by Hart, Rye
But Camillo and I were also able to sneak away sometimes. Ana would be napping, and the boys would be playing video games, and he would take that time to show me other hidden features he’d peppered along the island. There was a rock cave with a stone rolled in front of it that had been converted into a dungeon. It had authentic chains and manacles he could use to strap me to the wall, so he could dispense his erotic torture to my body. There was a beautifully hidden waterfall, complete with a hidden passageway that dumped into a natural hot spring.
And on the walls that lined the hidden passageway, there were toys and blindfolds he could use before taking my body as the hot water engulfed us both.
Our sex had been adventurous and inventive. It had been fulfilling and wild. Camillo had introduced me to things I would’ve never dreamed existed, and I found my love for things like paddles and leather. Never in my life had I felt so satisfied and content, and for a little while, I was able to convince myself that this was real, and that we were happy, and safe, and in love.
But then, I got up one morning and heard Camillo on the phone again. I crept around the corner and stood there, pulling my robe close against my body while his fluid, sensual voice jolted me back into reality.
“Are the weapons I requested in place?” he asked.
I felt bile rising up in my throat as the sun slowly started to trickle up from beyond the horizon.
“Yes, it’s happening,” he said. “All you have to do is get them in their proper place. I’ll take it from there.”
Tears rose into my eyes as I pressed my back against the wall. How could I have been so stupid? How in the world did I fall for this again? How could I have convinced myself that we weren’t still in danger? Camillo was still who he was despite where we were. I heard Camillo hang up the phone before he strode around the corner, and I could tell I’d caught him off guard as his eyes descended onto my shaking body.
“How could I have been so stupid?” I asked breathlessly.
“What’s wrong, Rose?” he asked.
“What’s wrong?” I asked. “ Who the hell was that on the phone, Camillo? I allowed myself to fall into this fantasy you’ve painted for all of us, but enough is enough. You need to tell me what is going on.”
I saw a frown cross his face before he drew in a deep breath through his nose. He tried to take my hands, but I wrenched them away, pressing my quaking body deeper into the wall as he took a step back from me.
“I found the source of our issues,” he said. “They’re camped out in areas around my cabin back home.”
“So, what the hell are you going to do from here?” I asked.
“Nothing,” he said. “I’m leaving soon to go take care of it.”
“Wait, what? You’re… you’re leaving us here?”
“Yes. To resolve our issues, once and for all.”
“Stop being so cryptic, Camillo,” I said. “ Talk to me. Tell me what’s going on.”
“What do you want to know, Rose?” he asked.
“Who are these enemies? Why are they so dangerous?”
I could see the war raging behind his eyes. He was battling between telling me everything and keeping me in the dark. But I was done with the darkness, and I was done with the mystery. It was no longer fun, sexy, or intriguing.
I wanted answers, and I wanted them now.
“Come with me,” he said as he held out his hand.
He led me into his room before he locked the door behind us. He guided me toward the bed and sat me down, my hands encompassed by his while he sat next to me. I took deep breaths to try and still my body while his eyes searched mine, and then he drew a deep breath through his lips.
He was finally going to talk to me.
“You have to understand, Rose. It’s hard for me to say these things.”
“But you have to,” I said. “You can’t build a life worth anything around secrecy.”
That seemed to be the statement he needed that broke the dam of emotion behind his eyes.
“My father was a powerful man in Italy, but he had poor taste in friends. He built an empire in organized crime, but it ultimately led to the death of him and my mother.”
“Oh, my gosh,” I said breathlessly.
“My father vowed revenge, and that’s when he dragged me into things, training me to take over the family business. I never wanted this lifestyle for myself, but I couldn’t disobey my father. And after he and my mother were killed, my brother Lorenzo and I were left with a mess on our hands. I was good at what I did and I continued to do it because I didn’t know what else I was supposed to do.”
Tears poured down my cheeks as Camillo took in another deep breath. He had been born into a life that was full of violence and darkness and had never had a chance to really live in the light. As terrified as I was of his past and what it could mean for us, I was heartbroken for the man he never had the chance to become.
“Did these people also kill Junior’s parents?” I asked.
He nodded. “At first, all I wanted was revenge, but then I had Junior to think of and I couldn’t expose him to any more violence. That’s why I tried to leave the life behind, to make a new start for my nephew, and myself.”
“But your past just keeps coming back to haunt you,” I said quietly.
“Yes,” he said, nodding. “And now, they’ve tracked me down. I can’t outrun them anymore, so I’m going to have to stand and fight.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT – CAMILLO
The look on her face made me sick with shame and regret. Her expression changed from pity into anger, and the moment she slipped her hands from mine, I knew I was in danger of losing her. I wished I could have come to her clean, the way she had to me. I wished I could put back on that white suit and cleanse my soul for her taking. But I couldn’t. This was who I was. If killing these men was required to keep my daughter and the woman I loved safe, then I would do it without hesitation.
“You’re not going even try another way?” she asked. “At all?”
