“I cooked, but with everything, well I didn’t know if I should bring it out,” the woman commented. “Shall I warm some up for you? It’s just a chicken casserole.”
“Thank you, please.” Camila nodded.
Maria warmed a plate for her, and as she sat at the counter to eat, the rest of the staff scurried off to other parts of the house. “Don’t mind them, Miss. They are just worried.”
Camila nodded and began to eat. Even though she felt queasy, she ate most of what was on her plate, then took a drink of water. She smiled at Maria. “Thank you, it was very good.”
“Of course, Miss.”
Camila felt a little better, though her heart was still unsettled because she could hear the noise still coming from outside. How long have they kept this up? she wondered. How much longer can they keep it up?
It had been over an hour already. Sure, they weren’t always shooting, sometimes there was silence, and then the shooting started up again sometime later. She was surprised it had been this long and they still weren’t done. What about that back-up? Was she right in thinking Adrien had arranged that bank heist as a distraction for the police? To keep they away from Samuel’s estate?
Crap.
Camila knew Adrien was smart, and that he wasn’t exactly a good person, but she never would have thought he could orchestrate something like this. She wondered what he even gave those convicts to have them go up against the police with no hesitation. If it was money, it would have been a heck load of it, because wouldn’t you be running away and trying to hide after getting away from prison? And for them to put up this much of a fight, maybe there were really more than just four of them?
Done with her meal, she went back to the small parlor. She stopped just outside of it. Samuel was still pacing, one hand in his pocket, the other holding the phone. He kept turning his head toward the noise, as if he wanted to go see how things were holding up for himself, too, but he didn’t dare.
She stepped further into the room, only to stop. Her mom was still there, sitting back on the couch. Her head was tilted back, eyes half closed and hands folded over her stomach, but Camila knew she was the furthest thing from relaxed.
Brianna was nowhere to be found though, she noted with surprise.
When did she leave?
Admittedly, she hadn't been paying attention to what was happening inside the mansion with all the dangerous stuff going on outside. She knew Brianna was scared, but she hadn't gone to try and comfort her once. She felt guilty about it, now that she remembered. Briana had probably vanished into her room out of fear at some point.
Camila looked at the two in the room. Both her mom and Samuel wouldn’t need comforting from her. If anything, she would be the one getting reassured if she went back in there. But Brianna was off by herself again.
It had taken so much effort to pry the girl out of her shell, and Camila thought it would be a shame if she shoved her way back in because of this incident.
I should probably go find her,she thought, and decided, she headed for the stairs without alerting the other two in the room that she’d come back.
Besides, the further away she got from all the noise, the better. Brianna’s room was located toward the back, too, so she might hear the gunshots less and give her heart some time to relax.
She stopped in front of Brianna’s door and raised her hand to gently knock.
“Brianna?” she called. “It’s me, Camila. I’m coming in, okay?”
The last thing she wanted to do was to bother Brianna, so she waited a few seconds before opening the door. There was a muffled sound behind the door. It was odd, making her frown.
“Brianna?” she said once more, pushing the door slowly open.
Her eyes took in the room. She had been in it before several times, and she counted herself lucky that Brianna loved having her in her room often. Even Samuel wasn’t always invited, since to Brianna, this was her sanctuary.
Camila expected to find Brianna on her bed, or seated at her desk. She expected to find her alone. But to her horror, Adrien was there, holding Brianna hostage with an arm wrapped around her neck and a gun in his other hand.
How did he get in?
They were by the window, and when she caught sight of the trellis outside, she knew. He’d used not only the bank heist as a diversion to keep the rest of the police from showing up, but the entire gun fight had been a diversion to keep them in the house and the police distracted! Her heart beat erratically, her lungs squeezing all the air out of her.
Adrien must have had his eyes on the door, probably because she called out before opening. He met her gaze, and he grinned.
Camila couldn’t help it. She screamed.