Camila allowed him to move back a bit so he could see her face, but the moment he got a real good look at her, he froze, his fingers brushing against a metallic collar.
He tensed and looked at her face again. “What the fuck…” He glanced over at his brother, passed out on the floor, blood trickling from his nose and mouth and said, “I’m gonna fucking kill him.”
Camila threw herself into his arms and clung to him even more, her whimpers growing louder as she shuddered. She couldn’t believe he was there, and that it was over. She was afraid to believe it. Afraid that if she let go, he’d disappear and it would all be a dream and she’d be back tied in that bed, naked.
“Shh,” Samuel murmured, patting her hair. “I’m not leaving you, okay, sweetheart? I’m going to pick you up. We need to go outside. Okay, love?”
Camila was still for a second, then nodded. She buried her face into his neck, and clung to him, not wanting to let go.
She caught sight of Adrien getting up and retreating, stumbling further into the house out the corner of her eye, but didn’t pay him much attention as Samuel stood up, carrying her in his arms. She wrapped her legs around his hips as he stepped out of the house, just in time for the police to start swarming inside.
All she felt was relief that it was finally over. She was safe.
* * *
Samuel
Samuel didn’t spare a glance back as he walked around the outside of the house to the front. He was thankful that they’d had the forethought to have an ambulance on stand-by, so when they reached this farmhouse, the ambulance had come with them. It was parked behind the police cruisers.
Some of the cops were stationed outside, guns drawn, instead of going inside the house, but he paid them no mind as he continued past them toward the ambulance.
“Over here!” Samuel called out to the EMT’s.
Alerted to the bundle in his arms, the paramedics prepared for them by opening the back of the ambulance. One of the medics moved to take Camila off his hands, but she just clutched harder at him, and he ignored them as he continued moving toward the back of the ambulance.
Camila felt so light in his arms, too light, so it was no trouble pulling himself up inside the back of the ambulance with her.
“Sir, you can’t—”
Samuel sent a glare at the idiot who was talking, and they shut up immediately.
There was a bed on wheels in the small space, and Samuel coaxed her until she sat down on it. Then, he shrugged off his coat and wrapped it around her, because her body was shivering, before bringing her back into his arms. She buried her face in his chest and continued to cry.
“Shh, sweetheart,” he murmured again. “You’re safe now, Camila. You’re safe, love.”
He gently rocked her as he rubbed soothing circles into her back, occasionally carding his fingers through her hair, being careful of it as he remembered the rough way Adrien had been handling her. He could feel his expression freeze over, and was glad that she wasn’t looking up at him, because he didn’t want to scare her with his expression. His words were as much for her, as they were for himself, but now that he had her in his arms, he really wanted to try another hand at beating up his brother.
Let’s just leave that part to the police.
Surely, they had him now, and with how weak he’d looked, they shouldn’t have a hard time catching him.
Only, Samuel had thought that too soon. Behind them, in the farmhouse, he started hearing gun fire. Just like what happened in front of the mansion back then, only it was a bit louder now.
Camila startled with the noise, and he just hugged her even closer and shushed her, like he could bury her in his chest and she would be safe there.
“It’s okay, sweetheart, don’t worry. Let the police handle this, okay?”
Her body trembled, but she nodded against him.
Samuel frowned in the direction Adrien was engaging in a shootout with the police. Maybe he shouldn’t have let go of him when he had him in his hands. Or maybe he should have shot him, instead of beat the shit out of him, but he hadn’t wanted to get shot himself and couldn’t have just ignored Camila to make sure Adrien stayed down. He should have had someone follow after him to take care of his brother while he got Camila, but the police tended to be cautious, and he’d been too impatient to care.
He comforted himself, though. Adrien had no way to escape this time, and once they had him back in prison, he wouldn’t be able to escape again, because they’d keep an eye on him this time, he’d make damn sure of it.
“Samuel?”
He looked down at Camila. She had calmed down to sniffling, and he could feel the wet patch on his chest where she’d cried on him. He ran his hand through her hair again, and she glanced up at him. Tears were still there in her eyes, but she looked like she had calmed down a little.
“Samuel, there was a man… last night…I think… he tried to help me, and…” She spoke haltingly, trying to get the words out, but he could see her expression crumple.