“Where are you going, Camila?”
The voice sounded right in her ear. It sounded like Adrien, and at the same time, like her father. She gave out a scream, but finally, her hand managed to push the door handle, and the door opened outside. She practically fell out as she took off running.
Where the hell is this!
Camila had lived in New York City all her life, but of course she’d been out of the city plenty of times, and not always for her job. She didn’t know where she was, though. Definitely not in the city, she looked to being the middle of nowhere, and beneath her feet, she could feel grass and dirt as she ran. Everything was dark, she didn’t even see a moon, and definitely nothing ahead.
“Camila!”
They’re gaining on me!
In that moment, even as she ran as fast as she could, her legs and arms pumping, she felt like she was running through sludge. No matter how fast she was, she was moving too slow, she could practically feel the two of them at her back, wanting to attack her and devour her alive.
No! Please!
Even though this had to be a dream, it was too damn vivid. She didn’t dare look back, but she wanted to close her eyes and pretend none of this was happening to her. If she just closed her eyes, it would go away. She didn’t need to put in so much effort. But she wasn’t sure, and she felt like she was fleeing right into her attackers arms even as she ran from them.
Tears were streaming down her face. Her throat itched, and her limbs strained with the effort to keep moving. With every step, there was the fear that she would lose her footing and fall, and get caught.
Someone, she cried out silently, desperately. Anyone. Please, help me!
Then, just when she thought it was over, there was light up ahead. Only, it wasn’t just light, but a person.
Her chest trembled, her eyes widened, and her body felt like it had gained new strength as she realized salvation was near.
It has to be him!
She could see him, right up ahead. Actually, all she saw was the back, but she knew instinctively that this would be the person to save her. Her hand outstretched, and she could swear she felt a warm wash of breath brush up against her neck, making her skin crawl.
Out of desperation, she pushed her body even harder and screamed out her savior’s name:
“Samuel!”
“Camila!”
He shouted her name back at her, and Camila came to, with Samuel holding onto her struggling body, trying his best not to hurt her or let her hurt herself. When she froze suddenly, so did he, then his hands gentled around her, one hand patting her hair, the other rubbing her back.
“Camila?” he tried again, his voice softer.
Slowly, she raised her head up, her mind slowly catching up. She really had been in the middle of a nightmare, but the feel of Samuel against her was warm, solid. Real.
I’m awake, she realized with relief.
In the next moment, she felt her eyes sting with tears as her throat closed up with the need to cry.
“Camila, would you please tell me what’s wrong?”
She hadn't noticed before, but she was paying more attention now, and she heard how strained Samuel’s voice was. She blinked up at him and saw his expression. He looked frantic, his expression a little strange, even his hands that were all over her, like he didn’t know how to comfort her but was trying his best.
“I’m sorry,” she whispered, her voice coming out hoarse.
Then she lost the fight with her tears, and her eyes quickly filled till the tears spilled down her cheeks. Samuel made a noise of frustration and worry, wrapping his arms around her and holding her close as he rocked her gently, nuzzling her hair.
Camila was gasping in breaths between sobs, but with Samuel soothing her, she calmed down quickly. The fear from her nightmare was long gone, and now, she could only feel embarrassed as she wiped her cheeks and hid her face in his chest.
He wasn’t having that, though, releasing her to cup her face between his hands so he could look in her eyes. A lamp in the room was on, giving a low light so they could see each other clearly. The rest of the room was still dark, but it didn’t make her feel afraid after that nightmare. Not with Samuel right next to her.
“Did you have a nightmare?” he asked, frowning. “Can you tell me what it was about?”
Camila sighed, then reluctantly admitted. “Your brother. And… my father.”
His expression was grim when she mentioned Adrien, but when she added her dad as well, he frowned, looking confused.
“Your father?”
She nodded slowly, then hesitated. If he had done research on her, like she’d done on him, it wouldn’t have been hard for him to find out. After her dad’s death, her mom reverted to her maiden name, and Camila’s name was changed accordingly. But it wasn’t like that was enough to hide the truth.
Camila had hoped to never have this conversation with Samuel, because she didn’t know how he would react, but if they were going to move forward, he was going to have to know about it.
“My dad… died when I was a kid,” she began.
“Oh,” he murmured. “I’m sorry.”
Camila snorted. “There’s no need for you to apologize, it’s not exactly a bad thing and he did deserve it. He wasn’t a good man. He abused my mom, and she would protect me from the abuse, too. Samuel… my dad didn’t just die, my mom killed him. To protect the two of us, because he was dangerous to both of us. I think it’s why she’s so wary of your family.”
“Because of Adrien,” he finished the thought for her, his jaw tightened.
Camila just watched him silently, but he didn’t even seem fazed, even though she’d just told him he had dined in his house, at his table with his sister present, with a killer.
When he did react, he pulled her back into a hug, and the move surprised her. Did he… really not care?
