Page 63 of From the Ashes

“You don’t think they already took them out?” the other person responds.

“It’s unlikely. We have three of them by the grave as Caleb requested. I doubt the pencil pusher of the bunch is doing much more than waiting for backup that’s not coming.”

I smirk at the assumption. It’s not the first time someone has said the same thing about me, and to a degree, they’d be correct. I don’t spend as much time killing people as Kovu or Kaos do. I don’t get to stretch my authority as often as Crew does. But that doesn’t mean I’m any less deadly than they are.

As their footsteps draw closer, I take a steadying breath and slip out from behind the tree, catching them both off guard.

I lift the gun and smirk. “Too bad the pencil pusher has the best shot.”

I shoot two bullets in quick succession, and their bodies drop to the brush beneath their feet as blood pools around their heads.

Okay, maybe I am enjoying this a little more than I should be.

I continue my way around the edge of the place they’re congregated, taking out another four guys, but they still outnumber us even if three of the four of us weren’t currently tied up against headstones.

It’s been an hour since we arrived, but they don’t seem to be in any hurry to move any of this along. What exactly are they waiting for?

I make the decision to double back in the hope of taking down some guys that have come to check on their buddies, but then I see a figure moving on the opposite side of the cemetery.

Camilla.

She’s dressed in all black, a gun in each hand and her hair piled high on her head as she strolls toward where the others are being held.

What the fuck is she doing?

I pick up my pace, hoping to cut her off before she can throw herself into the middle of the lion’s den, but I’m so distracted by her that I almost miss the two guys standing in front of me with their own guns raised.

“Caleb said as soon as she arrived, we’d have them all. I guess I just didn’t think the most powerful men in the city would ever be this pussy whipped.”

A growl escapes my throat, but I don’t get a chance to move before someone knocks my gun from my hand and secures them both behind my back.

We thought we could outsmart the trap they set, but for the first time since we took our positions, all four of our lives are in jeopardy.

CHAPTER FORTY-NINE

CAMILLA

The cool night air sends a shiver through my thin, long-sleeved shirt.

After I managed to calm down and get myself together, I found the code to override the whole system hiding in the back of the drawer, exactly where my dad told me it was all those years ago, and after that, it was easy to get out.

I half expected there to be a team of men waiting outside the door, but instead it was just one single man on his phone leaning across from the office door, and he was dead before he had a chance to look up at me.

I took a few minutes to change out of my robe and into something more practical before making my way to the cemetery where my parents are buried. The exact spot where all four of their trackers are bouncing off right now.

As I drive my dad’s Mercedes, a car that he valued almost as highly as he did me, I shoot off a few texts for backup. I have no idea what I’m walking into, but I’m sure as hell not willing to do it with me being the final option for any of us walking away.

My dad taught me better than that.

Plan for every eventuality.

Never assume the first plan will work, because it’s much more likely the first three will fail.

There aren’t many things that give me the creeps, but walking through a cemetery at night will never not scare the shit out of me.

I don’t bother to conceal myself or my weapons, because this is what Caleb wants. This is his plan, and I’m going to let him think it’s worked until the very end.

I feel more than see them as they stare at me, watching me walk toward what they probably believe will be my demise, but although I don’t look like it, I’m harder to kill than that.

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