Chapter 229: We Have All Furious
Chapter 229: We Were All Furious
Camilla
"Camilla?" Louise's steady voice draws my attention back to where she stood, stopping me from just leaving like I would hope to.
When I turned around, Harper asleep in my arms, I met the all too familiar eyes of their mother, something that looked suspiciously like concern in her expression, it was sadness. Leaning back against the desk behind her, her knuckles went white as she gripped around the wood, looking at me like there was actually something out there that was capable of gnawing away at her perfect persona.
"I only ask one price of you in exchange for all of this." She said, my back going rigid as I debated the risk of being in debt to a woman like her but I would do it.
Even without knowing what she wants, even as much as I hate to admit it, I can't get Haper safe without her help. The sigh that left her mouth, though, was like a mask being removed from not just her face but her entire being. The next time her eyes met mine, there was a vulnerability that ran so deep and it left me stunned.
"If you see my sons again, if the right time arises and they learn that I am alive. Tell them that they will always have a mother who loves them. Tell them that even though everything in my life changed the day I died, my love for them was and is the only thing that will never die."
I was surprised to hear her say that but like I said, I don't have the time to process all these now. My time is running out and I can't miss this opportunity. I need to get Harper out of the god damn forsaken place, I need to get out of this place and I will never return ever again.
******
Lucas Brown POV.
"Boss, should I activate the lockdown protocols?" Garba looks at me in question but I don't return his glance. Instead, my eyes remained trained on the live footage on the screen before me, my daughter sneaking out of The Safe with a small girl in her arms.
Lousie may have gotten her on a plane but she remained unaware that I have spent some time learning about the blindspots in this institute. Apart from the windowless bathroom and bedrooms, I have every inch of this place locked down on cameras, hidden where people wouldn't bother to go looking. By now, I have risked too much to not have them in place.
"Send Jacob Pope out in the morning to follow her and be clear he understands that he is to remain as her backup only." I said, rubbing my hand across my jaw as the identity of the small girl swarms my head.
The problem is that I didn't know she was here in the first place, that meant whatever footage had been playing down the hallway where she was being kept remained in a continuous, hidden loop that I had been aware about.
"But, Boss. She is leaving…" Graba attempts to protest with the utmost disbelief but the one thing that has never changed about Camilla is that she is not a person to be chained.
I knew as I watched her slip out one of the back entrance doors, kissing the top of the small girl's head with affection that she was my daughter through and through. I would not stop her from doing what she wished even if the sight of her sneaking out made me want to drag her back here where I knew she could be safe all the more.
"My daughter will soon be exactly where she needs to be." I said, my stern, silent command not leaving any room for further argument.
Children should never get in the middle of work otherwise I never wouldn't have left Camilla as much as I did when she was growing up. Those years with her are ones I will never get back but she is alive. That is what was most important. Sometimes I still have to remind myself of that.
"Understood, Boss." He nodded despite the fact he clearly disagreed with the call. I didn't care what he thought, though, as long as he listened.
The Safe used to be the safest place in the world Camilla could remain in, hidden with no enemies to be able to get to her. That was before I realized that some of the villains lived right next door to me, under the very roof I provided them. Listening as Gaba leaves the room with his order, I watched as Camilla cradles the little girl protectively against her chest as though she didn't even want to risk the night being able to hurt her.
The footage was blurry but there was no mistaking the long messy braid of her hair, determination unforgivingly set in her eyes. She would become everything I had hoped for my daughter and so much more, I would not stop her in her flight to Kumon City and this time I would not require her return. The hard truth is that The Camorra Mafia has a mole and it turns out that my ex-wife brutal murder was not at the hands of Adriano Jaxson.
No matter the last year of hatred I have carried towards him for taking the only woman I have allowed myself to love, he was not responsible for her death. This recent realization was why I watched Camilla step onto the plane in the dead of night, just as the doors closed with the kind of finality I had no intention of fighting against.
Adriano Jaxson didn't kill Grace Ranger but someone else did. Now that I know this, only one question remains, one that changes everything.
What in the hell happens now?
******
Gregorio POV.
I can't let Domenico smoke, I can't let Adriano work. I need to find Camilla, I need to find Harper. I need to not break down and I need everything to just feel okay again.
My eyes protest just about as much as my body but I know that even a second spent sleeping is a second wasted. A second where Camilla could be hurting and Harper could….I can't even think about what might be happening to her right now. I can't stop until everything is put back together, not giving myself any other choice but to get everything back in line or risk breaking entirely.
All alone in this cold, empty house, my body almost jolted at the sound of the front door slamming, the sound of dragging footsteps echoing in my ears. Domenico and Adriano were home and considering nobody called out for me, I knew they had been unsuccessful all over again. And I, no matter how many times I replayed the footage of Harper screaming out, a large black figure pressing their hand to her mouth until she stopped fighting found no hints as to who took her.
My body was shaking as I stared at the video again and again, hearing her scream and knowing there was absolutely nothing I could do to stop it. For the third time in my life, I felt powerless and it felt as sharp as a knife being pierced through my chest.
"Greg," Adriano's strained voice spoke from my office door behind me, causing me to flinch away from the screen.
I wasn't surprised to see him all fucked up when I turned to face him my chair, seeing the creases across his forehead, marks of his constant stress.
"Don't punish yourself like that." He said, folding his arms across his chest as he leans against the doorframe.
But I have been punishing myself for Harper's disappearance because when Domenico can't speak his way through things and Adriano can't fight, I am supposed to be able to find things no one else can. What good is my job if I can't even use it to get to the things that truly matter? There is very little good left in this world.
"Don't talk like you haven't been either." I shot him down as I turned away from him, reminding him of where exactly those cuts across his cheeks and lip had come from.
The guilt of shooting Camilla, accident or not, has driven him into a fight he shouldn't have been creating in the first place. There is a new gash for Domenico to tend to every night that he comes home, pretending like he was just out for a bit of fun. We all knew what it was, though. We all grieved someone who was still alive and were terrified of the possibility of the same thing happening with Harper.
She is eight for fuck sake and she was taken while her parents were away from business. Harper being practically raised by housemaids had always been an issue with the man who was closer than family to me but this, them not being here while their daughter was kidnapped. It is fair to say we were all pissed. We were all furious.
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