Page 32 of They Will Burn

“I’m sure he’s counting on it,” I muse.

CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT

CAMILLA

I’m not ready to face the real world yet.

But I don’t have a choice.

I pull on the dark crimson dress and stare at myself in the mirror. The deep V in the front makes my cleavage look even more full than it really is, and the slit up the back comes so high I’ve checked in every mirror I can find that my ass isn’t visible. I have no fucking clue where this dress came from, but it’s beautiful, and it makes me feel powerful.

My hands shake as I apply a generous amount of makeup, ensuring my eyes are dark and my red lips flawless.

In some ways, I think I’m more nervous than I was the other night preparing to go out for Charles’s bachelor party. At least I knew I was walking into the belly of the beast, even if I didn’t predict the things he was going to make me do.

But this is different.

This is me staking claim to my family’s legacy.

This is shoving my uncle out of the role I was born to do.

And this is protecting the men I’ve come to care for so deeply.

When I broke down this morning, I never could have anticipated how much they would care. How they would hold me. How they would murmur words of support. How they would hold me up as I fell apart.

I have no idea how this is going to work, how I’m going to control my family’s business while juggling a relationship with the four men who control the city, but we’ll work it out. We have to, because I’m not willing to let them go.

The bathroom door cracks open, and I look up to find Bishop leaning against the doorframe. His dark navy suit is pressed to perfection, the crisp white shirt a stark contrast to the tattoos I know live beneath it. “How are you doing, love?”

I shrug, smacking my lips together before wiping away the excess red that’s smudged.

He moves further into the bathroom and wraps his arms around my waist, tugging me back against his hard body. “You don’t need to pretend with us, Camilla.”

“I know,” I whisper. “But I don’t have time to feel anything other than ready, do I?” I raise a brow at him through the mirror.

“No.” He sighs. “I wish we could have given you more than an hour to prepare.”

I shrug. “Maybe it’s better this way. Maybe if I had too much time to prepare, I would have got in my own head about it.”

“Maybe,” he murmurs, his chin resting on the top of my head as he stares at me. “You look every bit like the mafia queen you were born to be.”

A smile tips up the corners of my lips, but I don’t respond. Not when all I really want to be is their queen.

CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE

KAOS

Ithought bringing her home to them would make me feel like less of an asshole, but I seem destined to fuck things up with Camilla at every turn.

The tie around my neck is stifling, and I tug at it for what feels like the fiftieth time since we got in the car. Kovu and I are both restless wearing a suit, but it feels worse today. Especially when things could go south so easily.

Kovu and I will go in first. It’ll throw them off-kilter not to see Crew come in first, given they see us as nothing more than the muscle, but that also means we don’t have eyes on the princess right now, and it’s making us both itch.

I pull the car into the valet of the Crescent Hotel and put it in park. Normally these meetings are held on neutral territory, but apparently Davenport decided he wanted the upper hand. Too bad for him, there are members of the five families that are loyal to us, even when we misstep.

“You ready?” I ask.

“As I’ll ever be.”

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