Camila had a lot of questions, but she swallowed every single one of them back, even the ones she thought were reasonable.
“I won’t tell you where we are right now,” Adrien said, looking up and meeting her eyes. “But just know that we’re going to be here for a long time.”
Camila immediately opened her mouth, a question almost slipping out before she stopped, and shut her mouth.
Adrien arched an eyebrow at her, but he didn’t look annoyed or anything. “I wish I could have found a better place for us,” he said with a sigh. “I have several houses all over the country, actually, but we can't try any of them just yet. My brother knows about all them by now, I think. Knowing him, he would find us, and I don’t want that. This place is totally perfect, though. No one would think of looking for us here, and you can stay here and be my wife.”
Adrien smiled at her, looking totally pleased with himself, while Camila tried to hide her building horror. Just looking at his face, she would assume he was totally sane. The face he was showing her right then wasn’t so different from the face he’d given her while they were still seeing each other, but that had ended a long time ago already. With everything in between then and now, there was no way Camila would ever think of him the same way.
He didn’t actually think this would work, did he?
Still, Camila kept her mouth shut, because she couldn’t think of something smart to say.
Adrien wasn’t bothered that she still wasn’t speaking. Though his smile changed, from a smile to a grin that held a darker edge that sent a shock of fear down her spine.
“You will be my wife, Camila, and you will play your part to my satisfaction, or you will be punished, do you understand? Like what you tried earlier. Hurting me and running away are ways to get yourself punished. As long as you just listen to me, everything will be fine, okay?”
A rough sound escaped Camila’s throat. Far from just horrified, Camila was utterly disgusted with him. What the hell is wrong with him? Did he really just think she would go along with whatever he wanted without complaint? Well, he had a fucking shock collar on her so she had to, but dammit, he had to see something wrong with this!
Adrien just continued to look at her pleasantly, and she knew she didn’t have a choice. No matter what his face looked like, she didn’t think he would hesitate to dish out ‘punishment’ if she didn’t go along with him. She had to agree, if only for the sake of her plan and her continued survival. She couldn’t bring herself to say anything, still, so she just nodded. Adrien looked even more pleased, clearly finding that small acknowledgement enough.
It’s only for a short while,she thought, trying to pacify herself. It won’t be long, and he won’t make you do something bad.
She didn’t entirely believe that, though, internally worrying about what to do if he told her to have sex with him. She wasn’t sure she could go that far.
“Now, for the first act as my perfect wife, I want you to do something for me.”
Immediately, Camila went alert.
Adrien didn’t do anything, though, turning away from her again as he undid the front of his jacket. She saw him wince as he carefully pulled it off his injured shoulder. The fabric of the jacket was dark so she couldn’t notice the blood, but as he pulled it off, she heard a wet sound as the fabric pulled away from his skin, making her grimace. He didn’t have anything underneath it, either, so he must have pulled off the t-shirt she’d seen him in yesterday.
Was he wearing the jacket yesterday and that’s why the old woman didn’t notice he was injured? If she had, she might have been more weary of him. He only picked me up after he’d killed her, so maybe he discarded it afterwards?
She hadn't thought this much before, but now that she realized it, he must have covered himself up to escape this far. They might not have been out in the city but there should have been cameras somewhere along the way.
Come to think of it…
Camila thought of another possibility, one that seriously frightened her. Surely Samuel or the police would figure out where she was in not too long. She didn’t know how long Adrien planned to stay here, he was running from the law so they’d probably leave eventually, but someone would find her before then, right?
Just how much planning had Adrien put into this plan of his, anyway? Surely, he couldn’t have out-maneuvered the police force of New York City, right? Somehow, somewhere, there would be clues leading them to where she and Adrien were, and she would hopefully get rescued safely.
However… if Adrien was a lot smarter than she thought, what if they couldn’t find her?
Camila was a photographer, not a reporter. According to statistics, a lot of people went missing ever day in the city, but her blog didn’t deal with those sorts of stories, anyway, so all she heard about it was on the news. When a missing person’s case came up, if it was a kidnapping, there were probably statistics for how many people got saved, too, right? Camila didn’t remember if she’d ever heard it somewhere.
Would she be among the ones that the police couldn’t catch up to?
No!Don’t think like that. Someone will definitely come to get you.
She was scaring herself with those thoughts of despair, so she threw them away before they burned her. She had to believe she would get out of this, that Adrien had been careless, or underestimated the police or Samuel, and someone found a way to get to her. She realized her body was trembling again, and held her hands tightly together, hoping Adrien wouldn’t notice.
Now, she was even higher strung. She was worried about the slightest thing being annoying to him, so she sat there silently and tried to appear calm. Maybe, if she could trick him into thinking she wouldn’t fight against him, he would relax his guard around her quicker.
Camila could only hope.
“Hey,” Adrien said.
Camila jumped slightly, before mentally chastising herself. She couldn’t force on a smile, and if she tried it would probably come out as a grimace, so she just faced him quietly and waited to hear what he wanted.