“The cabins. The drugs. The men. Because of you.” I got in his face. “Because you helped her. You didn’t just humiliate yourself. You humiliated me.” I inhaled a deep breath and kept my hands to myself even though I actually wanted to kill the only family I had left. “You lied to me—for someone who turned around and stabbed you in the back the second she had the opportunity.

His breathing intensified, like my speech angered him even more.

“She will pay for this—”

“Kill her.” He said it with such conviction, spit flying from his mouth.

Nothing would give me greater pleasure than killing her, but that wasn’t an option. “You will rebuild this camp, with your own money, and it will be better than it was before. You will pay me for everything I lost. I will bring that cunt back here to work for the rest of her life…since she loves it so much.”

The vein in his forehead popped, like her servitude wasn’t enough for what she’d done.

Even in my rage, I pitied him. Because I knew exactly how it felt to trust a woman—and have her turn on you the second the opportunity presented itself. To lie beside her every night and believe it meant something, and then for her to turn around and bite you like a fucking snake. His humiliation and pain seemed like enough punishment. His hatred was enough to make him forget about this woman who didn’t deserve his obsession in the first place.

But I had to punish him. “The only reason I will spare your life is because you’re my brother—and I haven’t forgotten what that means to us. You’ve been disloyal to me, but my loyalty to you continues. I hope this moment has taught you a lesson that you’d obviously forgotten.”

He dropped his gaze for the first time—ashamed.

“But I have to punish you. I wouldn’t respect myself if I didn’t.”

He looked at me again, facing it head on.

I pulled out my knife then nodded to my guards. “Hold him down.”

The guards were eager to force him into the chair, one of the few things that had survived the fire, and restrained his hands.

Magnus didn’t fight. A calm defeat was in his gaze.

I held my knife at the ready. “Drop his pants.”

Surprise and fear moved into his gaze when he realized what was about to happen, the punishment we reserved for the worst betrayals. But he still didn’t fight. He breathed harder and let them reveal his nudity.

I stepped forward, and with a straight face, I held the knife to the flesh.

He breathed harder and harder, but he refused to look weak.

I looked at him before I sliced through the skin. “You can thank her for this next time you see her.”

Five

A Promise Kept

Melanie