Chapter 237: The Note
Chapter 237: The Note
Adriano
I can feel Camilla's absence as though it had placed an actual physical hole in my heart. We would let her leave but she was still gone now, she was gone and I couldn't handle it.
"Send the twins out to keep an eye on her. She will not be leaving Kumon City again." I said to Gregorio, the man who had stood upstairs silently as he watched Camilla get into one of our limousines. It has been ten minutes since she left and he still hasn't moved.
He never gave me any sort of indication that he heard me but I know he did. I also knew there was likely plenty he had to say to both Domenico and I about our interactions with her but wouldn't speak until Harper was out of hearing range. The amount of adoration my little niece has for Camilla was something not a single one of us had expected, however yet again, there also isn't a single person who could blame her.
The woman who stood before us only minutes ago was a firecracker within every part of her, so much pent up emotions going off in sparks the second someone was brave enough to set it off. Her rage, her fire and her fight, it was beautiful even with the obvious pain and sadness that came flooding with it.
"Uncle Adi?" Harper called my name on that cute little voice of hers, pulling my attention to the fact she was right in front of me, hesitantly tugging at her knee of my pants.
A softer smile appeared on my face as I visibly relaxed at the sight of her, knowing she was back and truly safe. Her big bright eyes blink up at me as though she can sense the tension traveling through my body but when I bend and sweep her up into my arms, she giggles like all is forgotten. If only that were true.
"Lunch, right?" I smiled, carrying her over to the kitchen and plopping her gently down on the countertop that has remained untouched for months now. While it was still clean, the passion to cook had kind of left me.
But still, I had my niece's best attempt at a grin as I rested my hand on the granite. Gregorio and Domenico joined us once they finished with what I had told them to do.
"What do you feel like eating, Harper?" I asked only once. I am sure she is not going to try and jump straight off the counter, leaving to open the fridge to look at what we have.
I was doing anything I could to take my mind off everything that was happening around me because while I know how to put up a pretty damn good front to the world, what no one seems to realize is how much I am falling apart on the inside. That is, with the exception of the two men who always seem to remain in my life even when we were pissed at each other in the ways we are now.
"I miss her," Harper said quietly instead, not answering my question but offering something so much more honest. Something all four of us felt.
"I know, baby." I whispered, grabbing some lettuce and chicken from the fridge to make her quick sandwich with.
I needed to keep my hands busy somehow to hide the small shake I couldn't manage to suppress.
"We all miss her." Gregorio said, grabbing her hand and offering it a light squeeze.
She may have just been a child and couldn't fully understand the emotion in his voice but I could. Gregorio was mad at Domenico and I right now even if he hasn't outright said it yet but I know the second Harpe isn't in the same room, there will be hell to deal with. We could worry about that later, though. Camilla may not be leaving the city right now but she is far gone.
The twins should already be on their way out and call me unfair but we all know where she is right now. The trackers in her coat pockets, shoes and bandages ensure all of that.
"Then why did you make her sad?" Harper asked, surprising us all a little as our eyes went to her.
Camilla had been smiling the entire time she was with her throughout this morning and while all of us could see the subtle tiredness in her eyes with each forced gesture, there is no way an eight years old child would pick up on that. But she did somehow, Harper's tone was as accusatory as it was curious and none of us expected that of her.
"What makes you say so, angel?" Domenico asked gently, putting down his phone which no doubt is open to a map of the roads our car is currently driving Camilla down.
Her newfound recklessness would get her killed in our territory and while we may disagree on a lot of things, that wouldn't be happening under our watch, never. However, I couldn't help but wonder about what makes Harper pose such a question without any reason that we know of to think that.
"Before I got sleepy at the bad man's house, she was crying while writing her note for you." She mumbled as though she was in trouble but our dumbfounded expressions weren't for her.
I hated how she called it the bad man's house and the fact that she had to panic in the first place but the only thing I could think of right now were final words. What note? There was one with her when we stripped her of all her weapons and while it was hard to imagine the burning fire I saw in her this morning to be the same person who would weep while writing to the people she seemed to despise.
Camilla has always been a fighter as much as she is a lover now, it is merely the reverse of what we saw before. If there was a letter out there that could tell us more about what is going on in her mind right now, I knew without a doubt that I needed to find it and that started with Harper.
"What note, baby?" Gregorio asked softly despite the desperation I can already hear lacing his voice. His eyes snapping to mine only once before resuming on the small girl before us.
"Do you remember what it looked like by any chance?" Gregorio asked again.
Is there anything she could tell us to bring her back the woman we still love even the defensive, infuriating, incredibly stubborn side of her that I knew were nothing more than shields. It felt like just yesterday when I was sitting by her side in that small hotel the night we first met, when she was sleeping and I couldn't resist brushing the strand of her beautiful soft hair away from her face. When I looked at her that night, even asleep, I remember seeing her layers. I saw her nightmares and I saw her.
Backing down from this challenge was not a possibility and I knew it was only a matter of time before she would come to us instead. I would ensure that.
"It was bright pink and she uses black pen." Harper said after a small pause, almost as though she was unsure of what she was saying.
"She told me that she was going to put me on the stair so you would know where to find me, that when I woke up, she wouldn't be there but you guys would." She added and shyly looked at each of us.
We could tell she was nervous and agree that she didn't deserve to be put on the spot like this. A single look from me told the other two that this was the end of conversation with Harper and Gregorio didn't say any more anyways. Instead, he placed a small kiss to the top of her head, squeezing her little hand in a silent thanks. We were all tense with worry, caught between wanting to run to find this note and terrified to even see what might be inside of it in the first place.
Gregorio moved first, though Domenico and I simply watched as he made over to the stairwell and began looking not just in curiosity but desperation.
"Uncle Adi?" Harper's little voice caused my head to turn towards her, my expression once again softening at the remembrance that she was here, she was safe. At least we had that.
"Lunch, right? Sorry, baby." I gave her my best smile over my panic as I turned to continue with her sandwich, just for her small hand to grip onto my wrist so I couldn't leave.
My eyebrow raised slightly as I turned back towards her, checking to make sure she was okay but only finding a cute little grin across her face.
"I want to go watch Sofia The First now if that is okay. Put me down, please." She smiles as her arms extend outwards to me, her hands opening and closing as if demanding for me to help her from the counter.
Just as I heard Gregorio murmured the word 'fuck', Harpe decided to jump from the counter as though it wasn't nearly double her height, myself muttering my own curse as I grab onto her at last second and gently placing down the giggling girl.
"Thanks, Adi." She whispered as she planted a quick kiss to my cheek and with my body still bent down from saving her, she darted off down the hall.
All I could do was look at her for not more than ten seconds before she was gone, running to her toy room on this floor. I have no doubt what that just was though.
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