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•CAMILLA•“Lucius?” I gasped when I went to my car outside the driveway and saw him. Approaching.I was meeting Onika at a restaurant at the mall. She wanted us to talk about their newly adopted baby, and I also wanted to clear my mind.“We need to talk, Camilla.”“Are you here to see Nico? He’s inside with Santino.”“I want to talk to you.”I sighed as he walked toward me, and I wondered what he wanted. I just saw him two days ago and thought things were good between us, and he could see Nico.“Is everything okay?” I asked.“Yeah,” he said, looking at me. “Yeah, everything’s okay. I wanted to see Nico.”“Yeah, you can go ahead. I must be somewhere.”“That’s okay. My mother and sister wanted to extend their apologies for what happened when you were in New York. They meant no disrespect and would like to start over.”“I’ll keep that in mind,” I nodded with a smile as I went to my car and drove away.I scoffed when I received a call from Lucius when I arrived at the mall, and I thought m
•SANTINO•The housekeepers screamed downstairs, running in different directions when they heard the gunshots.When I peeked from the balcony to see what was happening and who was invading my house, I swore when I saw Asher.“Where are you, Camilla?!” he exclaimed. “Come out and face me! You wanted to see me do this and end our war, so face me!”I hid behind the wall, slowly cocking my gun so it wouldn’t make a sound.I knew Asher didn’t like his sister, and disowned her when she didn’t want to tell me and her father to put Cecilia in charge of the Ross and Banks company, but to come and threaten to kill her was extreme.Camilla would protect her brothers with her life and wouldn’t wish them harm. She had always tried to please them and make them like her.But over the last few months, I watched her lose the little bond she had with the others and gravitate toward Sakai.“Are you coming out, you little whore?!” he screamed, laughing, and I knew I had to kill him.I descended quietly on
•CAMILLA•I sat by the window in the morning, watching as Santino directed delivery people about where to place the items in our nursery.He was doing everything he could to make me happy, though he didn’t quite believe that our baby would survive past the two-week period the doctors had stipulated.I barely touched my food. Drank, or did anything. I feared doing anything strenuous and eating anything that would not be good for the baby.I counted every move, every kick, and tracked all my symptoms for any changes.As long as I still woke up nauseous with heartburn, I was happy and could bear it.What I couldn’t bear is losing all those symptoms and my baby.“Camilla?” Naya called behind me, walking into my bedroom.I tilted my neck, and when I saw her walk in with a breakfast tray, I rolled my eyes and groaned.She knew I didn’t want food made by anyone. “What are you doing here, Naya?” I asked, getting up from the window couch.“I brought you breakfast. Dana told me you refused to e
•SAKAI•“I need to see you tomorrow morning. There’s something we need to talk about. It’s—” Paxton sighed on the phone. “It’s about Uncle Daniel.”I rolled my eyes as I sat in my chair in my office. “Something else again? You must come home, Paxton, and stop putting me on the spot. You know Asher is looking for you. If you resolve this with him, you and I will deal with whatever Uncle Daniel has done now.”“You don’t understand, Sakai. If I come home now, my life will be at risk, and you know that. Asher wouldn’t hesitate to do something to me. He blames me for losing his job and money. My life and Casey’s life are in danger.”I pondered what he had just said for a moment, and though I knew he was right, I didn’t want him to run all his life.At some point, he had to come home and make Asher understand that what he revealed about him was bound to happen at some point.“You will stay with me, and I’ll get you security guards to watch over you wherever you go. What do you say to that?”
•SAKAI•“The plan was to talk with Camilla and find out what she thought about the baby, Kai. I don’t want us to be the foster parents of the baby anymore,” Onika complained when the baby monitor woke us at 2 AM.I felt exhausted after a long day at work and didn’t want to stay up to feed and change the baby like I did the previous night.Onika and I agreed to change nights watching over the baby until she was older to have a proper sleeping schedule.We agreed to raise Noleen as we raised Charlotte. We didn’t want her to have a nanny either. That experience brought us closer to our baby, and we never regretted the sleepless nights.She didn’t have a problem until now.“Can it be your night today? You know I’ve been at work all day yesterday and need rest before working in the morning.”“Can we talk about what we are going to do about Noleen? I talked with Naya, and she told me they are home. I’ve done my part with Charlotte, and I don’t want to sacrifice my sleep for Cecilia’s baby.”
•LUCIUS•“Camilla and her baby are safe. Can you let me go now? My mother and brother must be worried about me, and I don’t want them to worry about me. My brother, Tyler, is very aggressive and might suspect something went wrong and come to find me and Francesca.”Enzo kept yapping at the back of my car. I didn’t know what to do to get him to stop whining. Santino was still in the hospital and told me to wait outside with Enzo because he had organized someone to pick him up.“You’ve been talking for the last ten minutes, aren’t you tired? Santino and I told you we won’t let you go until we’ve ensured that Camilla is safe. We told you we would take you home.”“Tyler won’t wait until you take me home when you want. If you let me go now, I’ll tell him that Francesca’s death was my fault, and that you arrived in the building when she was already dead. He won’t do anything to you.”I chuckled. “What would your brother do to me and Santino after you both kidnapped Camilla and put her life