Chapter Eighteen
Camila
The next morning, after Camila was discharged from the hospital, her mom and Bri took a car back to the Kane mansion.
Camila and Samuel waved to them from the circular drive of the hospital as they left. She swallowed hard, as she watched them go. She knew she was safe in Samuel’s arms, but knowing her mom was leaving, and she wouldn’t see her for a while was making her shaky.
Samuel kissed her temple and held her. “It’s okay. We’ll be all right, sweetheart. I swear, I won’t let Adrien hurt you.”
Camila nodded.
He led her over to the black Mercedes that was parked at the curb, and helped her in. He leaned over her and strapped her in, and then shut the door. He went around to the driver’s side and climbed in. Starting the car, he pulled out and onto the road. They drove silently for a while, but Camila was curious.
“Where are we going?” she asked.
Samuel had been driving for a while, but she normally didn’t leave the city, so she had no idea where they were headed. Still, she was relaxed, leaning back with her head leaning on the headrest, rolled to the side so she could watch Samuel at the same time. She missed her mom already, and Brianna as well, but she loved that she got to have this again, with it just being the two of them.
“We’re going to stay at a safe house until this whole Adrien situation is cleared once and for all,” he replied, his voice hard. “With him still on the loose, no matter what condition he is in, I think it will be safest.”
Her brow furrowed. She knew Adrien wouldn’t give up, not if he was still alive. He’d be after her again, but… “What if he goes after my mom and Bri? Won’t that be a problem?”
“No need to worry about that. I have a whole team of ex-military looking after the house. I’m not trusting it to the police force. Not after last time. It’ll be a miracle if even my brother could get through the security there right now.”
“And this safe house…” Camila fretted. She sucked on her injured bottom lip, her hands twisting together in her lap.
“It’s family property, but I don’t believe Adrien would know where it is. My family has always been big on secrets. My parents kept things from us, things they shouldn’t have, things I should have been privy to as their heir, but I imagine that they hadn’t planned on dying before telling me. The family lawyer filled me in on almost everything because I was my parent’s heir. Thankfully so. Not that they would have left it to Adrien, if he were the first born. It still would have come to me. And if something happens to me, everything goes to Bri with our family lawyer as her trustee.” Samuel glanced at her and sighed. “My point is this property came to me via mom, we’ve never vacationed here, never been here for any reason. My lawyer informed me that my parents kept it as a safe house, in case it was needed and they and him are the only ones aware of it. We should be safe there until the police have him.”
Camila sighed, feeling relieved at that and let her eyes slip closed. Hearing the word safe was like a balm to her ears. She liked the sound of safe. And if she could recuperate away from her mother, then it would be better.
Morganna had done her best to hide it, but Camila would have been a bad daughter if she hadn't realized how worried her mom had been for her. She felt fine right now, and when she slept before her mind was quiet.
She would love for things to stay that way, but she knew it was impossible.
After all, this wasn’t the first time she had gone through something of this nature, although the thing with her dad had been different in plenty of ways, and she had been younger then, too. But, she had just suffered a traumatic experience. She had been having nightmares before and during the whole ordeal, so she didn’t doubt she was in for some unpleasant nights.
It was why she was glad to have Samuel with her. Before, when she was having a bad time, or even when it was just a bad dream, thinking of Samuel or picturing him there drove her nightmares away.
She could only hope his presence would keep her from feeling too restless.
“The place has been empty for years,” Samuel continued, likely to fill up the silence. “I had thought we might want to use it as a private getaway before this whole thing happened at the mansion with Adrien. So I had my lawyer set things up there for the first time in a long time. It has everything we could possibly need too, so we can stay there comfortably for weeks.”
Camila felt her lips quirk, thinking this was sounding a lot more like a vacation. And usually, she would be against having to stay inside for so long when she was an outdoors sort of person, but she definitely liked the idea of hiding behind impenetrable walls.
“How far until we get there?” she questioned.
“Just a little while,” he murmured. “You can go to sleep, sweetheart, if you’re feeling tired. I’ll wake you up once we’re there, okay?”
She opened her eyes, just in time to catch his gaze as he turned to throw a glance her way. Then, she nodded and let her eyes close once more, feeling exhaustion take her.
She was going to be okay.
Camila’s thoughts were carefree, just before she fell into a dreamless sleep.
A while later, they arrived at the safe house, and Samuel woke her up so she could go in. They took a quick look around, Samuel holding her around the waist to keep her steady, because she still felt a bit off balance.
“Is there something you’d like to do first?” Samuel offered. “Or would you rather just go to bed?”
She shook her head, nose wrinkling. “No. I don’t know when I last had a shower. I’m assuming this place has a bathroom.”