“There isn’t another way,” I said. “Not when you’re dealing with them. They are ruthless, and they’ve proven time and time again that they will take the lives of innocent women in order to prove their point. I will not let that happen to you or our daughter.”
I tried to reach out and dry her tears, but she moved away from me.
I couldn’t blame her. She was looking into the eyes of a killer. I’d tried to put these ways aside. I’d tried to forget the life I led before I uprooted my nephew and moved to Pennsylvania. I wanted to clean up my business and make it legitimate, casting out the people I knew were ruthless and keeping the people I knew would attempt to build something great with me.
Now it seemed that no matter what I’d hoped for, I could never be the man I wanted to be.
I wouldn’t allow my family to be at risk. Rose stared at me, her eyes wild with fear and fury, but it still didn’t prompt me to stop my plan. I was going to do whatever it took to keep them safe.
Even if it meant losing them in the process.
“I had a few rough years after my parents’ death,” I said. “ But after I realized the anger that consumed me would never truly go away, I worked to change. I took my inheritance and invested it into new ventures that have garnered me the wealth I now have today.”
I saw her swallow thickly, but she still wasn’t speaking.
Nor was she coming any closer.
“I wanted to clean up our family name. Pull us out from the depths of the crime syndicate we’d fallen into. I wanted to clean our money of any stench of impropriety, so I donated much of it to charities. But my family name still holds a lot of sway and implications of power. They want me gone because they don’t believe that I won’t come back and try to take back my territory.”
Rose drew in a shaky breath and it broke my heart.
“I can’t imagine how terrible your childhood must’ve been,” she said.
I turned my gaze to her while tears continued
to pour down her face. And then, she did the one thing I would’ve never expected her to do during this conversation, he launched herself at me and threw her arms around my neck.
I held her close in my arms, drawing her scent deep into my nostrils. She locked her legs around me, her hair covering my reddening face, and her lips grazed the shell of my ear. “I’m so sorry about your parents,” she said breathlessly.
“Thank you,” I said, whispering.
I buried my face into her neck, feeling her tears drench my skin. I kissed her skin repeatedly, memorizing the way it felt on my lips for the last time. I honestly had no idea if I was coming back from this endeavor, but I was willing to die if it meant keeping my family safe.
With every kiss I pressed into her skin, however, I felt her body stiffen in my lap.
“But you can’t keep using violence to solve your problems, Camillo. It just perpetuates the cycle. Don’t you see that?”
I pulled away from her and looked into her eyes, watching them silently beg me to come up with another way. But I knew what I had to do, no matter what she thought about it.
“I won’t allow our family to be in danger, or to live in fear,” I said. “No matter what happens, I’m going to deal with the problem, once and for all.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE – ROSE
Lightning cascaded through my veins the moment Camillo said, “our family.” All of the daydreaming and the luscious escapades at night had all amounted to those two powerful words flowing from his lips. I closed my eyes, memorizing the way those words sounded in his rugged, beautiful accent while his hands traveled up and down my back.
For a moment, I was able to allow those words to block out the truth of everything that was going on.
I clung to him tightly as we sat there on his bed. I could hear the boys stirring downstairs, the morning sun finally peeling their eyes open. I sighed into his shoulder. I didn’t want Camillo to go. I wanted him to stay here with us. I wanted someone else to deal with the violence if there had to be some. I didn’t want him to taint himself further with the one tactic that brought him to where he was sitting in the first place.
But when I raised my head from his neck and looked into his eyes, I knew he hadn’t changed his mind.
“You’re still going, aren’t you?” I asked.
“I have to, my beautiful songbird. I have no other choice.”
My spine shivered with his nickname for me. His fingers tucked a strand of loose hair behind my ear. I looked deep into his eyes, pinning him with my gaze.
“Then you have to make me a promise,” I said.
“Anything.”
“You have to promise to come back to us.”
He took in a deep breath and slowly let it out, staring into my eyes. A look of profound sadness crossed his handsome face and I felt my insides go cold.
“Rose, I cannot promise that,” he said. “I promised you I would keep you safe, no matter what that means for me.”
“Promise me,” I said again.
“I can’t.”
Tears rose to my eyes as Camillo pulled me into his body. I cried into the crook of his neck, taking in the scent of his cologne as my fingernails dug into his strong back. This man who took my virginity and gave me my daughter and showed me a world I could’ve never dreamt, had to come back to me. Because I loved him. Because I needed him. Because he was my family.
“I can promise you that I will try with everything that I am to make it back to you,” he finally said. “Will that do?”
He leaned toward me, his lips pressing lightly against mine. It was different from all the other times he’d kissed me. This one was soft and delicate, like lace. His lips slowly pressed into mine, and my arms threaded around his neck. Soon, I was being lifted off the bed while his hands rounded the globe of my ass.
I felt him sit me down onto the edge of his desk in the corner of his room. My tongue slowly explored the mouth I’d come to associate with sweetness.
