exactly what had happened without needing any physical evidence. “You know exactly what I’m talking about…”
He stared at me, stone-faced.
“But he’s paid you off…”
“Ma’am, I have no idea what—”
“Fuck off.” I left the chair in front of his desk and stepped away. “There is a woman brutally executed every single week, just because she isn’t as strong as everyone else. We work every single day as slaves. The only way out of that place is through death. If you choose to sit there with a fat wallet and look the other way, then you dishonor the badge. You dishonor everything you should stand for.”
I sat up in bed, the Count of Monte Cristo on my lap, the pages damp at the corners. The rain hit the window right next to me, and the hot coffee on my nightstand smelled the nutmeg and cinnamon. It was the middle of the day, but I had nowhere to go and nothing to do, so I never changed out of my pajamas.
My body had already started to return to its previous weakness since I didn’t work all day anymore. My abs were slowly being covered with a layer of fat, and my breasts were getting bigger. I turned away from the book and looked out the window, seeing the raindrops hit the glass and drip down in quick rivers, only to be replaced by another drop.
My entire adventure might have felt like just a dream, but this book was a piece of my story, and the memory of the man who’d slept by my side in that very bed told me it was all real…every single moment.
Melanie appeared in the open doorway, leaning against the frame with her arms crossed over her chest. “What happened to your book?”
I lifted it up, seeing the permanent stain on the corner of every page. “Dropped it.” I wasn’t sure why I didn’t tell her the truth. It was between me and this story, between me and Magnus.
She looked out the window and stared at the rain.
I closed the book and stared at the cover, the title worn and faded, like it’d been in that camp for a long time, had belonged to another prisoner before they passed away. “I have to go back…”
Melanie turned back to me, her movements noticeable in my periphery.
I set the book on the nightstand and looked at her. “Bethany, Cindy…everyone else. I can’t just leave them there.”
“You went to the police, Raven. You did what you could.”
I shook my head. “It’s not enough…”
She sighed loudly. “You think you can go there alone and liberate the camp? By yourself.”
“I won’t be alone…” I continued my stare.
Her eyes fell when she understood.
“If we get caught, nothing will happen to you. The boss will protect you.”
“He will not—”
“I saw the way he looked at you. You’ll be safe.”
“And what about you?”
I held the book in my arms and pulled it to my chest. “Doesn’t matter. I can’t live knowing they’re there. I have to finish this, even if it costs my life.”
“Raven—”
“I have to.”
She turned quiet. “We don’t even know where it is.”
“We’ll find it.”
“How are we going to liberate an entire camp?”
“I’ll come up with a plan.”
“And what about Magnus?”
I squeezed the book tighter. “We won’t hurt him.”
“But you’re coming back to destroy his camp, after everything he did for us.”
I felt guilty when I shouldn’t. His kindness didn’t erase his cruelty. “I know, but it doesn’t change anything. Every week that passes ends the life of someone innocent. Every week that passes results in new women taken from their homes and forced into servitude. Every week that we spend drinking coffee and eating cheese…is a week someone won’t survive. Bethany could be next, or one of your friends. We owe it to those women, to women everywhere, to try. And my loyalty is to them…not him.”
24
With Knives and Fire
I used my money to buy a horse.
I brought other supplies, stuff for our survival, but also gasoline, matches, knives, everything that we could use. It would be nice to have a gun, but that was something we couldn’t buy.
Melanie sat behind me on the horse, pointing the flashlights up ahead so we could see where we were going. “Fuck, it’s spooky out here.”
I’d done this before, so I wasn’t scared at all.
I used my phone to map out the landscape. On Google images, the camp wasn’t there, which told me how deep this operation ran. But the chateau was there, so I was able