65. Bishop
Iglance over at Kovu as he speaks to one of the fighters, and a rare smile tips up the corner of my lips. I remember when we first started putting things into place to create our roles in this city, how we took down anyone who opposed us and made it worth it to the five families to have us in place, and I remember Kovu being worried about his role. After all, his family used to tell him he was nothing, and despite the fact they were long dead, he still struggled to pull himself from that mindset.
But then the fight club was born, and he fucking thrived. Sure, he works in all the other facets of the business, but this is where he shines.
I turn my attention to my dad. He’s putting on a brave face, but I can see how much pain he’s in. If we could have got away with it, I would have agreed with Camilla and left the two of them home tonight, but that wasn’t an option.
Noah Thorne wanders over from his seat on the other side of the ring and drops into the vacant seat beside me. “Quite the statement you guys made tonight.”
I chuckle and turn to face him. “You know us, we don’t like to do things by half.”
“I’ll say.” He smirks and looks around. “Where is Camilla, anyway? I heard about Michael and Scott and wanted to pass on my condolences.”
I barely swallow the scoff that threatens. If he only knew that the car accident we fabricated never actually happened and they actually met their end at the mercy of one of Kovu’s knives. “I can assure you, she’s not losing any sleep over the loss.”
“Not surprising, but pass on my regards anyway.”
I nod and watch as Noah walks back to his father, only stopping to say a brief hello to Kovu.
I look over my shoulder at the hallway and frown. Camilla and Kaos have been missing for longer than I would like, and while it’s very likely he’s fucking her in Kovu’s office, I don’t like it when she’s out of my sight after everything that’s happened in the last month.
“She’s fine, Bishop,” Crew says. “Kaos messaged me before, he needed to scratch an itch.”
A growl escapes my throat, which only makes my father laugh. We all agreed to give her some time to get over her concussion and the bruising that seemed to cover half her body after the attack, but I guess Kaos decided to go rogue.
“She needed something to take the edge off. She was basically vibrating with need before she went to the bathroom.”
I glare at him, but realize he’s right. She was more agitated than normal, and if a quick fuck in Kovu’s office is what gets her through the night, then I guess we have to get on board.
I open my mouth to respond, but before I can, there’s a scream that tears through the warehouse, and I shoot to my feet, looking around for the person, but instead I’m faced with dark smoke at the entrance to the warehouse.
For just a moment, panic washes over me, and I’m rooted in place, unable to move despite needing to jump into action.
People yell around me, and there’s pushing and shoving as they retreat from the flames that are beginning to lick up the wall and over the door.
Camilla.
I turn to Crew at the same time Kovu rushes toward us. “Where the fuck are they?” he barks.
“They were in your office last time Kaos checked in.” Crew frowns down at his phone at the same time someone slams into him and he grunts in pain.
“We need to get out of here,” I say, looking at each of the exit points to find our best bet of not getting trampled.
“Not without Camilla,” Kovu snaps, and then he’s off, sprinting toward the hallway and shoving past anyone that gets in his way.
I turn to Crew, who looks almost as panicked as I feel because there’s something we always agreed to never do in a situation like this.
Split up.
And that’s exactly what we’ve done.