“I’m sorry that you and your mother had to go through that,” Samuel murmured, his voice tight. “But you’ll never have to worry about that with me around, especially not from my brother. I promise I’ll protect you, so no more nightmares, okay? No matter what happens, I’m here.”
Camila felt her eyes sting with tears again, only with gratitude and another emotion she was hesitant to name. She let out a shaky sigh as she let him comfort her.
When they fell asleep a second time, with her secured in his arms, there was no nightmare this time.
Chapter Nine
Getting her mom’s approval was difficult, but it wasn’t impossible. Seeing how happy her daughter was, Morganna couldn’t keep fighting against them, and she grumbled about them less.
Camila got to spend more time at Samuel’s place than ever before, and there were no more nightmares.
Their idyll life continued, and when she stopped to think about it, Camila still felt dazed from it, because it felt too good to be true. She went to work, went back home, went out with Samuel and Brianna, then back to their place. All of it went so smoothly that, when she really stopped to think, was kind of amazing.
Life was too blissful. But that didn’t mean it was without problems.
Adrien was still in prison, because he had been refused bail in his court hearing. He was still a part of the Kane family, which had a lot of money and influence behind it that even Samuel couldn’t stop. Adrien appealed his denial of bail, however, he was refused twice. He was still trying.
This bit worried Camila, but Samuel didn’t look worried at all, which made her think he had plans of his own in the motion that she wasn’t in on. She could allow him a few of his secrets, and she really didn’t want to know anyway, so she didn’t bother him about it.
She wanted to completely forget she’d ever had Adrien in her life. If only news of him would stop popping up every once in a while, everything would be perfect.
“You’ve been looking really happy these days,” Sandra at work said when she stopped by to collect her new project. “Your relationship with the new guy see
ms to be going well?”
“Oh, yeah,” she said, unconsciously smiling. “He’s actually waiting outside for me right now, which is why I’m in such a hurry,” she added, glaring at her boss who was doing his own thing and ignoring her standing right there.
Sandra chuckled as she went back to working on her computer. “Boss, cut her some slack. She’s been producing real good work recently, you know.”
“You still took a few days off without so much as a word,” he grumbled, finally looking at her, even though he was frowning.
“It was an emergency,” Camila said quickly. “I can't explain the specifics, but you know I’m serious about work. If you don’t have a project for me this week, I can come back later, though?”
She didn’t come here to engage in power plays with her boss, after all. She, Samuel and Brianna were going out to buy a few things, then they’d be going back to the mansion.
Her boss still looked unhappy, but he wasn’t an unreasonable person, so he gave her the new project and waved her away.
“You can work on it, finish, and send the work through email. Your next couple projects will be done online, too, so you won’t need to stop by here for the rest of the month.”
He acted all gruff, but Camila felt grateful, because she knew it was his way of giving her a break.
“Thanks, boss,” she chirped. “And don’t worry, you’ll get the work in record time and perfectly done.”
Just because she was in a relationship, didn’t mean she forgot about her work, after all. Though she had to admit, she’d done more writing work than anything lately, even though she was originally a photographer. Of course, she still took plenty of pictures when she and the Kane siblings went out, and as long as neither of them was in the picture and it wasn’t something she shouldn’t showcase, she’d sold a lot of photos, too.
He was probably doing this because of her article on Samuel, though. She didn’t keep up with the numbers, but she knew it still got plenty of visits every day, bringing traffic to the blog, which was why everyone was super-busy recently, taking advantage of the free publicity.
Camila left the office and headed out of the building. Parked against the curb was Samuel and Brianna in his car. The windows were, of course, tinted, or people passing by the streets would have seen and noticed him already. He wasn’t exactly a celebrity, but he was still pretty famous and made appearances on TV, and of course his face was all over the internet. Her article with his pictures was only one of many in existence, though her article was particularly popular because she had an up close, unguarded picture of him on it.
Actually, she’d been surprised when that passed with his people. It was the first picture she had taken of him when she first saw him, before he caught sight of her. There were several pictures like that from when he made public appearances, and a picture could be blown up, but hers was still one of the best out there. And of course, since then, she’d managed to take plenty more. But they were all only for her personal collection.
She opened the front passenger door and jumped inside, then turned to Samuel with a grin.
“So, where are we going today?”
Brianna leaned forward in between the seats eagerly, as if to remind the two of them that she was still there, and Samuel chuckled.
“Brianna let me know she wanted to go shopping for some dresses and other things today. I thought I might as well indulge her since I have the time off.”
His little sister stuck her tongue out at him for his wording, but her enjoyment didn’t seem to lessen at all.
A lot of girls around her age would be asking for the same thing. She was at the edge of becoming an adult, but was still a teenage girl. Only, for Brianna, this was progress. According to Samuel, she rarely ever asked for things, and she’d never cared about her appearance before. As long as her dresses were loose and long, she never cared what they looked like before and ignored anything else he ever bought for her.
She was acting like a girl her age, and when Camila shared a glance with Samuel, she could tell he was happy about it.
