“Raven is free to leave the camp. Take her to Paris. Leave here there.” My fingers rested on the top of my glass, anxious for another drink, but I’d already had plenty. That woman was the bane of my existence—and she fucking beat me.

Magnus couldn’t recover from the shock. His open stare lingered.

“But if she pulls another stunt, comes back to this camp and starts shit, I will kill her.” I took a drink. “Don’t call my bluff. You won’t be able to save her. Melanie won’t either.”

Magnus finally recovered from the surprise. “Thank you…”

“Keep your gratitude. Didn’t do it for you.”

He gave a slight nod in understanding. “You two made up.”

“I asked her to marry me.” I stared into the glass for a moment before I shifted my look to my brother, the only family I had in the world—until Melanie was my wife. Until she gave me children. Until she gave me a life that had been taken from me.

My brother didn’t have an overt reaction, like he didn’t know what to say.

“She said yes. But only if I released Raven.”

Still nothing.

His reaction angered me, because he’d personally asked me to do this for him in the past. “I thought you would be more cheerful.”

He shook his head slightly. “You wouldn’t have to let Raven go if we ran this camp differently—”

“Melanie already tried. If I won’t do it for her, why would I do it for you?” Now I understood his disappointment. He’d hoped that Melanie could leverage me to do more. But not even she could make me do the impossible—despite what she believed.

His eyes dropped for a moment.

“She said she would only marry me if I freed all the girls. I said no. Then she asked for her sister instead.”

He gave a slight nod.

“What?”

“I’m just surprised that she made the request in the first place.”

Annoyed, I looked away. “Don’t be. You don’t know her. And frankly, her sister doesn’t either.” Raven and Magnus had a low opinion of my woman, but in reality, she was the one who didn’t give up. She was the one who kept trying to change me. Over and over.

Magnus remained quiet.

I knew he was hiding something from me. “What?”

He held my gaze without blinking, giving it to me straight like a man. “Melanie only came back to you to save Raven.”

If Melanie hadn’t confessed that to me already, his words would have caused a deep wound. But she came clean because she respected me, because she loved me, because she wanted to marry me and start that marriage off with complete honesty. But my brother’s deception stung. “You kept this from me.” His loyalties had never been so muddled until now—until Raven.