Chapter Five
Camilla ~~~ The last forty-eight hours have been hell for me. My name had been on the lips of everyone. The media had been putting out the most outrageous news about me. I woke up this morning, deciding to block out any negativity. I showered and then went downstairs to eat my breakfast. Raffael came downstairs and sat at the other end of the table. “Good morning.” He said as he sat down. I didn’t give him a reply. I looked up at him and saw that the handprint from the slap I gave him was gone. Thank God. I wouldn’t know how to explain that to my grandfather. “Grandpa called, he wants us to go to his house after you meet with the shareholders,” I said. “How did you know I have a meeting with the shareholders?” He asked. I merely stared at him and ignored him. I was done with my food so I left the table and went back upstairs. I picked up the phone and texted Skye. I was really thankful for her. She was the only person I had apart from my grandfather and Raffael. I couldn’t possibly tell my grandfather about what was happening so Skyee was the only person I could talk to. She replied to my text immediately and then called me. “Hey.” “Hi. I’m on my way now.” “Ok. See you soon then.” She said and then hung up the phone. I picked up my bag and headed downstairs. We planned to go shopping today to take my mind off everything that was happening. I got in the back seat of the car. I usually didn’t go out with security but today I did. I don’t want to be attacked by some randos on the street. We drove to Skye’s house to pick her up first before heading to the city. We got to the mall and we put on our shades to avoid being recognized. We walked around the mall going to different stores. We went into the Dior store to pick out some bags. We were looking at the bags, checking them out. After a few minutes, we both decided on the bags we wanted. We paid and left the store. So far, we have made it without being noticed by anyone. We were on our way to another store when I spotted someone familiar. “Skye?” I called out softly. “Yeah?” “Look who it is,” I spoke up, pointing over in the direction of the person. She looked over to see. “Tori. What’s she doing here?” “I mean it’s a public space. We don’t own it.” “Yeah right. I have some things to say to her.” “Not here, Skye. Come on, let's go.” I dragged her along with me into the store. If I were to confront Tori in public, it would make it to the headlines. We moved around the aisles trying to pick out some clothes. Skye went into the fitting room to try on a dress so I could convince her to buy it. I sat down on one of the benches waiting for her to come out. While I was waiting, someone came and sat beside me even though there were many other benches to sit on. “How’s the divorce coming along?” I looked over at Tori who was seated beside me. She had a stupid smirk on her face. “Can you please move away? Find somewhere else to sit.” “Did you think nobody would recognize you in those ugly shades?” I wasn’t in the mood to exchange words with her. I wasn’t going to stoop to her level. I stood up trying to leave when she held my arm back to stop me from going. “Let go of me,” I warned. “Or what?” “Tori.” I gritted out “I just wanted to talk to you. Why are you leaving?” She said with a fake smile. The security came rushing to see what was happening. When she saw them, she let go of my hand immediately. “Pathetic bitch.” She said as she turned to leave. I pulled her back by her hand and slapped her. Hard. “Don’t you ever insult me? I won’t take that from you.” I said angrily. She had already taken my husband. What made her think she could disrespect me like that? At this time, Skye had come out from the fitting room and passersby were already noticing the commotion. She held her cheek in shock. “Did you just slap me?” “I’ll do it again if you don’t stay in your place.” She tried to hit me back but was stopped by the security. “Come on, Camilla, let’s leave,” Skye said, pulling me away. We went back into the fitting room so Skye could change back into her original outfit. We left immediately after. When we got in the car, the tears I’d been holding back came out rushing like a dam. “Oh, Cammy,” Skye cooed, pulling me closer to her. She wrapped her arms around me, rubbing my back. “Shhh. Don’t cry. She’s not worth it.” “It’s not her. It’s him.” I managed to say in between sniffles. “He’s the cause of all this.” “I know but you have to be strong. Don’t let them get to you.” I pulled away from her embrace. “He embarrassed me in front of thousands of people. Even if he wanted us to get divorced, he should have done it more respectfully and quietly. The whole world knows I’m married to a loser.” I said cleaning my tears. “You’re still going to stay with him?” “I don’t have a choice, Skye, I can’t let her win too.” The rest of the ride we drove in silence with my head on Skye’s lap. We dropped her off at home and then I went home to get ready to meet with my grandfather. Raffael wasn’t back yet so I took my time getting ready. I cried a little in the bath before wiping my tears and promising myself I wasn’t going to cry because of him again. After two hours, Raffael finally got home. He quickly got ready and we were on our way. I don’t speak to him the whole of the ride and I caught him giving me side glances. After a while, we finally got to the