67. Camilla
CHAPTER SIXTY-SEVEN
CAMILLA
M y mask snaps into place as I slip into my seat between Crew and Bishop.
This is a big move, and the other families aren’t going to be happy about it. But I understand why I’m sitting here instead of beside Luca, who arrived a few seconds after we did.
He doesn’t question where I’m sitting as he takes his own seat on the side of the table closest to Bishop, while Kovu and Kaos take their places behind us.
Being surrounded by them like this has my stomach rolling with nerves for a whole other reason. Our relationship up to this point has been shrouded in danger and uncertainty. At every turn, we’ve faced a new opponent or a new adversity, and I can’t help but feel nervous about what happens when all this is over.
When Charles is overthrown and Knox takes his place.
When Caleb is dead.
When everything goes back to how it was before my father died.
Will they still want me like they do now?
Will they still want to protect me, even when it means facing questions from the other four families?
Will they want to go the distance?
They’re the questions I haven’t allowed myself to think too hard about among the chaos, but for some reason I can’t help but fall down the rabbit hole as we wait for everyone else to arrive.
Bishop’s hand comes down on my dress-covered thigh and squeezes. “Relax, love. You’re stressing.”
“And you’re not?” I challenge.
He stares at me for a moment before his lips quirk up in a smile. “Touché.”
Kovu leans over my shoulder and presses a kiss to my cheek. “Just think about all the filthy things I’m going to do to you tonight when we get home. I watched the little show you put on for Crew, and you better believe I’m tying you up tonight.”
“Promises, promises.” I laugh before snapping a neutral look back on my face. They’re too distracting, especially when they’re whispering filthy things in my ear.
Kovu steps back, and Christopher and Greyson Knight are the first to arrive. There’s a moment when I think they might say something about where I’m sitting, but then they take their seats without hesitation.
Miriam and Donovan Sterling are next to arrive, and I’m immediately afforded a glare from the former as she moves to sit beside Christopher on the right side of the table.
“Well isn’t this cozy?” she sneers.
“Unfortunately, after some recent threats, we have been forced to make some changes to how we usually run these meetings,” Crew explains.
“Is that why there’s a small army outside?” Donovan asks, his amber eyes falling on me before flicking back to Crew.
“Yes,” he replies simply.
Leroy and Noah Thorne are the next to arrive, and the latter gives me a small smile as they take their seats beside Luca.
Considering it’s his first meeting, he looks calm and collected, which I’m grateful for because at least one of us is. On the outside, I’m the cold Mafia queen I was brought up to be, but on the inside, I’m a fucking mess.
Charles is the last to arrive, with Knox on his heels, looking ready to kill someone. Which to be fair, that’s kind of just how he looks, but he seems extra homicidal today. I don’t have to wait for long to find out why as Caleb walks in behind him, calling for a symphony of gasps from those who didn’t know he was alive.
I swallow heavily at the sight of the man who almost killed us all just a few days ago, but I refuse to look weak in front of any of these vultures.
Knox remains standing while Charles and Caleb take their seats at the opposite end of the table from us.
Tense silence falls over the entire room, and I force myself to remain calm even as panic threatens to ravage my entire being.
We planned for this. Despite having as many men as both the Legion and myself could spare looking, we’ve been unable to find a trace of Caleb anywhere in the city, so it makes sense that he was with Davenport all along.
“Is someone going to explain what the fuck is going on?” Christopher demands, his voice strained as he looks from one end of the table to the other.
Charles opens his mouth to respond, but Crew gets in first. “You all would remember my brother, Caleb. Just like all of you, we were under the impression that he died three years ago. You can’t imagine how surprised we were when he put a hit out on Camilla and burned down the fight club. Turns out he’s been working with Davenport for some time to take the Syndicate down.”
Christopher’s eyebrows are comically high on his forehead as everyone at the table digests what they’ve just been told, and I take that moment to insert some more context.
