Chapter 241: Don't Give Up On Her
Chapter 241: Don't Give Up On Her
Nancy
Based on the tension of Camilla's jaw, I can't help but wonder if she has already seen them. Yet again, I can't imagine under circumstances that Adriano, Domenico and Gregorio would let her out of their sight after the warpath they have set themselves upon this last year trying to find her.
"That is okay," I whispered as I let my own eyes close, bowing my forehead to fall against my propped knee.
"If you want, you could start by telling me where we have been?"
If only she knew how desperate that single statement was. When my eyes reopened in the long stretch of silence, I found her eyes already looking at me, sad and tired. So incredibly tired. There was a time where I almost thought she wasn't going to answer, a time where I prepared myself to simply be okay with the fact that Camilla was here and she was alive.
But then, her lips parted and a sob escaped past them, one I can tell she has been suppressing for quite possibly the entire stretch of her absence.
"It wasn't so bad," Camilla choked, her voice cracking painfully.
It was then that I realized I didn't need to hear the rest of what was going to say to know the truth. Whatever happened while she was gone was so much worse than what she was about to tell me because as much as I love her, the Camilla I remembered wouldn't be here right now. She won't be shaking so hard like she hadn't physically been allowed to only days before this and she wouldn't be seeking out comfort in my company.
If things weren't so bad, she would be with her men, the ones who have been going out of their every souls to find the only woman they have truly let themselves want. And above all else, she wouldn't be telling me being kidnapped and abused wasn't so bad.
By the time we were both all talked out, my lips felt numb from all of the truths that had been told. She told me about Harper, Adriano, Domenico and Gregorio but the one place she wouldn't tell me about was the abandoned mansion she apparently took shelter in for the last year, forced or not. She told me about a girl, Stella and she also told me about a step-brother. She has apparently only spoken to three out of ten occurrences in her time away.
During the span of when she was kidnapped, she told me sex, fighting and alcohol were her only escapes but apart from the obvious, she never told me what she was always needing to escape from. I got two names and Abu Dhabi as an explanation, the thousands of her unspoken words caged within the depth of her hard blue eyes. It was bad and whatever trauma she was trying to manage was making her distant and confused, Domenico and Adriano not fucking helping. She had told me about the handcuffs and them trying to mandate her choice and even though I saw their side of it more than she could, I can also see why she reacted in the way that she did.
Even if it was from a place of immense concern, they had no right to chain her up after all that she has been through. After all of the loneliness, it is obvious she has been forced to bear for far too long. When she spoke to me on my couch for hours, she had that same foggy look about her that she did when telling me about her stepfather, along with every other shitty part of her childhood. She had always been a fighter deep down inside and I think that is why she rejected my offer for her to move back in even when I assured her it would be no burden. In fact, the company would have been nice for me too. It is not like I have had Alice to spend time with, she fell out of love with me a long time ago apparently.
"I am sorry," she whispered as she stood hesitantly at my front door, the small box she had spent some time on clasped tightly between her fingers.
I don't want her to leave, I don't think she wanted to either and that was what was so confusing. Why did she always feel the need to leave? To distance herself? I truly couldn't figure it out but I also wasn't going to force her to stay here or speak about anything she wasn't ready for. I think that was what Domenico, Adriano and Gregorio's mistake was even if it wasn't done with ill intention.
"No more apologies." I said as I took a step towards her, going slow enough that she could move away if she didn't want my touch. She stayed still, though, wrapping her arms around me as she relaxed into my hold.
I felt her fingers against my back along with the rounded ends of her acrylic nails, something else that was new about her. I don't think it was to stop me from biting, though. I think it was because she was trying to cover them up.
"You need to call me whenever you get to wherever you are going, okay?" I said as I pulled back slightly, brushing against strands of her hair.
"Just let me know you are safe." I whispered, not as a demand but rather a pleading request.
The taxi waiting for her outside honked at its impatient arrival but she made no move to leave as her eyes met mine softly. They were ever so slightly red from the combination of her tears and tiredness, looking at me as though she wanted to stay. Minutes later, however, she left, off to whatever place she thought she could escape to for just a little longer.
In my hands was something from her, a box full of little trackers Domenico had thought he could hide on her earlier today. It was almost midnight by the time I finally managed to sit back down in my darkened, quiet house and once again alone and so very conflicted.
After the slight shock of our entire interaction wore off enough that I could think, I realized that I had a few options laid bare in front of me, options that could mess up a whole lot if I wasn't careful. The thing is that I knew Camilla a lot better than she thinks. I know something happened while she was gone to craft her into the woman who sat before me only a few minutes ago, something that I think she doesn't know how to cope with.
While Adriano shouldn't have shot at her father at that church after promising her he would never harm him, Camilla also shouldn't have felt such an inclination to take a bullet for her captor. One might think she did it out of sheer stupidity but I knew better. I know her and that is why I forced up all of the courage inside of me as I walked over to the phone, picking it up and dialing the only number I believe would be able to help.
I listened nervously as it rang for a couple of times, my heartbeat so loud that I could hear it in my ears. I waited and unsurprisingly after a few seconds I got an answer from a low, tired voice on the other side of the call.
"Nancy?" Gregorio groaned quietly as though I had just woken him from his sleep but what I had to say was more important anyways.
All three of them have been great to me during my breakup, the sounds of movement making me suspect that he was already getting ready to come over to help me. It was sweet but this also wasn't that kind of call.
"Don't give up on her." I said, listening as the line goes quiet as though he didn't already know Camilla had been here.
It was probably the clearness of my voice that had caught him off guard most.
"Gregorio, I need you to promise me that none of you will give up on her because Camilla won't talk and she has always talked to me."
I heard his inhale of breath as his hand stroked through his hair, likely tugging on the strands like he tends to do when he was stressed. I hated to put more weight on him when I know everything important has already been tossed on him recently but this was one thing I refused to budge on. Camilla was still in there even if it wasn't the exact same person she was before. Honestly, after the hell I can imagine she went through, I would be concerned if she was.
"You know we would never give up on her, Nancy. She is scared…"
"She is traumatized." I interrupted, needing someone to understand what had been so abundantly clear to me just by sitting with her for a few minutes. Scared didn't even come close to cutting it for her.
"Greg, I don't know what happened to her while she was gone but something bad has been happening for a year and she had nobody to talk to." I paused to let out a shaky exhale, marred by the tears already threatening to come out to play again.
"Please don't give up on her because I am serious when I say she views very little of what she has been through as the abuse it is. I don't know if it is Stockholm syndrome or something else entirely but Camilla is fighting to cope in whatever way she can." I paused again, forcing myself to breathe.
"Greg, she is my best friend but I also don't think I am the person who can really help her through this."
My words come to a slow as sadness overcomes me, grieving for everything my friend has been put through. Considering what happened to Harper in a day, I can't imagine what a year would do to a person broken into compliancy.
"Nancy," he called my name again, softly but a lot more clearly.
"I promise for as long as I live and then some, I will not give up on her. None of us will."
Good because a part of me worries that she has already given up on herself.
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