flare. Her eyes were on everything, oblivious to the men who glanced at her as they passed. If she was plotting her escape, it didn’t seem like it.
She stopped outside a coffee shop. “Oh my god, can we go here?”
“Sure.”
She moved inside and looked around, like she’d been there before. “I used to come here all the time…” The barista made a coffee at the machine, and the person in line ordered a couple of muffins before they walked out. “Shit.” Her eyes fell.
“What?”
“I…I don’t have any money.”
I studied her face, seeing the genuine surprise in her features, like she didn’t expect me to take care of her. She would never escape at this point, so she would never have money again, but she still didn’t expect anything from me. “I can buy you anything you want, whenever you want.”
She hesitated, as if she didn’t want to accept my money. She’d taken care of herself for a long time, took care of her sister even when she should have taken care of herself, so once she was out in the real world, she immediately reverted to that identity. “I have money at my apartment. It should still be there… I haven’t been gone that long.”
“We’ll go by and collect your things some other time. For now, order.”
There was another look of sadness in her eyes at my words when she realized she would lose that apartment for good. But she accepted it quickly then moved to the barista. “Can I get a white mocha, please? Ooh…and one of the blueberry muffins.”
The woman looked at me next and spoke in English. “And for you?”
I spoke in French. “Just a black coffee.” She took my money and gave me the change.
When I looked at Raven, she’d already taken a big bite of her muffin with a look on her face that implied it was the best thing she’d ever eaten. “Oh wow…” Her sorrow was quickly erased by the sugar rush. She ate the entire thing before her coffee was even ready.
We left minutes later and walked down the sidewalk and headed to the tower.
When we reached a wine bar, she stopped. “This is where we were…when the guys took us.” She stopped at the window and looked inside then turned to an invisible car that was parked in her mind. “They were in this ugly brown car. I tried to warn my sister…but she was so stubborn.”
“No. She was stupid.” I started to walk again.
She joined me at the same pace.
“After everything you did for her, you’d think she’d listen.”
“She’s just… I don’t know. Some guys were giving her attention, and it just messed with her head.”
“You still make excuses for her when you know the truth.”
She looked down at her coffee, where she’d left a lipstick mark. “I’ll always make excuses for her.”
I drank my coffee then looked ahead. “You said you intended to live here permanently?”
“Yeah, when I graduated.”
“And do what?”
“I was hoping to be a professor.”
“Why not go back to America?”
She shrugged. “Because I love it here. I came here to have my own identity apart from Melanie. But honestly, it’s such a beautiful place. When I got here, I knew I would never leave. They could throw me out, and I would just keep coming back…”
“Did you have friends?”
“I did…”
“What did they say when you were back?”
“They were happy I was home. They believed my story. They were already in their next semester and I wasn’t, but we still spent a lot of time together. When I disappeared again, I’m sure they went to the police and told them everything I had said. But that won’t go anywhere.”
No, it wouldn’t. “How did your mother pass away?”
“An accident. She worked two jobs, so she was tired a lot. She fell asleep at the wheel…”
It was such a sad story that I didn’t know what to say.
“Her name was Rose.”
I turned to look at her, understanding the meaning.
“The horse reminded me of her…that’s why I named her that. I know it sounds stupid, but I almost feel like my mother’s spirit was in her, carrying me to safety, taking care of me one last time.”
I didn’t believe in shit like that, but I didn’t say it. “It’s not stupid.”
“It’s not?” she asked quietly.
“Not if it makes you feel better.”
She stared at the tower for a long time, her coffee cup in the garbage because she’d finished it.
I stood beside her, letting her enjoy the sight for as long as she wanted. I got tired of treating her like a prisoner and wanted her to feel good again, to get some fresh air before we had to return to the camp.
“I’m getting hungry. We should head back.” She turned her back to the structure and walked away.
I walked beside her. “You want to eat somewhere?”
She halted and looked at me in surprise. “Seriously?”
“Why not?”
“Because…do you eat out for lunch?”
“Why would I have an apartment here if I didn’t?”
“I just…can’t picture you going to a café for lunch, like a normal person.”
I continued to move forward. “You can pick.”
Her mind immediately kicked into overdrive. “Oh my god, there’s this cute little place—”
> “Sure.”
“Really? This is, like, the best day of my life…in a long time.”
I tossed my coffee into the bin that we passed.
We went to the café and got a table outside under the umbrellas. People passed on the sidewalk nearby, and the pots around us had red geraniums blooming in fullness. People spoke in French around us, all locals.
She held the menu right up to her face, like she couldn’t decide what to get. “Jesus, I could eat everything…”
The waitress came over and addressed us in French. “What would you like?”
“A bottle of water for the table and two glasses of Bordeaux.”
She walked away.
Raven lowered the menu. “What did you say?”
“Ordered some drinks. What do you want?”
“Uh…I don’t know. What are you getting?”
“Steak and frites.”
“Ooh…I think I’m going to get the ravioli.”
When the waitress returned, I ordered for us both in French. She took the menus and left.
Raven looked around for a while, watching the people at nearby tables, the flowers that bloomed in the pots, the pedestrians on the sidewalk. When she’d taken it all in, she looked at me. Her gaze settled on mine, and she hardly blinked as she regarded me, her bubbly joy slowly simmering down into the intense expression she usually gave me. “I feel like I’m in a dream or something.”
I grabbed the glass and took a drink.
“Just last week, we were sleeping on this tiny bed in the middle of nowhere—and now we’re having lunch in Paris. I’ve seen those brown eyes look at me so many times, but never like this.”
I held her stare, ignoring the world around us and just focusing on her.
She dropped her gaze and grabbed her wine. “I don’t want to go back…” It was a whisper so quiet that I wasn’t meant to hear it.
But I did.
We entered the apartment, the sunshine coming through the windows and filling the room with light from the beautiful afternoon. I intended to go upstairs and work on my laptop and just be alone.