She slammed through the front door, almost stumbling to the floor, then rounded and shoved the door closed, breathing heavily as she locked it, her whole body trembling.
“What the hell is with the racket!” her mom’s voice came muffled from behind her, growing clearer as she left her room. “Camila? What the hell happened?”
She whirled around to face her mom. Camila liked to think of herself as a perfectly independent adult that could take care of her own problems, but right then, she wanted her mom to wrap her arms around her and tell her everything would be okay like she was a little kid.
“Mom,” she gasped, voice sounding on the edge of a sob.
Her mom immediately looked worried. “Come here.”
She held her arms open, and Camila eagerly flew into them. With her mom’s arms wrapped around her in a hug, she finally gave into the need to cry. She could hear the other woman talking, trying to calm her down and find out what was wrong as she moved them to the couch. Camila couldn’t bring herself to say it, so she handed the phone to her mom to read for herself.
As her mom read over the messages, she buried her face into the other woman’s shoulder, body wracking in shivers as she slowly calmed down from her bout of crying. She could tell when her mom made it to the threatening messages, because her whole body went stiff. Then, a moment later she was pushing Camila away by the shoulders, looking intently at her face.
“Did he do anything to you?” she asked. “Camila, if he did anything to you, I swear I am going to…”
Camila shook her head before she could get the wrong idea.
“No. I only just saw the messages today. I haven’t actually seen him yet.”
Her mouth flattened, expression looking grim. “Camila, listen to me, and listen well. You are going to go to the police as soon as possible and get a protection order so this bastard thinks twice before coming after you. Unless his brother interferes, even if he’s rich, the police can still arrest him the moment he comes close to you, okay? No sane person does these sorts of things.”
Camila nodded her head rapidly, though she was a bit worried about Samuel. She didn’t think he would mind her protecting herself, but Adrien was still his brother. As if on cue, her phone vibrated with a message. Camila was apprehensive, but her mom read the message before handing the phone to her.
It was Samuel. They were supposed to be going out, and he was waiting for her downstairs. She looked to her mom, who nodded.
“Go to him. Best that he’s here. Talk to him and see how he wants to handle his brother. But the police order is a must, okay?” she added in warning.
“Okay, Mom,” Camila murmured.
She went to the bathroom to wash her face, before heading downstairs feeling subdued.
“Camila,” Samuel called when he saw her come out, moving closer to her. Then he noticed her expression and frowned, holding onto the tops of her arms. “Beautiful, what’s the matter?”
“I…got some messages from your brother,” she said hoarsely, seeing his frown deepen. “They…bothered me, I guess. Mom’s saying I need to get a protection order.”
She didn’t want to have to explain the whole thing, so she handed her phone to him, too, and let him read for himself. He went still, his hand tightening around her phone. He just stared for a long moment before he scrolled through the rest of them.
“Don’t worry about my brother, sweetheart,” Samuel said, his voice hard as he stared down at her phone. “I promise I’ll deal with it, however, you do need to go to the police as well.”
He wasn’t outright glaring, but his face was so cold it made her freeze, even though her chest warmed at the thought of his protection. He clearly didn’t plan on taking his brother’s side over hers.
“Thank you,” she whispered, her eyes blurring with tears once more.
She heard Samuel sigh, then he wrapped his arms around her and pulled her into another hug.
“Of course,” he whispered back, kissing her temple gently. “I will take care of you, Camila.” He brushed a lock of hair from her face, caressing her cheek. “And I’ll have another talk with my brother. More than just a talk. He isn’t going to get away with harassing you like this.” His face was grim, but she could see how much he cared for her in his eyes.
She no longer wanted to think about Adrien anymore. She was very much enjoying being in Samuel’s strong arms, and she snuggled into his hard chest, allowing him to protect her from anything and everything that wanted to harm her.