I worked as a barista in a coffee shop, and even though I was bad at my job, the manager didn’t fire me. My salary wasn’t much, but it was enough to cover half the rent, along with food and utilities.
I never officially asked if I could be her roommate. It was just unspoken. After being apart from each other for so long, I couldn’t imagine us wanting to be apart ever again. Raven went on a few dates, but I didn’t.
It just…didn’t feel right.
I thought about him often, wondering if someone had replaced me in his bed, if he was back to his French whores.
I wondered if he still thought about me. Often. Occasionally. Or not at all.
I expected retribution for what we’d done, but as the weeks trickled by, I started to wonder if it was really over. The camp was destroyed. The girls were free. It was too much work to start the business up again, so they must have chosen to retire.
I couldn’t picture a man like Fender retiring.
Raven walked through the door after work, carrying a bag of takeout. “Hungry?”
No. “Sure.” I left the couch and joined her at the kitchen island. We grabbed utensils and napkins then ate across from each other. “So, how’d your date go the other night?” We lived together, but there were times when we didn’t see each other because of our work schedules.
She shrugged. “Eh.”
“Eh doesn’t sound good.”
“There was just no chemistry.” She sliced her fork into the lasagna and scooped it into her mouth.
I pushed my food around with my fork, still missing the food from the palace even though I’d left months ago. Food never tasted as good. Wine was never strong enough. My bed was never warm. Arousal was never the same either. Attractive men hit on me at the café all the time, but their numbers were always tossed into the wastebin.
“You haven’t dated at all.” She took a bite then watched me as she chewed.
Like a deer in the headlights, I froze. Accusation blanketed me, like she was trying to make a point. My eyes moved down to my food, and I sliced my fork through the layers of pasta, sauce, and cheese. “Yeah, I…” My voice drifted away when I heard the sound of heavy footfall against the hardwood in the hallway.
Raven turned at the sound, the noise immediately triggering the same memories that jumped into my mind. Even though we had been in different cabins, we’d experienced the same terror, the sound of those heavy boots approaching the front door.
I held my breath and waited for the boots to move past our door.
But they stopped right outside, the shadow of the feet visible in the crack underneath the door.
Raven immediately spun and pulled out two knives from the drawer. One was slid across the surface of the counter to me. “Just like you did with the executioner, alright?”
I gripped the knife and nodded, but I was terrified, just like I had been on that cold night.
Raven grabbed my hand and pulled me behind the kitchen island so they wouldn’t see us.
They tried the knob discreetly, and then the knob turned slightly and shifted, like they were picking it the way Raven had done in the camp.
My heart pounded. The anxiety hit. But I gripped the knife tighter because I knew it would be either them or us—and it wouldn’t be us.
The door opened, and their boots stepped inside. There were three of them, as far as I could tell. One gave orders in French before the other two scattered, searching for us throughout the apartment.
I peeked around the corner at the door, hoping we could sneak out of the apartment. But the guy remained in place, blocking our exit. Raven moved around me then inched around the kitchen island, getting closer and closer to him so she could lunge out and catch him off guard.
I held my knife at the ready.
She went for it and slammed her blade into his stomach.
“Ahh! Bitch!”
I sprinted around the island and jumped on him, stabbing him just the way I did with the executioner. He collapsed to the floor in a bloody mess while the other two ran to us.
“Go!” Raven shoved me out the door.
I fell but quickly got to my feet, leaving the blade behind. But then I stopped.
Two men were stationed at each end of the hallway.
Raven knocked into me and grabbed my hand to prepare to run. But when she saw what we were up against, she stilled.
The two men stepped over their dead comrade and walked into the apartment, yelling in French.
We shouldn’t have gone back to the camp.
It was a mistake—a big fucking mistake.
Raven held on to me, protecting me even though there was nothing she could do.
The men marched toward us and grabbed Raven first. “Fucking cunt.” They shook her by the arms then threw her down. “You thought we wouldn’t come for you?” He pressed a boot to her back. “Tie up this bitch.”
Ropes were bound around her wrists, right there in the middle of the hallway, like they didn’t care if they were seen by anybody.
I lowered myself to the floor and lay beside her, knowing a fight was pointless so I should just cooperate.
They lifted Raven to her feet then marched her away.
No one touched me.
“Wait…what about me?” I pushed to my feet and ran after them. “Take me with you!” I wouldn’t be left behind, not when she would be dragged to her fate alone. I didn’t want to live without her, so I’d rather share her gruesome death. “Please!” I grabbed one of the guys and yanked him back.
He gave me a hard shove. “Bitch.”
The other guard turned on him. “We don’t touch her. We don’t look at her. You know what the boss said.” He slammed his gun into the other man’s face, making his nose bleed immediately. “Leave her.” They continued down the hallway and to the stairs until they were out of sight.
I fell to my knees on the floor—and cried.
I sat on the couch in the living room, arms wrapped around my body, broken down in tears. It was dark now because I didn’t turn on any lights. Raven’s knife was still on the floor where she’d left it. Without my sister in that apartment, it didn’t feel like home anymore. The only thing that remained was her ghost.
The dead man lay in the kitchen, his blood everywhere.
Eventually, some of Fender’s men returned and took the body and cleaned up the mess. They didn’t look at me. Didn’t acknowledge my existence. The door was shut like nothing happened.
Now what?
I knew the location of the camp, so I could drive out there, take the long road on foot, and find her.
But there was no camp anymore.
I didn’t have a clue where they’d taken her.
She might be dead right now.
Or she might be alive…and I was just wasting time.
It didn’t matter how pointless it was. It didn’t matter if he hurt me. He was the only option I had—so I took a cab and headed to the palace.
The second I stepped out of the cab, the driver took off. Armed men stood on the other side of the iron gate, carrying assault rifles like this was a war zone rather than the entrance of a historic mansion.
Couldn’t blame him for being scared.
I was scared too.
The palace looked different in spring. The lights on his lawn showed the lively flowers and bushes. The lights were on in his bedroom on the top floor, so he was probably in bed right now or watching TV on the couch.