Chapter 231: No More Running
Chapter 231: No More Running
Camilla
"Harper is upstairs." I managed to say, my voice dry as I shakily moved to get up on my feet.
"Second floor, fifth room on the left." I continue, shaking as all three of them remain unmoving and watching me with unrecognizable eyes.
"I gave her some medicine to knock her out for the flight over here but she won't be in pain. She is not hurt, not too much at least….."
"Camilla?" Adriano cuts me off, my feet taking me a step backwards as he and Gregorio stood up from the couch.
Gosh, I can't breathe. I couldn't read them as I felt the full weight of their joint presence on me, making me feel cornered like a rabbit caught in their trap. Staying away had been so much easier, the warning bell in my head urging me to…
"No more running." Adriano added, cutting off my thoughts and the two of them began to walk towards me as one, my heart racing and my vision blurring when they got close enough for me to smell them. Even their house remained the same, chillingly unchanging and welcoming and heartbreaking.
"No more…." A sharp inhale went through my nose as Adriano shot forward, striking like he knew I was about to bolt but wasn't going to let that happen.
A soft sound left my mouth as he came up behind me, wrapped one arm around my upper chest and the other around my stomach, locking me back to his body before I even got the chance to fight it. My arm screamed out in pain at the jarring motion but I was too focused on the fact that I couldn't get any air to my lungs. Gregorio appeared before me, yet remained just out of arm's reach.
I tried kicking and elbowing and scratching at Adriano as I bent to get away, my chest constricting from the inside out but I could stand his warmth. I didn't deserve a single ounce of what they were giving me even if I didn't know what it was exactly, I didn't care. Harper was safe and that was the only thing that was important. Now, I needed to get out.
"Let her go." Gregorio's hoarse voice demanded as he stood completely still in front of me, arms at his sides and an unmoving emotion around him.
Adriano didn't listen as I continued to try and jerk away, feeling everything like a panic attack that I didn't know how to fight off. Everything around me was a blur of colour and sounds, so much so that I hadn't even noticed Domenico had left. But still, I was too overwhelmed to care. Adriano's hands around me were too much and I was barely aware enough to notice that I was shaking as hard as a leaf.
"Adriano?" Gregorio called again, his tone one I have never heard from him before but it works. The weight around me suddenly released, however he was already ready for my pain.
I ran and Gregorio didn't care as he grabbed onto my arm and yanked my front against him, staring down at me as my hands slapped hard against his chest. He didn't even move at the weak attempt so I did it again. Curling my fingers into fists, I hit them at his front to shove him away, using my elbow and palms and nails. He didn't even flinch a single time as I fought against him, not as my hits grew weaker and weaker and not as the tears I have been holding back grew heavy enough that I could barely see anymore.
I don't know how long ago Gregorio's hands had left my body entirely, just letting me fight him for as long as I needed and it was then that I realized we both knew I wasn't going to get away. Not this time. After a long time, I stopped hitting him and instead just stepped back, only once.
My breath was heavy and my head was light but when Gregorio stepped into me, I didn't move away and when Adriano walked close enough that I could feel each deep rise and fall of his chest, Gregorio's fingers hooked under my chin and forced me to look up. I couldn't stop the tremble of my bottom lip. I felt so goddamn lost in this moment as his icy eyes stared down at mine, pinning me to my spot as I shook myself sick but then he turned my head away from him.
Pressing my cheek and his chest, he and Adriano stepped forward at the same time, wrapping their arms around me until I was cocooned inside of their touch. Everything stilled the second all three of our bodies came together, despite the way I shook as Adriano's head dipped down to my ear.
"Hug him back, Camilla." He whispered, not as a request but as a demand.
As my arms, bleeding and all lift to wrap around Gregorio, my legs buckle out from beneath me. I gave in and for the first time in one year, I stopped fighting. Everything around me quiets until I can only hear Adriano's relieved yet tired sign and Gregorio's shaky exhale. I can hear Domenico's footsteps descending down the stairs and each sound his shoes make across the marble flooring, each one getting closer and closer to me.
I didn't fight them as I was lowered to the floor and I didn't fight them as they lowered with me, never breaking contact with my body. Even as Gregorio and Adriano moved slightly over to my left side, they didn't let me go. It was like they are scared I will disappear the second that contact is broken and to be completely honest, I can't say I blame them.
The truth is that I ran. I may have been kidnapped but I had run like a coward and a fool and a hypocrite that didn't deserve the kindness they were offering right now. As I blinked up at Domenico, his large form moved to kneel before me, brushing my cheek before wrapping me in his heat too. I knew that it was I who had walked away from them, I had done what I had once begged Adriano not to do when he was falling apart.
I had demanded honesty from all three of them and hadn't given in return, hadn't granted them the consideration of hearing them out because I was terrified and stupid and selfish.
"Darling," Domenico's low voice drew me into him and I didn't stop the tears this time as they flowed freely, hot and aching. Proof that I had walked away.
"I am sorry," my words cracked along with the shards of my heart because even though Adriano had killed my mother, it only hurt as bad as it did as a result of the heavy love I have held for all three of them. The love I still painfully do.
I genuinely and truly hated myself as I sobbed into Gregorio's chest, my fingers bunching in the soft materials of his shirt as Domenico wiped my cheeks, no matter how many more tears continued to fall.
"I am really really sorry." I cried, breaking and letting myself succumb to every single emotion I have spent this last year running from.
I shook so hard I am pretty sure I would collapse if it weren't for their bodies keeping me up but they never let me go, not once.
"Shhhh, Camilla." Domenico soothed as Adriano kissed my head and I shivered under their touch.
"You are going to be okay, I promise." He continued and this was just like the funeral all over again, only this time, there was no escape.
Deposit my trembling, I held onto Gregorio's body like I needed him to breathe, letting my back lean against Adriano's front. I sensed the shift in the air at the same time Domenico took a soft, deep breath and shifted closer on his knees as he leaned in.
"Close your eyes." He whispered, giving me that little mercy as exhaustion tore away at my consciousness.
I listened to the gentle command even though I was well aware I didn't really have a choice in the matter either way. Letting my eyes flutter close, I didn't even realize how heavy they had been before I felt a gentle touch at my back. Adriano's hands slowly moved up and down my spine, I still shook but things felt lighter, only flinching slightly as Domenico's hand moved to hold me but the back of my neck. It didn't hurt but I knew why it was there, his thumb tracing circles along my skin as I heard him lean forward.
My mouth parted ever so slightly at the feather light brush of his lips against my eyelid closest to him, tears continuing to fall as he then moved to the other. I knew what was coming next as Gregorio's grip tightened around me just as I felt a sharp, quick pressure on my neck, a small sound coming from my mouth. In the next second, my body fell into a pool of unyielding darkness, my muscles going limp against the smell of pine and the warm caress of six brutally gentle hands.
I felt safe and free from all the weight that was on me.
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