I wrapped my legs around his waist, and his fingertips slowly pushed my robe off my shoulders. My bare body was glowing for him, and his eyes roamed my curves before he dipped down and took one of my nipples between his lips. I could feel his cock growing against my thigh, and wetness started to gather between my legs, but a knock at the door interrupted us.
“Camillo?”
Camillo groaned into my breast, pulling a moan from me that was tinged with a bit of laughter. He slid my robe back up onto my shoulders as Kevin knocked on the door again, trying to find his new best friend.
“He probably wants to play on the beach,” I said, grinning.
He kissed the tip of my nose before he helped me off the edge of his desk.
“To be continued,” he said, smirking.
“Anyone in there?” Kevin called out.
“Yeah, buddy,” Camillo said. “What’s up?”
“I was wondering if you wanted to play on the beach,” Kevin said.
“Is Junior up yet?” he asked.
“He’s getting his bathing suit on, but Cassie’s still drinking coffee.”
“Shocker,” I said, murmuring.
I went over to answer the door, and I could see the slight shock on Kevin’s face. His eyes bounced between us for a second as Camillo walked over to his closet, and I didn’t have to look back to see what he was doing.
He was pulling out his suitcase and getting ready to pack it.
“Camillo has to go tend to some business for a few days,” I said. “Is it okay if I take you guys to the beach?”
“Will he be back soon?” Kevin asked.
I looked back at Camillo, who was beginning to pack some of his clothes into the suitcase he’d sat on the bed.
“I’ll be back before you know it, and we’re gonna have a wonderful Christmas,” Camillo said.
“Awesome,” Kevin said, smiling. “Can we go to the beach now?”
“Have you eaten breakfast?” I asked.
“Do we need to?” he asked.
“Yes,” I said. “Go downstairs and find something to eat for breakfast.”
“The chef should be in the kitchen, Kevin,” Camillo said. “Just tell him what you want, and he’ll whip it up.”
“Awesome. Thanks!”
I drew a deep breath through my nose before I turned to look back at Camillo. Then I stepped out and headed for Ana’s room. She was awake and playing in her bed, occupied with a toy I didn’t recognize. I shook my head as I plucked her from her crib, listening to her wonderful sounds as I carried her downstairs.
I didn’t even get Ana into her highchair at the table before Camillo came downstairs with his suitcase in hand.
“All right, you guys,” Camillo said. “Something’s come up at work. But don’t worry, I’ll be back in time for Christmas. You all can help yourselves to anything, but there’s one rule you have to obey.”
“What’s that?” Junior asked as he came around the corner.
“You all have to stay on the island,” he said.
“Oh, that’s easy,” Kevin said. “This place is dope.”
“Dope?” I asked.
“It was a phrase in one of our videogames,” Kevin said. “The main character called a car ‘dope.’ I think it means something’s awesome.”
“You’d be correct,” Cassie said.
I didn’t have to look around the house to tell Camillo had beefed up security. There were men walking along the beach out back, which told me they were probably scattered all along the island. The chef put a small plate of eggs and buttered toast in front of Ana as the boys sat down at the table, and I took the opportunity to escort Camillo to the front door.
I grabbed his lapels and looked up into his light blue eyes.
“Remember your promise,” I said.
“Always.”
He kissed me sweetly, like he had upstairs. His body stepped into me while his free arm wrapped around my back, and suddenly, I wanted all of him. His lips undulated against mine in a slow danc
e, and all I wanted him to do was press me against the wall and connect his body with mine.
But all I could do was pull away, smoothing my hands over his broad chest while I memorized every last bit of him I could.
“Please come back,” I said, whispering.
He dipped his lips to the shell of my ear, causing my eyes to flutter closed as I bit back a moan.
“I promise.”
And just like that, he was gone. I went back to the breakfast table and felt Cassie’s eyes on me the entire time, but I was determined to distract the boys. We ran around on the island and they didn’t seem to care about the men with guns strapped to their hips. Cassie stuck close to me, and I could tell her eyes were constantly scanning the tree lines. Over the next couple of days, I didn’t really sleep much. I tossed and turned, and eventually, I started sleeping in Camillo’s room just to breathe in his scent.
I tried calling him a few times, but he never answered, and he never called back.
I had a feeling he wouldn’t be able to communicate with me, but it didn’t stop me from being upset with him. The worry was eating me alive, and I cursed him for being reckless and for putting our family in this position. I was upset, frightened, and sick with anxiety. I could hardly eat, and I slept even less. Eventually, Cassie tried to intervene with sleeping pills she found who-knows-where.
But I waved her off. I needed to keep my wits about me, for the kids, for Cassie, and for Camillo, if he ever came back.
The boys continued to make memories, and Ana continued to enjoy running around in the surf . Every once in a while, Cassie would take the kids, and it would give me a chance to venture around the island. I stood in Camillo’s secret dungeon and fingered the chains he had once harnessed me in. I walked back and found the hidden waterfall, allowing myself to soak in the hot spring as tears fell down my face.
