Chapter 2 - A King’s Retreat
|
Two years earlier, a bullet had severed Devan’s spinal cord during an ambush outside the harbor district.
He had survived seventeen hours of surgery, six months of rehabilitation, and three assassination attempts launched by rivals who mistook paralysis for surrender. He had killed every man who came for his territory, rebuilding his organization from a sterile hospital bed.
He had learned to transfer himself into a car, fire a weapon from his chair, and command a room before anyone could decide to pity him. But he had never found a way to stop people from looking at his legs first.
Today, Camilla had turned that look into a public execution.
Devan rotated his chair toward the congregation. The electric motor whispered through the heavy silence. Every face lifted, eyes wide and waiting for the fallout.
“It appears,” he said, his voice carrying easily beneath the cathedral dome, “that Miss Rossi has reconsidered the terms of our agreement.”
Camilla’s father, Don Rossi, went rigid in the front pew, his face flushed with feigned shock.
“The proposed merger between our families will be renegotiated.”
Devan adjusted the cuff of his black tuxedo, his expression unreadable.
“The reception, however, is fully catered. I paid an obscene amount for the caviar, and I expect every person in this church to attend long enough to eat it.”
A few nervous laughs broke and died instantly in the vast space.
Devan smiled without an ounce of warmth.
“Good afternoon.”
He drove down the center aisle alone. No one moved to help him. No one dared.
May you like
From the alcove near the choir stairs, Naya Walker watched him pass. She wore a white catering shirt, a black apron, and shoes that had begun cutting into her heels three hours earlier. A silver tray of untouched champagne flutes rested against her hip.
She did not know the names of the crime families seated in the cathedral, but she recognized pride when she saw it. She had learned long ago that sometimes dignity was nothing more than standing upright when the world wanted to see you bend.
