this was goodbye. It was hard to turn away, but I managed to do it.
How did I become so attached to something I barely knew?
Magnus watched me, his eyes kind, his human side coming out for the first time since he’d arrived at the chateau. “She’s in good hands.”
I looked up at him and gave a slight nod.
He walked ahead, passed the front of the house, and then opened the garage.
Inside was a black Bugatti.
I stilled at the sight of it.
He wasn’t just some guard at the camp.
This guy had money—lots of it.
He pulled out a piece of fabric from his backpack then walked toward me while holding it up.
I stepped back. “Whoa, what are you doing?”
“Blindfolding you.”
“Why?”
His eyes narrowed in annoyance. “You can’t know the way.”
I didn’t want to sit in the car for hours without seeing anything, but he was right. That was exactly what I would do.
“It’s nonnegotiable.”
I didn’t want to return to the camp, so I stepped closer to him and sighed.
He secured it around my face, making the material fall all the way to my nose so there was no chance I could get a peek of anything. Then he guided me to the passenger door.
“You don’t think people are gonna call the police when these see a woman in the passenger seat blindfolded?” I reached for my safety belt and struggled to lock it into place. It took a couple tries before it clicked.
“Tinted windows.” He shut the door.
After the car came on, he pulled out of the driveway and then headed to the main road. Then we started the drive, the car smooth, like we were flying instead of driving down a country road. I was excited to go back home, but I also felt empty at the same time.
Hours passed, and nothing was said.
He didn’t turn on the radio or make conversation.
I couldn’t believe I was sitting in a car with my former guard, taking a drive. The car didn’t make a single stop in that amount of time, so I knew we were far in the middle of nowhere, taking backroads through vast amounts of nothingness.
“Is that chateau yours?”
“Did you see anyone else there?”
I rolled my eyes even though he couldn’t see me. I felt my eyelashes rub against the material covering my face. “It just looks like it’s fallen into ruin. A lot of things don’t work, and a whole exterior of it doesn’t seem to be cared for. So, did you just decide to squat in it?”
“Squat?”
“When you move in to an abandoned residence and make it yours.”
“No…not a squatter.”
“Then why did you buy it? You own a Bugatti, so you can afford something up to date.”
“I didn’t buy it.”
“Then…you stole it?”
“Family heirloom.”
“You inherited it?”
He didn’t say anything.
“How do you inherit something like that? Isn’t that something that belongs to old, aristocratic families?” There was no way he fit the bill, because he wouldn’t work at a labor camp processing and distributing drugs if that were the case.
“What’s your address?” He dodged the question altogether.
“Are we close?”
“No. We still have hours to go.”
I leaned my head back into the seat and groaned. “I’m gonna have to pee.”
“Hold it.”
The car returned to silence again.
Minutes later, he spoke. “Got a boyfriend waiting for you?”
I turned my head at the question even though I couldn’t see him. “Would I have slept with you if that were the case?”
“There are no rules when you’re a prisoner.”
I stared forward again. “You have a girlfriend?”
“Do I look like the kind of guy to have a girlfriend?”
“I don’t know. You don’t look like the kind of guy to save me…, but you did.”
He didn’t have a response.
“You said your mom passed away. What happened to your father?”
“He ran off after Melanie was born.”
There was a long pause. “I’m sorry.”
“I’m not. We didn’t need his help.”
“Did you ever see him again?”
“Nope. What about you? Are your parents still around?”
He never answered the question.
“So, you can ask me whatever you want, but I can’t ask you anything?”
“You can ask whatever you want. Doesn’t mean I’ll answer you.”
I knew when we were in the city because of the sound of nearby cars, the constant braking, the honks from irritated drivers. “Are we in Paris?”
“Yes.”
I pulled the blindfold off since there was no reason to keep it on.
Raindrops were on the windshield, pedestrians were on the sidewalk carrying their umbrellas, the sky was gray because the sun was low and the clouds blocked the light from coming through. We were