by Penelope Sky
Her head broke the surface, her wet hair sticking to the back of her neck. She moved her hands to her face and wiped the water from her eyes. “Come on, get in.” She lay back on the surface of the water then stuck her legs into the air so her head and torso were submerged in the water. When she came back up for air, she wiped her face again.
With my hands in my pockets, I just stared at her. “I’m not gonna walk up two flights of stairs to grab my suit.”
“Then don’t.” She smiled at me before doing a flip in the water.
I smirked before I pulled my shirt over my head and tossed it onto one of the lounge chairs. My jeans, shoes, and boxers came next. When I was naked, I stood at the edge of the pool.
She came up for air and looked up at me. “Damn…” Her eyes were on my dick. “You aren’t cold at all…”
I jumped into the water beside her and fell under the surface, bubbles surrounding me, the cool water comfortable against my warm skin. I saw her silhouette in the water as I rose up to breach the surface.
“See? Isn’t this nice?” Her arms moved forward and back across the surface of the water as she stood in front of me, her chin at the waterline. “I always wanted to have a pool when I was little.”
“You can use mine anytime you want.”
“That sounds nice.” She moved toward me then kicked from the bottom so she could hook her legs around my waist and her arms around my neck. Her naked body pressed against mine, her nipples cold and hard. She smiled as she brought her face close to mine, like she was happy to be with me, to be spontaneous with the one person she could be completely herself with.
My hands rested on her ass, and I lowered myself farther into the water so just our heads were above the surface. I hadn’t used this pool for years, but it was always immaculately clean, like I could jump in at any moment. I didn’t come to this estate often at all, and when I did, using the pool was not on my mind. The landscape lighting gave us enough visibility to see each other, but it was also dark enough that Ramon wouldn’t be able to see our bodies under the surface. It was a clear night with a blanket of stars up above. It was just us…like there was no one else in the world.
Her smile slowly started to fade away when she saw the serious expression in my eyes, and she knew I was thinking deeply about a lot of things in that moment.
It was hard to believe this was the woman who’d run through the snow to get to safety, though the odds were stacked against her. It was hard to believe this was the woman I caught sneaking around the camp at night, trying to steal supplies. That seemed like a lifetime ago, and now we were swimming naked in my pool…as if none of that happened at all.
My future had always been an open book, even though I knew every page would contain the same words. The immediate future was the only thing on my mind—work and money. Romantic relationships were so far down the ladder they were barely even on the bottom rung. I searched for women based on a very specific criteria—appearance. But out of nowhere, this woman came into my life, and now I couldn’t imagine the remaining pages of my book not having her name written in every sentence.
She was me. I was her. We were the same person.
I couldn’t imagine my life without her.
My feelings were nothing like my brother’s for his lover. He felt infatuation, obsession, for Melanie. It was superficial, lustful. Once her looks faded, what would they have left? But the way I felt for Raven was timeless.
She continued to look into my face and study my expression, like every thought I had was somehow transferred into her mind. She could touch me to know me. She could read my moods accurately. And she seemed to read me now. “Don’t…”
My eyes watched hers, seeing the landscape lights reflecting in her eyes. Emotion was burning in her gaze, absorbing my feelings as if I’d just shared them with her.
“I won’t say it back.” She rested her forehead against mine and brought our bodies even closer, her tits pressed against my hard chest, her ankles locked together around my waist. “If you want me, you have to do what I asked you to do.”
I pulled away slightly so I could look into her eyes better, see the emotion and conflict in her gaze, see the woman who put her integrity above her own desires. “It doesn’t matter whether I say it or not. You already know how I feel.”
Her eyes watered, the edges of her lids slowly filling with emotional wetness. She closed her eyes for a moment so she could take a breath and fight the urge to break down in front of me.
“And I know you feel the same way.”
When she looked at me, there was resistance, like she wouldn’t cave, no matter what. “Then that just gives you another reason to do the right thing. I am with you in this until the very end. You aren’t just doing it for them. You’re doing it for us. You’re doing it so you can say those words to me and hear me say them back.”
Twenty-Eight
The Future Countess
She sat on the floor in front of my fireplace, which was lit with roaring flames that filled the bedroom with light. It was the end of summer, so it was too warm to have a fire, but she seemed to enjoy it anyway.
A blanket was around her shoulders as she sat naked on the rug. It reminded me of a memory from the chateau, when she’d mimicked this exact scenario. It was wintertime then and she’d done it to keep warm, but the two instances were identical. I felt like I was back in time.
I got out of bed and pulled on a pair of boxers before I sat beside her. “It’s a little warm for a fire.”
