Page 84 of We Will Rise

I shift slightly, taking aim at the one furthest away from me. “Crew, watch out,” I call out as I take the shot and hit the guy the moment his head comes around the edge of the container.

Crew locks on the other man and takes him down, allowing my shoulders to slump and the gun to fall to my side.

He looks up at me, his eyes shining with pride a moment before fear fills them, and it’s not until someone wraps their arm around my waist and tugs me against their body that I realize why.

“You’re not making it out of here alive, pet,” Charles growls against my ear as a gun presses to my side.

I hold Crew’s eyes, my stomach in knots as I stare into the eyes of the man I love.

I should have known it was all too easy, and this time I don’t bother trying to force the tears down, instead allowing them to fall against my cheeks as the hopelessness swallows me.

CHAPTER SIXTY-THREE

CREW

Hope flickers from Camilla’s gray eyes, and my stomach clenches.

She’s scared, but hasn’t she been this whole time? She’s spent days hanging from chains, her body contorted uncomfortably. She’s lost blood and killed men without blinking. But this is the moment she loses hope?

Her eyes fall closed as tears drip from her long lashes, but it’s the way Charles holds her that has my hackles rising.

The possessive hold is too similar to the way me and the guys hold our woman, and it doesn’t take a genius to work out he’s trying to get a rise out of me.

“Let her go, Charles,” I growl as I try to get a clean shot, but there isn’t one. He knows what he’s doing.

“No,” he says calmly, his dark eyes meeting mine over her shoulder. “Everything went to shit because of her. She’s the reason you all cottoned on to what Caleb and I were doing before we wanted you to know. She’s the reason you’ve repeatedly derailed our plans. She should have died in that alley where my men left her, but you had to go and save her life, didn’t you?” He shakes his head and digs the gun into Camilla’s ribs, causing her to wince in pain.

“When that doctor of yours told us there was a woman brought in, we just assumed it was just some junkie whore, but it wasn’t until later when you uncovered it was Camilla that we realized our mistake, and then she was too protected. We couldn’t get to her without raising the alarm that someone knew how to get into your fortress.”

Fucking Rogers.

When I get my hands on him, he’s going to be wishing for death. No one betrays us without paying for their sins, and I’m going to make it hurt. A lot. And then when I’m done, when I’m bored with his screams, I’ll give him to Kovu to drag it out some more.

“Charles, we can talk about this.” I try to reason with him, but it only agitates him more. His body shifts backward, and the gun sinks into Camilla’s stomach, causing a yelp of pain to escape her throat.

“We’re past talking, Crew. You never fucking listened anyway, and because of that, I almost lost everything. Because of this little whore who couldn’t keep her legs shut, I’ve lost millions of dollars and months of time. I’m done waiting.”

Camilla’s gaze locks on mine, and she dips her head slightly, nodding toward the ground. It’s risky as hell, and that’s if she can throw him off balance to give me a clean shot, but I don’t see any other options right now.

“I love you,” she whispers so quietly I can’t hear the words, but I can make them out on her pale lips.

“I love you too, Little Menace,” I murmur a moment before she slams her head back into Charles’s.

He lets out a grunt of pain as Camilla throws herself toward the ground, giving me a clean shot of Charles.

But as I pull the trigger, there’s a second gunshot that fills the quiet night, and it’s not until Camilla’s cry follows it that I realize Charles shot her.

I rush toward them as they both drop to the ground. My instincts scream at me to get Camilla, but before I do, I kick both their guns away from Charles.

I drop to my knees beside her and drag her into my lap. She’s so fucking cold, her entire body trembling as pain overwhelms her.

“I’ve got you, Camilla,” I say softly. “I have you.”

“Crew,” she coughs, her eyes drooping closed for a moment before they flick back open and meet mine. “I love you.”

I press my eyes closed as my chest constricts so tight I can barely breathe through the pain. “I love you too, Cami. But you better not be trying to say goodbye to me right now.”

Tears fall against her cheeks, but I force myself to look down at the gunshot wound in her side. Blood pours from her, and I shift my hold on her, pressing both hands down on the small hole that’s caused so much damage.

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