Page 49 of They Will Burn

But before she can finish her sentence, she lets out a cry that makes the empty abyss in my chest ache. She buries her face in my neck, and I feel the telltale sign of tears against my skin as she squeezes Kovu’s hands so tight the skin turns white under the pressure.

“Good girl,” I murmur.

CHAPTER FORTY-ONE

CREW

For someone who isn’t aligned with any of the families, Eric is surprisingly hard to locate.

Wyatt has been working around the clock to find a digital footprint of the guy, but as far as we can tell, he’s been off the grid for the last few years.

It’s been a while since I’ve been in contact with him, and although I’ve tried all the numbers we have for Eric, they’re all disconnected. The guy has become a ghost, which only adds to Kovu’s theory about his involvement in the things that have been happening at the fight club.

Bishop is working on a comprehensive list of people that have been at the casino when money has been going missing and cross-checking it with who was there during the raid, but whoever has been doctoring the books has been doing it so consistently he’s struggling to narrow the list down.

It doesn’t sit well with me to be investigating someone I was close with growing up, someone who was once mine and Caleb’s best friend, but he’s our best lead, even if we can’t find him.

There’s a soft knock at the door, and when I look up, I’m staring into Camilla’s uncertain gray eyes. She doesn’t normally knock, which is the first red flag, and the other is that she’s fully dressed in a skintight black dress that reaches just above her knee. It’s conservative, but also sexy as fuck.

“Are you going somewhere?” I ask, trying desperately to keep the bite out of my voice. After we put the tracker in her a few days ago, she’s been pretty pissed at us, but the idea of letting her out of these four walls alone doesn’t do anything for my already uneasy mind.

This is why I never wanted to get close to another woman, because while our kingdom is crumbling, all I care about is keeping her safe.

“Yeah, I need to meet with Michael and Scott to straighten things out.”

“No.”

She sighs and leans her head back until she’s looking at the ceiling. “Crew, this was your idea. Putting me into this position was your plan, so you have to let me do the job.”

I stare at her for long seconds, my chest tight with an emotion I’ve rarely felt in my life. Worry. The boys have always been able to take care of themselves, and even when I’ve been concerned for them for one reason or another, I don’t think I’ve ever really worried about them. But it’s different with Camilla.

“We haven’t had a chance to organize your security yet.” I turn my attention to my to-do list and quickly add it. “Once you have a team to accompany you, you can go wherever you need to.”

“Crew—”

“Come here.” I shove my chair back and nod to the desk in front of me, and she doesn’t bother arguing with me, for once.

She crosses the room, and when she steps in front of me, I have to bite back a groan. Fuck, she looks like a wet dream in shiny black heels, and the image of her bent over this desk in nothing but those shoes flashes through my mind.

I don’t have time to fuck her over my desk right now, but it’s all I can think about.

Camilla perches on the edge of the desk and looks at me expectantly.

“As I’m sure you’re aware, when you have enemies, those enemies are always going to look for any weakness you may have, and little by little, you’ve become that weakness for all four of us,” I admit. “That week that you were with Davenport…I don’t want a repeat of it. Ever. And if that means I hire some security to follow you around when you’re outside these walls, that’s what I’m going to do. Because I’m not going to allow you to slip between my fingers again. I can’t.”

Her eyes soften and she leans forward, catching my cheek in her soft palm. “You realize I spent my life learning to fight. I may not be as huge as the four of you, but I can take care of myself. And isn’t this why you all insisted I get this stupid tracker?” She motions to the barely visible bandage beneath the neck of her dress. “You have to trust me, Crew. This isn’t going to work if you don’t trust me to do what I need to do.”

I watch her for another beat before I release a defeated sigh. I’m not going to win this argument unless I tie her to her bed and leave her there, but I’m also not sure how I can let her walk out the front door.

“Okay.” I nod. “Take whichever car you want, all the keys are in the garage. But please, for the love of God, drive carefully, and at the first sign of danger, I want you out of there. If you’re reckless in any way and I find out, the punishment Bishop gave you the other day will pale in comparison to the one I’ll give you.”

She catches her bottom lip between her teeth and nods. “Okay, I’ll be careful.”

I pull her into my lap and hold her close for a moment, taking the time to breathe her in, to feel her softness against me.

We were doomed from the moment that Bishop brought her into our lives, but when I hold her, I just don’t care.

CHAPTER FORTY-TWO

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