Page 40 of From the Ashes

Why didn’t she come to one of us?

And then the gun goes off.

Bianca drops it, her eyes going wide with horror as she watches Caleb stumble backward. Blood seeps through his shirt right before he drops to his knees, and then Crew turns the screen around, shutting off the video before we’re forced to watch any more of the footage.

Silence falls over us, and I can barely breathe through the revelations that have just come to light.

Caleb forced Bianca to shoot him.

It’s safe to say they were in some kind of relationship, which indicates there’s a very good chance he planted her with us for a reason, but I can’t quite figure out what that reason would be.

What benefit did us having a woman at the compound have for him?

It distracted us.

But the question is, what was he doing behind our backs that we didn’t know about because we were caught up with her?

“We need to get Camilla back here as soon as possible,” Kaos says, and we all turn our attention to him. Out of all the things he could say after watching his father being shot by the woman he saw a future with, that’s not what I expected.

“She isn’t coming back until she’s ready. Forcing her back here will only make her doubt us more than she already does. She needs some time to feel through everything and make the decision to come back on her own.”

“And if she doesn’t make that choice? If she decides she’d rather stay at the De Marco estate indefinitely?” Crew asks.

I turn to him with a smirk. “Then we force her hand. But we need to give her some time first, and one day isn’t enough, even if we would like her back here sooner rather than later.”

“I’ve increased the security around the property to make sure no one can get in or out without their knowledge,” Crew tells us.

“I bet I’ll be able to.” Kovu chuckles, and I turn my glare on him.

“Kovu,” I warn.

“I can’t be away from her at night, even if that’s what she wants. I can’t do it. But I’ll leave her be. I think I got my point across last night anyway.”

“What did you do?” Crew growls.

“You’ll see.” He smirks but it drops from his lips almost immediately. “I’ll stay in the guest bedroom next to her room and make sure she doesn’t know I’m there. I just need to be close to her.”

Crew and I share a look before he sighs and nods. “Very well. It’s probably better we have one of us there in case Caleb or Charles make good on their threat from today.”

I rub my hand down my face and fight against another yawn. I’m way too fucking tired to be dealing with any of this today.

CHAPTER THIRTY

CAMILLA

It’s been almost a week since I’ve had more than just a few hours of sleep, and my body is beginning to feel the effects of the exhaustion weighing down on me.

Every night I lay in my bed staring at the ceiling, all too aware that Kovu has broken into the house and has taken up residence in the room next to mine like I have no idea, but I don’t call him out on it.

No matter how angry I am at him, at all of them, really, I can’t begrudge him for trying to keep me safe.

Even if he did carve a fucking word into my ass last weekend.

The thought has heat brushing against my cheeks as I step out of the elevator and find Bonnie behind her desk with a smile.

Honestly, I expected her to quit when she finally made it back up here after Charles and Caleb left, and I sure as hell wouldn’t have blamed her, but I’m glad she didn’t because she’s pretty much keeping my life together at the moment.

“Good morning, Camilla.”

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