She kept her eyes on the logs. “I just like to watch it…” She stared for a few more seconds before she turned and looked at me. Her makeup was gone and she was ready for bed, but she wasn’t ready to sleep. We’d made love since we finished dinner, moving across the bed and getting tangled in the sheets. But instead of drifting off to sleep afterward, she made a fire and sat there to admire it. It’d been going for thirty minutes, and it probably only had thirty minutes left before it was snuffed out.
“Did you have a fireplace growing up?”
She nodded. “My mom would use it at Christmastime. We would drink our hot chocolate in front of it.”
“I can have Ramon make you some hot cocoa now, if you want.”
She smiled slightly and shook her head. “Maybe another time.” She turned her gaze back to the fire and watched it, silent a long time.
I stared at the side of her face.
“It’s hard to believe so many things have happened. Rose and I lay in front of the fire at the chateau to stay warm, and it wasn’t that long ago, but it feels like a lifetime somehow. That night I got into the car with those guys feels so far away that I’m not even the same person I used to be. I can never go back. Even when Melanie and I were living in Paris after you freed us, we still couldn’t go back.”
I listened to everything she said.
“She’s different… I’m different.”
I watched the flames light up her skin and give her a dreamlike glow. “There’s something I need to tell you.” It had left my mind because it didn’t seem important at the time. I’d told her she was free, but she’d said she would rather be a prisoner with me. The news had faded into the background, but now I had to tell her.
She turned to look at me, her eyes now sharp and absorbed.
“Fender asked Melanie to marry him. Her answer was yes, but only if he released you.”
Her eyes instantly hardened into a look of anger.
“She also asked him to stop running the camp in the way he does in exchange for her answer, but he said no. He would only let you go.”
She shook her head slightly, her reaction so subtle but her distress so obvious. “I don’t want my freedom, so she doesn’t have to marry him.”
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 spend
ing 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?”
“No.”
“Then what?” Raven started to raise her voice, unable to keep her anger in check.
“I know he’s responsible for a lot of terrible things, but he’s more than that. He’s just so hurt by the awful things he’s seen that he struggles to feel empathy and compassion for others—”
“Then how could you possibly care for a man who feels nothing for others?” Raven’s eyes were big and raging, full of sheer disappointment for her sister.
“Because I believe he can change. I believe he can come back to the right side. I believe, in enough time, he will be who he used to be… He’s just not there yet.”
“Even if that is true, it doesn’t change what he’s already done. He’s ordered his men to execute the weakest worker every week to keep the rest of them working like bees in a hive. He’s done that for years, Melanie. He might not be the one with the knife or the rope, but he’s the one with the blood on his hands. How the fuck do you feel anything for that monster?”
She dropped her chin again, her eyes slowly filling with tears. “That
’s a bit hypocritical, don’t you think?”
“My man is nothing like yours.” Raven kept her voice steady, but her rage was making her red in the face. “He’s tried to stop Fender many times. He’s tried to convince him to run the camp in a different way. He’s tried to reason with him. They are not the same.”
The moisture toppled over Melanie’s lashes and dripped straight down her cheeks. “I know I can change him. I can…”
“You’re still going to marry him without knowing for sure?”
“Yes. Because I have faith in him.”
“Or is it because you know you have no choice?” Raven snapped. “Because if a man forces you to marry him, that’s not love. That’s cruelty.”
“He’s not forcing me.” She lifted her chin and wiped away her tears. “He’s never forced me to do anything. I can leave this place whenever I want. I stay because I want to stay. I’m telling you, he’s not the barbarian you know him as.”
“I don’t care how you know him when you’re living in this mansion and life is good. He chooses to execute innocent people. Period. Some of those women could be your friend. One of those women could’ve been me. The only reason why it wasn’t is because Magnus saved me. Let that sink in.”
Melanie inhaled a deep breath, more tears falling down her cheeks. “I understand… I do. I feel like I can feel both things at once. I hate him for the things he’s done, but I’ve also fallen in love with the other side of him. You have no idea how ashamed I feel right now, having you look at me like that, knowing you’re right and I’m wrong. But I also can’t change the way I feel because I’ve never felt this way for a man in my life.”
Raven had no sympathy whatsoever. “You’re too young to know what real love is. You barely have had a long-term relationship with any man in your life. You’ve been traumatized by what you’ve been through, and you found a man who can protect you against all that. Stockholm syndrome. It’s not real.”
I actually felt bad for Melanie, loving her sister but also loving my brother. She felt so much guilt and shame, but she couldn’t just walk away from Fender. It was too complicated. My relationship with Raven was still complicated.