59. Kovu
Idon’t like this.
I really don’t fucking like this.
It feels wrong.
It feels like a trap.
And knowing Davenport, it probably fucking is.
I pace the length of the van, my head ducking down so I don’t hit it on the roof.
Crew is in the front seat, his eyes darting around the quiet street, while Kaos and Bishop are in a sedan on the other side of the street.
“Can you stop that?” he snaps.
But I don’t bother responding. He knows I can’t. When I get agitated, the only way to bring me down is to hurt someone, and right now, I’m fresh out of options unless I want to kill the man who raised me. Which I don’t.
He sighs and turns to me, his mismatched eyes settling on me. “What’s going on?”
“It doesn’t feel right.”
Crew’s gaze moves back to the street, his eyes dragging over every car and building as if he can see something he didn’t before. The warehouses that line this street are quiet, but that’s almost never a good thing. Aside from the factory at the end of the road, there’s no activity at all, which probably wouldn’t seem strange if it weren’t for the fact that two of the five family heads are about to meet.
“What makes you say that?” he finally asks.
Before I have the chance to respond, a car parks in front of the warehouse two up from the one we’re in front of, and Davenport unfolds himself from the back seat.
He glances around but doesn’t pause before making his way toward the door, which swings open as soon as he reaches it. I can’t see the person who opens it, but I notice Bishop climb out of the car, closely followed by Kaos.
We managed to get a lock on the area where they were meeting, but we weren’t able to narrow it down to which building until they arrived.
They slip down a side street, and as soon as they’re out of view, my stomach rolls uncomfortably.
This is wrong.
I shove an earpiece into my ear and watch on the tracker as they round the building. Bishop goes for the back door, while Kaos makes his way to the side entrance we scoped out before they arrived.
“We should go in too,” I tell him.
“No.”
“Crew—”
“I said no,” he snaps, turning his stare on me. “You know we can’t all go in together. We have rules like this in place for a reason.”
He’s right. The risk of all four of us being in the field at the same time is too great. We would struggle if we lost any of us, but we’ve proven before that we can survive, and Caleb’s death only solidified the need for the rule.
I watch the markers as Kaos and Bishop move into the building and then flick my gaze to the screen showing Camilla at the complex. It’s the first time we’ve left her there on her own, but she hasn’t moved from her room, her arms are wrapped around her knees as she blindly watches the television. When we told her we were all leaving, I didn’t miss the worry etched into her brow.
I haven’t mentioned that I know Bishop took her this morning. They’ll tell us when they’re ready, and for one, I’m relieved. Of course I wanted to be her first. I wanted to see her blood coating my cock and to make her cry with pleasure and pain, but I’m also aware that my proclivities are not for the weak and probably aren’t appropriate for a first time.
I reach for my phone and shoot a text to her. We gave her a phone yesterday so she can communicate with us when we’re not around, and even though the phone is closely monitored, the smile that bloomed on her face at the trust we had in her made my cold, dead heart beat faster.
Little by little, she’s bringing us back to life.
Kovu: We’re all good, Little Lamb. Stop stressing.
I watch as her head snaps up, and she glares straight into the camera.
Camilla: Stop being a creep and get to work.
I chuckle and shove my phone back into my pocket before moving my attention back to the trackers.
Voices fill the van, and I finally park my ass on one of the chairs, knowing my loud as fuck footsteps will only distract us both when we need to hear everything that comes out of these fuckers’ mouths.
“Knight, I’m so glad you could join me.” Davenport’s voice grates on my nerves, and my fists tighten at the sound alone.
Christopher Knight is the oldest of the bosses and the closest to retirement, but I’m surprised he didn’t bring his heir with him. Greyson will take over for his father in the next few years, if the old asshole lasts that long. But then again, I know for a fact they differ in opinions about how the family should be run, so perhaps I shouldn’t be surprised Greyson is noticeably absent.
“What do you want, Davenport?” Christopher snaps, his tone flat and disinterested, but there has to be a reason he took this meeting.
“You know what I want. I want the Syndicate of the Legion gone. I want autonomy over my business and to be able to do whatever the fuck I want. I don’t want those four assholes dictating what we can and can’t do and continuing to chew into our profits while also limiting the business opportunities we can take up.”
Crew growls, and I snap my head up to look at him. His fists are clenched around the steering wheel, his gaze staring straight out the window.
When Davenport came to us last year asking to bring black market organs into the city as a new business, he was immediately shot down. We don’t want that shit here, but he couldn’t seem to grasp how dead people with missing organs showing up around New York was a potential problem. Probably because he’s a fucking idiot.
“And you think once they’re gone, you’ll be able to do whatever you want?”
“Don’t you want to be able to enjoy your last few years as the leader of your family with all the money you make staying in your pocket?”
There’s silence for a moment, and I hold my breath while I wait for his response. Whatever words come out of his mouth will be the difference between a war breaking out and not. We’re not going to go down without a fight, and if he thinks we will, he truly is as stupid as we think he is.
I glance down at the monitor with the trackers, and my eyes widen.
“Bishop’s tracker is down.”