Chapter 223: We Are Your Family
Chapter 223: We Are Your Family
Camilla
"You are not dead"
I said the only thing I could think right now, no matter how stupidly obvious it may be. My tone was icy and my eyes were cold but Domenico's only change was a slight frown across his face. I forced myself not to cry as his fingers scooped down my jawline, his head tilting as he slowly pulled my hood down and away from my face.
He looked at me like he couldn't possibly imagine looking anywhere else and it had the power to drive me to my knees.
"No," he mumbled, pulling the long messy length of my braid out of my hood and over my left shoulder.
"I am not."
I swallowed as his fist carefully moved along the woven strand of my hair, no doubt noticing how much longer it had grown. I almost wished he had changed more, it would have maybe lessened the fact that all of the air was rapidly being sucked from the room. He hadn't changed, though. His hair was still the same color and curly, looking as soft and tempting as when I last saw him. His eyes were bright and his cheeks were sharp, concern displaying on his features and I hated it.
"Are you… are you hurt, darling?" He asked, moving to run his hands down along the sides of my arms. That was the line I knew I couldn't survive crossing.
Things with him.. with them had gone too far and I haven't forgotten all of the lies they have told me even though it was my father who physically kept me away.
"No," I whispered but it was weak like the way I placed my hands on his chest, gently moving him as far away from me as the tight space between us would allow.
I was nothing more than a fucking coward. I came from revenge and the only thing I wanted to do was cry with relief at the fact he is really truly alive. These past few days even though I have been telling myself he wasn't dead, there had always been that remaining weight of possibility. He was fine but we both knew he wasn't, I could see it just in the way he was looking at me right now, hurt by the rejection I had put between us.
"It is going to be okay, you know that right?" He said, holding up his hands but his step towards me was very different this time than last's. I had a wall pressed at my back and I was caught under his gaze.
"I need to go," I said, panic gripping my throat. The truth is that I was nowhere near as ready for this interaction as I needed to be.
His next step was as though I was a wounded animal and that is when I realized there was something black in his hand, a cloth.
"That can't happen, Camilla. I am sorry." He said and I know he is genuine despite the fact that my heart was racing now for an entirely new reason.
This was exactly like the first night we met, at the hotel in the city, at the hotel where he tried to knock me out this exact same way and failed. I was too stunned to move this time.
"Domenico, please. Just let me walk out and I swear I will get my father to stand down."
That is not what he did, though. I count the gunshots and shouts happening in the room just off the hallway, the clash of everything I couldn't bear to witness but it was silent here in this room. It was just me and him.
"No, I…."
Not just my words but also my breaths were cut off as he moved faster than I could process, my back being pressed against his chest with his large arm wrapping around me. A slight damp cloth was softly pressed against my nose and mouth and I knew the second I breathed in, my body would fade to unconsciousness. I understood why he couldn't let me go but could I really just give into this?
What hurts is that I wanted to, gosh did I want to just inhale the chloroform and give myself over to him but I held my breath instead. My mother was dead and it was the reason I was here. I couldn't forgot that.
"I am sorry, Camilla." He said against my ear, kissing the side of my head as his arms tightened around me.
"Please, I am so sorry but I need you to breathe for me."
I shifted on my feet as my fingers wrapped onto his wrist, my fake nails biting into the skin. All he did was hold me with a kind of care that killed me.
"We are not going to hurt you, I promise I will make this right, even if you hate me for it."
That didn't matter, though. One of them was painful but three, it would destroy me. I gave myself five seconds, five more moments to savor the warmth of his touch, the sound of his voice. I thought about his scent that I was already missing and the security of his arms around me. Five moments weren't nearly enough and coming here was a mistake.
Suddenly bending my body all the way forward to knock him off his balance, his hand slipped just enough that I could remove myself from his hold. I was slightly dizzy from the chemical I still managed to breathe in but it wasn't enough to knock me out like he had intended. I tried to reach out for the exit, however he was there first grabbing me and pinning me to the wall by my throat.
He got right up in front of me, using his hips to hold my lower body still. He was so close I could smell the minty exhale of his breath. He was done playing nice.
"You left us," he growled, his fingers flexing and tightening around my throat. Even though I knew how to break the hold, I didn't.
"Tell me what happened, darling because I woke up to shouting right after…"
Right after he kissed me on the balcony and told me there would never be a world where he wouldn't love me. The amount of time I replayed that memory in my head when I still let my pain control me, it was too much time to count.
"In case you haven't figured it out, I was kidnapped." I said, my pulse skyrocketing when one of his thighs became pressed in between my two.
I am not sure if he noticed the way it was but I sure as hell did. He had reduced me to a squirming mess on the inside and I didn't know what to think of the darker look in his eyes now that I have never seen on him before.
"Believe me, darling. We knew." He grumbled, making my mind recount all of the details and destruction I have heard about because of them.
"We have been tearing apart the world to get you back and we know you are somewhere in Abu Dhabi. What we don't know is why the only time we have heard from you is a fake death."
"What do you want from me, Domenico, huh?" I challenged, knowing that time was running out by the second for me to safely get out of here. They knew about Abu Dhabi?
"You wouldn't want me to run away from my family…"
"We were your family!" He yelled, his hand shaking around my throat as I swallowed down the pain for the both of us. Letting myself start to feel now just wasn't an option.
"You killed my mother!" I shoved against him, feeling every single emotion I have spent suppressing for this last year rise back to the surface. It hurt to admit but it was true.
"You three killed what we had with your lies and your secrets and it didn't matter how shitty my mother was, I still love. And Adriano had no right to take that from me."
His grip faltered as something different gripped his mind for that last part but it was a mistake on his part I couldn't not seize. The gunshots outside were still loud and defending and my chances of getting away were getting slimmer.
"What did Adri…." He began but I was already moving.
Holding firm to his wrist, I dipped under his arms as I twisted it back with me, shoving him into the shelves and grabbing one of the brooms in the process. I didn't give myself any form of goodbye as I ran out of the closet and by the time he had spun back around to look at me, the doors were already shutting.
I saw his horror right before there was a barrier between us, shoving the broom's pole straight through the two loops of handles to form a temporary kind of lock. By the time he could manage to break out, I was already gone.
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