I took a few deep breaths to make myself calm, to stave off the tears. “I know I can get him to set you free. I know I can…” Any other plan was pointless to me because this one would work. It would just take time. That was all.

“But that doesn’t fix the problem, Melanie. Even if I’m free, the camp is still continuing.”

I shook my head and went quiet for a long time, thinking about what she’d said.

Raven stared, waiting for me to address her last words.

“We went back and burned that place to the fucking ground, and it didn’t change anything. I know you want to put an end to it, but you need to understand this is bigger than the two of us. I told you we shouldn’t go back, that we had no chance, but you forced us to do it anyway. We lost our freedom because of it. I’m never going to be able to walk away from Fender at this point, so I need to make the best of it. Yes, I feel something for him, but how can I sleep beside the same man every single night and see his goodness and not feel something?” I paused to take a few breaths, my eyes filled with emotional intensity. “You need to understand there’s nothing we can do. There’s nothing Magnus can do. There’s only one person who can make any difference—and I know he will. He will let you go. He will end that camp. He will walk away from it all.”

Raven stared at me, her eyes skeptical. “And you really believe that?”

I slowly released the breath from my lungs and looked her straight in the eye. “With all my heart.”

Twenty

Make a Woman Cry

Fender

My eyes continued to shift back to the parlor, waiting for Melanie to return to me.

Every moment we were apart, my dread increased.

Unless she was right beside me where I could block her body with mine, the anxiety would deteriorate all the tissues of my heart. I never panicked. I never had anxiety. But she was the one thing that inflicted both of those sensations on me.

Napoleon approached Magnus and conducted a brief conversation.

My brother’s face said it all—he didn’t like the man at all.

No surprise there.

Stasia came next.

I lost interest and looked at the door again, not even bothering to pretend to listen to the guest speaking to me.

Raven stepped out of the room and approached Magnus from the rear, but she must have gotten angry at the sight of them together because she marched off and headed straight to the door.

Good.

But Melanie didn’t come.

Oblivious to Raven’s anger, Magnus continued to speak to Stasia.

Why didn’t Melanie come back to me?