“Last week, Charles and Caleb came to my office at Hills Global, traumatized my assistant, and threatened me, stating that I either assist them in dismantling the Syndicate, or they would continue their attempts on my life. As I’m sure you’re all aware, as per the bylaws, such threats are punishable by death.” I pause, taking a moment to look at each of the leaders and their heirs. “I would like to call on a vote to have both Charles Davenport and Caleb Black killed for their attempts on my life.”
There’s a moment of silence, immediately followed by shouting from all three sides of the table.
“You have no proof. It’s all hearsay,” Charles yells from the other end of the table.
“You can’t come in here demanding things like this. That’s not how the Syndicate works,” Miriam snaps.
A slow smile drags up the corners of my lips. “Actually, we do have proof. My office has cameras, including sound, so I have the whole interaction on video.”
“Plus, I can vouch for Caleb trying to kill not just Camilla, but every other member of the Syndicate as well,” Noah adds.
I force myself to hold Charles’s cold eyes because I refuse to back down from him. He wanted to make me weak. He wanted to show the families I wasn’t fit to be in my position because of something as stupid as my age, and now I’m going to take him down.
“Very well,” Crew says. “Before we vote, do you have anything to say for yourselves? Or does anyone have any questions?”
“How did you survive all these years without us knowing you were alive?” Miriam asks Caleb.
He chuckles and leans back in his seat, unaffected by the fact we’re about to vote on whether he dies today. It’s a wild card whether the other families will vote the way they should, but if they come for me again, I have every right to defend myself, and now that it’s been brought up in a meeting, there will be no repercussions if I am the one that kills them.
This is just a formality, regardless of the outcome.
“The details of what I’ve been up to for the last three years are not important,” Caleb says. “What I think is more appropriate for us to be voting on is whether the Syndicate should be dissolved altogether.”
“You don’t get a vote, seeing as you’re not part of the five families, nor are you part of the Syndicate.” Noah turns to face him, his cold, icy eyes falling on the man who has caused us so much pain for us all recently.
That earns him a glare from Caleb, but he doesn’t back down.
“This is going around in circles. What I want to know is why the two of you have made attempts on the life of a leader of the five families. You both know that’s against the bylaws, which means you’d want to have a good reason for your actions.” Christopher folds his arms over his chest and leans back in his seat, flicking his eyes to his Greyson before returning them to Charles at the other end of the table.
“As I’ve said in the past, I’m not happy with how things were handled after John De Marco was killed, and so I decided to take things into my own hands. For a while, I’ve been sick of following an outdated contract, and I’m certain you all are as well. There was a time when we had free run of the city to do as we pleased so long as we didn’t step on each other’s toes, and I propose we return to that model, making the Syndicate obsolete.”
“Correct me if I’m wrong, but wasn’t that also the time when we were at war more often than not because we were stepping on each other’s toes?” Donovan asks, earning him a glare from his mother.
“But we know better than that now. The tension between the families is at an all-time low, and we could continue to work together without needing someone to watch us like naughty children and take a quarter of all the money we make.”
“Says the man who was blowing up my phone earlier because Christopher underpaid you and you wanted to make sure I knew about it before our meeting today,” Crew points out.
I barely catch the laugh that tries to escape. If I wasn’t sitting in this room watching it all go down, I would think you were lying about how absurd this whole situation is.
Christopher turns his glare on Charles, who looks anywhere but at the man in question.
Oh, this is just too much fun.
“We’re getting off track,” Caleb barks.
“You’re right, we are. It’s obvious the Syndicate is still in place for a reason, and therefore we will not be voting on that today,” Bishop says. “In the coming months, we will discuss how we are going to move forward. However, that decision is not up for discussion this afternoon, and therefore all current bylaws are still in place.”
“You can’t?—”
“But I can,” Bishop snaps. “However, we are going to vote on whether the two of you can continue breathing the same air as the rest of us.”