Chapter Twenty-Four
Camila
How? How in the hell was Adrien here? Why the hell was Adrien here and how did he know where to even find us?
Camila wailed in her mind, but outwardly, she couldn’t even scream.
Not so for Brianna, who was the first to check who it was when they heard the door open. They were all in the kitchen just sitting down to a late dinner, after spending the evening swimming. They’d all gone to shower and change before making dinner together and by the time they’d reached the table it was after nine.
Brianna had been standing in the kitchen entryway, so it was only a few steps to the living room for her. She didn’t always make sounds, and hadn’t even attempted it since her last run in with Adrien, but she had been getting better. She wasn’t talking, but she was communicating again via text and signing.
So, when Camila heard the scream, she jumped up.
“Brianna!”
The others weren’t far behind her, but she still got there faster than everyone else.
She saw him. Immediately, she recognized him. He was a little different, dressed in a police uniform and with the cap on, but even with his slightly grown out hair and beard, she would recognize him. How could she not? He hadn't looked that much different at the farmhouse.
Somehow, he had found the safe-house. Just looking at him, she felt as if she couldn’t move. It was why he was able to get closer to her and grab her before she could even realize what was happening and try to save herself. She yelped when he yanked on her, dragging her backwards as her mom and Samuel showed up at the living room entrance, only to freeze when they saw who it was.
“Big brother,” Adrien said, sounding extremely happy. “And even little sister and some random woman who must be my mom-in-law. The family’s all complete, here!”
He’d turned Camila around so her back was to him, and she was seeing three horrified faces in her vision. Even Samuel and her mom, who she expected to be angry, had that same expression, and they were both looking at Adrien.
They didn’t have those expressions when he broke into the mansion.
Back then, they had both looked pissed, definitely, but horrified? Almost scared? No way. So, it made her wonder what they were seeing, and it only made her even more horrified herself. She made a small noise in the back of her throat, but it didn’t amount to anything.
In the back of her mind, everything that happened before played in a loop, with bits and pieces added from her nightmares, as if it wasn’t frightening enough. Some of them, she didn’t even remember actually happening, so they must be the nightmares she’d forgotten.
“What’s wrong, big brother?” Adrien said with a laugh. “You don’t look all that happy to see me! And sis, my, you do look wonderful. I did kinda hope that you didn’t make it after that fall, but…” he sighed. “You were just in the way and I shoved you out of it, so it doesn’t really matter, either way.”
“I hope you don’t think you’re getting out of here now that you’ve come here, Adrien,” Samuel snarled.
He was slowly regaining himself, his expression shifting to something hard. Yet, the worry he felt was still very plain for Camila to see.
No, really, what is it?
She got her answer a moment later when she heard something click. Then, something cold and hard was pressed to her temple. She jumped a little, and Adrien’s other hand, on her opposite shoulder, tightened a little.
“Whoa, there, Camila!” he chuckled. “If you do that, you might just startle me, and I’ll pull the trigger by total accident. None of us want that, right? Camila brains splatter all over the wall and carpet. That would be quite the mess, don’t you think?”
Camila watched as Samuel’s hands clenched, and his jaw tightened, the fear in his eyes deepening.
Ah,she realized. He has a gun.
She felt her body start to quake and her mind started to shut down.
“Now, Camila,” he murmured, getting right in her ear. “Isn’t this a familiar situation, huh? Oh, except then, it was Brianna that I was holding this way. I had to drag you because you were unconscious for that part. And that old woman over there—is she your mom?—she was the one to give me the bullet in my shoulder. Thanks for that, Mom. Did you know Camila tried her very best to poison me through that bullet wound? It didn’t work though, I’m all better now.”
He paused, but Camila didn’t say a thing; she couldn’t. She felt fucking petrified at the madness in Adrien’s voice, and she couldn’t even get her vocal chords to work.
Adrien chuckled. “Speaking of that, Camila, what you did wasn’t right, you know? Slowly poisoning me, and pretending you were helping me. Not nice at all. How did you even do it? You never moved away from me while you were changing my bandages for me…I’ll have to think up a very special punishment for that, won’t I?”
What pretend!she screamed in her mind. Of course I wouldn’t help you, you frigging jack-ass! I was your prisoner, not your newlywed wife!
It was a very small voice in her mind, though, one full of indignation that had made an appearance a lot while at the farmhouse. She swallowed, but didn’t try to say anything.