Chapter 244: Our Approach Was Wrong
Chapter 244: Our Approach Was Wrong
Gregorio
I was laying on the couch with my arm draped heavily over my eyes for the first time in weeks when I heard the front door slam open, swinging closed as a short, very angry woman stormed inside. I could only take a moment to sit up before a box was being thrown against my chest, the lid flying off along with the scatter of smashed trackers against the couch.
"Domenico!" Susan fumed, her chest rising and falling angrily as though she were a bomb about to go off. I could tell she was furious just by the entirety of the five seconds she has been here.
"Susan, I need you to take a breath." I said as fire burned in her eyes, wanting to calm her mind before her old heart gave out on her for how quickly I am sure it was beating right now.
When that fire only grew darker, I was able to piece together exactly why she was here, also meaning the three of us were in for one hell of a lecture. Just like when we were stupid rebellious teenagers growing up, she was there to criticize us at the end of the day just as she would equally make sure we were all taken care of when it mattered. The pastries and food she sent over every Thursday even though we insisted we were eating just fine was her way of caring and right now was the other side of our relationship where she mothered us all until the sun went down.
"Take a breath?" She huffs, catching the sight of Domenico now at the top of the stairs, Adriano walking out from the gym on the lower level when he sees the fuming woman in front of me.
This was about to be bad and none of us tried to soften the blow as their eyes caught on the trackers I had begun to gather in my hand, putting them back in the small box almost robotically.
"Sit down," she ordered with no room for argument as she pointed to the couch I am currently on, Adriano wiping some of the sweat from his face and tugging on the shirt that had been loosely hanging over the railing.
"Camilla came to you?" Domenico asked before he even made it to the couch, concerned lacing in his voice at the question.
She didn't answer, though as she continued to point, waiting until all of us were sitting before she continued on the path she had started on when she first saw me. Adriano was sitting at my right and Domenico at my left and before they could even settle, her mouth was parting.
"Do I need to remind you boys of the promise I made as to what would happen if you ever hurt her?" She said, making us wince at the memory of the threat I was beginning to fear would become true.
Crossing my ankle over my opposite knee, I tried to relax so I could listen to what she had to say, information that was likely very important to hear despite the shaky start. We knew that Camilla was alive and living in some studio apartments about twenty minutes from here but that information has been relayed by the twins,not the trackers Domenico and I had placed on her. They had told us that they would not be our spies when Camilla was involved and that while they promised to protect her with their lives and I quote.
'If you three want to find out how she is doing, then grow a pair and go do it yourself.'
They really weren't wrong and now that things have settled just enough to think clearly, I can see that it was us who were acting inappropriately. We have been wrong this whole time but I also don't know what we were supposed to do now after everything that has changed. That is the problem with none of us being in a serious relationship previously because in the past, if we wanted something we would just claim it as our own. Camilla wasn't like that, though and that is what made the balance so hard between keeping her safe and keeping her happy.
She wanted to leave but while I can do everything in my power to ensure she is safe, I know she is not happy right now. If I genuinely thought she was, I would let her go. That simply wasn't the case however once again putting us back to square one. What do we do?
"We know our approach wasn't right but what would you have done, Susan?" Adriano said, raising his head and speaking as the Don, not as my brother.
"Everyone in my mafia knows her face and is out looking for her, that also means all of our enemies know her face, close friends of Raphael who suspects his death wasn't natural like the way we portrayed it. What do you think some of them would do with her if they got her in their hands, huh?"
My arms crossed over my chest as Adriano related aspects of conversation we had over the more recent months, ones that have left us unspeaking to each other sometimes for days. It was a risk putting Camilla's name out there like that but having everyone, both good and bad looking for her gave us the greatest chance to finding her. It all led us to Dubai even if we have still been searching for the exact location of Lucas's hideout. What we do when we find it will have to be treated very carefully because while none of our hands are clean, we can't just wipe out the entire compound in one fell swoop.
There are children in there, men and women that are innocent people like Camilla. It was never an option but the alternative is also significantly more complicated. Like so many other problems in my life right now, I simply write off as we will cross that bridge when it comes.
"Right, so the alternative is handcuffing a claustrophobic girl to your headboard after knocking her out during the first time she has been outside in months?" Susan argues, looking like she was ready to grab the nearest object and throw that at us too.
I flinched at her words even though she was looking directly at Domenico and not me. We were all guilty but I also wasn't afraid to admit that we were also just scared.
"I know it wasn't the…." Domenico starts just to be abruptly cut off by a raise of a hand.
Even decades later, he instantly stills, listening to the woman who practically raised us.
"It is my turn to speak right now, boy." She said, obviously conflicted.
I wonder if she also knew Harper was still upstairs, all of us refusing to send her back to the place where she was in a house surrounded by hired help as her only company. That was no life for a child. She doesn't deserve that and no child of mine, biological or not should ever have to face that.
"Do you know who I got these from?" She asked rhetorically as her eyes darted to the box she had been tossed in my face only a moment ago
No one answered because we all knew there was only one place she could have gotten those from. Nancy's brief conversation with me still echoes through my mind when I think about Camilla and unfortunately for my focus, it is almost always.
"I went over to surprise Nancy with some freshly baked goods with the hopes to cheer her up from the obvious spiral she has been in these last few months, just to find her house clean." She said, walking slowly back and forth as though she needed to think.
"Clean," she said again, all of us knowing the fact that our friend has not been her usual tidy self in an incredibly long time.
Myself, I was painfully the opposite. I have sent our housekeepers away countless times with pay still, just so I could spend hours through the night cleaning and organizing and distracting. Just the scatter of those trackers pieces had my heart racing a little faster even though we knew when Camilla had smashed them.
"After a lot of prodding, she told me Camilla had escaped and then she had fallen apart in her arms and cried for hours. She said that it scared her that her friend wanted nothing to do with you three because that meant something was incredibly wrong. The only reason I didn't come straight here is because I had learned Camilla had gone to the coffee shop this morning, looking for me.
We hadn't known that. Things are usually equal between Domenico, Adriano and I and I spoke up right after Nancy had called me and told them we all need to back off with the control. I made them promise to give her space and privacy even though that meant we had to trust her to take care of herself.
The twins were there to help but as they blatantly stated, they were not our spies when it came to the strong-headed woman I was still painfully in love with.
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