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She also hired a caterer, and the servers are currently walking around with trays of hors d’oeuvres while everyone waits for dinner to start.

No one gets dinner until my girl shows up.

With so many Families, so many syndicates under one roof, the tension is palpable. But everyone is on their best behavior, especially with the journalists currently walking around interviewing and snapping pictures of the guests.

There have to be at least two hundred or more people in this place. With my height, I can see over the heads of nearlyeveryone, but I’m having a hard time locating E’s little whore friend, Flora. She should be here by now.

Especially since the public announcement is scheduled for fifteen minutes from now. I would have thought she would have planted herself directly beside the door. She’s always been a little protective of Everest and acts like a chihuahua when she thinks anyone is giving her best friend any grief.

Well, she probably thinks she’s a pit bull, but the girl can’t stand more than five foot two. If that. Without a weapon, I doubt the slip of a girl could do much damage to anyone, male or female.

What sucks is I’m actually a little worried, because there’s no chance in hell Flora would miss this. I’m tempted to put in a call with her father, but I don’t want to make him suspicious. Our families aren’t exactly friends.

Madd sidles up beside me, his three piece suit a charcoal gray. “Where’s Flora?” he asks.

“I was just wondering that,” I say. We both keep our voices low to avoid anyone passing by hearing our conversation.

“Should we put in a call to the Pakhan?”

As the last word leaves Maddox’s mouth, the man in question walks through the door, Flora on his arm.

Our nerves are raw. I’m not worried about myself. None of us are, but this is a big deal for Everest. This will be the first time she’ll see her father after he ordered her death. She’ll have the chance to look him directly in the eye.

I’ll make damn sure she’s protected if she wants to approach him, if she wants to get some shit off her chest. I sure as fuck have a few things I’d love to say to the cocksucker.

Then slit his throat after.

That will be Everest’s call. None of the three of us will kill him until we get the green light from her.

I’ll sure as fuck be first in line when that time comes, though. I want him to feel every second of pain she endured. I want to beat him until he begs for death, but I won’t let him die easily. Nah. I’ll let him heal up a little and start over again.

“She here yet?” Maddox asks.

I search the room and find Kato talking with the mayor. As if he feels my gaze, he glances over at me, and I raise my brows. He dips his head.

“She’s here,” I say.

The two of us take our time moving through the crowd, stopping when someone speaks to us, shaking hands with friends or allies, politely nodding our heads at those who would probably rather see us dead than attend this event.

But it would have been viewed as rude if they hadn’t attended without a damn good excuse.

By the time we make it to the door hiding Everest, Flora has found a seat at the table closest. She cocks one brow as we pass, but otherwise gives no other reaction.

Did she tell the Pakhan what was going to happen here tonight? Surely, he’d be interested in knowing one of his men attempted to kill his own daughter and lied to everyone about it. And not just any daughter, but the best friend of thePakhan’s daughter.

Guess I’ll get my answer soon enough.

The guard standing in front of the door steps out of the way as Madd and I approach.

Maddox is through the door first and I make sure it’s closed behind us. I don’t bother locking it. There’s someone on the other side to stop anyone who might get curious, and I sure as fuck won’t let anyone near my girl as long as my heart is still beating in my chest.

“Wow,” Madd breathes as I turn toward the room.

Everest is pacing the room, wringing her hands in front of her. I barely register the fact there’s an unknown woman dressed in a gown I’d seen in Everest’s closet.

No. The only thing I can focus on is how unbelievably beautiful my girl is. Kato told us he ordered her a different dress than the red one she ordered for herself, and he did good.

It’s long, with a train dragging the ground at the back and it looks so much like a wedding dress I have to blink a few times as my eyes start to burn with the threat of tears. No fucking way am I tearing up here, and definitely not in front of the woman I don’t know.