“We can get as many as you’d like,” he said to her, then turned to Camila. “You can come stay with us, or would you rather go home and get started on your work?”
“I’ll go with you guys, work can wait til later,” she said immediately, not willing to be left out of the fun.
Samuel had no complaints, throwing her a smile before he pulled the car out of park and they were on their way.
In the end, they spent most of the morning running around shopping, and they had to find a place to stop for lunch. They found a fast food place, and Camila was almost amused at how Brianna seemed to marvel at everything she saw. After eating, they went back to their shopping trip. Camila even bought a few things for herself, but refused when Samuel offered to pay for her.
They stopped at a small family diner to eat before heading back. As they ate, Samuel asked, “Do you want me to bring you home, or can you stay the night?”
Camila smiled. “Let me text Mom and let her know I’m staying with you.” She pulled out her phone and typed, Mom, I’m staying at Samuel’s tonight. I’ll be home sometime tomorrow.
After a moment, her phone dinged with a return text.
Stay safe, was all her mom had sent.
She didn’t complain, because this wasn’t a new thing. Camila had pretty much moved into the mansion, now. She even had clothes and other stuff stored away in Samuel’s room. The three of them, she, Brianna and Samuel were all much more relaxed with Adrien gone. They were building a life for themselves at the mansion.
When they arrived back at their house, Brianna immediately had some servants help her carry all the things she’d purchased back to her room to try on. Both Camila and Samuel watched her skip happily behind them.
“She looks really happy,” Camila murmured, following Samuel to the front parlor.
Neither of them was so tired they wanted to go to sleep, and with the weather growing cold out, it was just perfect for sitting near a relaxing fire.
“I’m happy that she’s happy,” Samuel said, sitting down and dragging her to sit beside him, holding her close to his side. “If she continues to improve like this, I might talk to her about trying out for college. She really needs to get out of the house more, and she needs to be around more people around her age, make more friends…”
“How did she handle school, by the way? Was she home schooled?”
“In a sense. She worked with private tutors, but even that was pretty limited because she didn’t trust strangers, so she ended up doing a lot of school online. I think if we take some time and try again, she’d be open to it.”
There was a bottle of wine chilling in a bucket on a stool beside the chair, and Camila wondered if he’d called ahead for this without her realizing. There were glasses as well, and the fire was already burning. They were just close enough, and yet far enough away for it to be comfortable. Samuel opened the bottle and poured some wine for them, and then they both relaxed and enjoyed each other’s presence.
Camila was thoughtful as she sipped her wine and leaned against Samuel. After a few minutes, she got the courage to say what was on her mind.
“Would you… say that I’m technically living here?” she asked, looking up at him.
Samuel met her gaze with a curious tilt of his head. “What do you mean? You do sort of live here now, and if you wanted to move in, I wouldn’t exactly mind.”
Camila felt her face warm up and ducked her head, a blush creeping up her cheeks. “I’m not getting ahead of myself, am I?”
Samuel chuckled, squeezing her close. “Of course not. I would have asked, but I didn’t know if you’d say yes.”
She sighed. “I just realized that over the past couple weeks I’ve only stopped by home three times and slept over there once. I also moved a lot of my stuff here because of that. But… I’m not really comfortable leaving my mom alone by herself. Ever since she… came out of prison… it�
��s only ever been the two of us.”
She had been feeling guilty about it, even as she reveled in her happiness with Samuel, and Brianna. She was practically abandoning her mom, after all, and after what she’d gone through to protect them both, Camila felt this wasn’t very fair to her.
“Would you like to move her in?” Samuel asked.
Camila turned wide eyes to him at the casual offer.
“I don’t mind if she comes to stay here too, and Brianna wouldn’t mind, either. It’s a big place, after all. Even with all the servants, we’re pretty used to it feeling empty. One more person wouldn’t make a difference, especially if it’s your mom.”
Camila blinked at him, dazed for a moment. When she came back to herself and opened her mouth to respond, she had to stop because her phone was ringing in her purse.
They both froze.
Samuel assessed her gaze, before picking up her purse and pulling the phone out. He answered the call and only listened for a bit before cutting the call, but Camila could tell from his stony expression who it was. Sure enough, Samuel made a call to report Adam had another burner phone sneaked into his cell.
“Why is he still trying?” Camila asked after he’d finished his call, mostly in frustration now, and not the fear from the first few times it happened. “How it he still trying? We report him every time! Or does nothing happen when we do?”
Samuel sighed and rubbed his forehead. “No, he gets in even more trouble every time. He might have actually managed to win his bail appeal if he hadn't done this in the first place. It’s not anything we need to worry about, though. At this point, he’s just acting desperate. Just ignore him, and he’ll stop eventually.”
They resumed the silence between them, but the atmosphere had been totally ruined. Camila wasn’t relaxed anymore. At least she still had Samuel beside her, but she couldn’t help feeling worried that things weren’t so simple as Samuel was making them out to be.
Tangled Obsession: Book 2 of the Obsession Trilogy Page 5