house.Chapter Seventy-ThreeCamilla’s POVI decided that Rory would stay home for the rest of the week. I was looking into other schools for her to transfer to. She couldn’t go to that school anymore, not after what had happened.I still hadn’t heard from Raphael after he left. Every minute, I said a prayer Im my heart for Jason. I also took a break from work for the whole week. I needed time to rest and think about what was going on my life.The investigation was still ongoing. Emily and the man she hired to kidnap Rory were awaiting trial. The news that she was arrested made it rounds. Everyone was aware that she had a hand in a kidnapping. However, they didn’t know who she kidnapped or why.The news that Jason and Mrs Edwards were in an accident was also going around barely 24 hours later. The cause of the accident was still unknown.I was in the living room watching TV when my phone rang. It was Raphael, I picked up immediately.“Hello, how is he?” I asked.“He’s in surgery. He’s gettin
Chapter Seventy-TwoRaphael’s POVQuite ironic wasn’t it? How quick things can change. Few hours ago I was enjoying a fun day with my daughter and now I was rushing back home because my son and mother were involved in an accident.We landed, and I dashed into the car, and we made our way to the hospital.I rushed into the waiting room and went to the receptionist. “Jason Edwards and Grace Edwards. They were brought in a few hours ago.”She looked through her computer and then directed me to the room they were in after asking some questions. I made my way there and I found Audrey waiting outside.“Audrey.” She ran to me and hugged me. “How’s Jason? How’s mum?” “Mum’s going to be fine. She had two broken bones and some injuries. She’s resting right now. But Jason is in the ICU. The accident affected him more. The doctors haven’t said anything yet.”“He’s going to be fine. I know that. Stop crying. Let me go and speak to the doctor.”I went to look for the doctor and told him who I was.
Chapter Seventy-OneCamilla’s POVThe next morning, it felt like a huge weight had been lifted off my shoulders. The air was lighter than usual and I felt like I could finally breathe.I went into the kitchen to make coffee to start my day. Rory and Raphael still hadn’t woken up. I drank my coffee and got started on making breakfast.A few minutes later, Raphael walked into the kitchen. “Good morning.” He greeted.“Good morning. There’s coffee if you want some.” I said.“Thank you.”“Rory’s still asleep?”“Yeah.”There was silence in the kitchen. Raphael was focused on his coffee while I was focused on making breakfast. Rory trudged into the kitchen a few minutes later.“Hey, sleepyhead. Good morning.” I said.“Good morning.”“How’d you sleep?”“Fine.” She said.“Go brush your teeth so you can have breakfast.” I said.“I’ll help her.” Raphael offered, and then both of them went away.I finished making breakfast and set the table for the three of us. I had given Martha some time off.
Chapter SeventyRaphael’s POVCamilla was furious after, but Alexander managed to calm her down. She was a thin line away from causing me major bodily harm. I understood her. My personal life had interfered with hers, causing trouble for her.What I didn’t understand was why and how Emily did what she did. I was still trying to wrap my head around everything. How did she find out about Camilla and her life back here in California?We all made our way to the station to give our statements. We spent about an hour in the station. They also asked Rory some questions about the man who took her. She said he was kind to her and that he gave her ice cream and let her watch TV.By the end of the night, they had managed to track down the guy who took her and confirmed the relationship between him and Emily. She was the one who hired him to do the kidnapping.The guy immediately confessed to everything. It kind of made me wonder why a hardcore criminal would confess to his crimes that easily. He
Chapter Sixty-NineCamilla’s POV‘I didn’t want to hurt your little girl before, but now you made me mad.’ That was the next message I received from that same number.I showed the message to Rapheal who then sent it to the PI. We also called the police to let them know that the person texted again. So far, it seemed like they weren’t after ransom or anything. They just wanted to hurt me and my daughter.“We’re running out of time, Raphael.”“We’re not. Trust me, they’re not going to do anything to her. They know better.”The police now had a breakthrough. With the help of the PI, they had managed to track the phone number, but what was weird was that the location was New York. There’s no way they flew with Rory to New York. That was impossible.The NYPD got involved and took care of finding the person behind the number in New York.They still focused on finding her here.After a while, we got a call. They had an idea where she was. I picked up the keys and dashed out of the house wit
Chapter Sixty-EightRaphael's POVI rounded up my work and set to leave the office. The driver was already going to pick Jason up so I didn’t have to worry about that. Emily was having dinner with us tonight so I called her to let her know I was off work.I drove to the house and after I had freshened up, Emily had arrived. She offered to cook for the dinner so she arrived early.I let her do the cooking and went to the living room to watch TV.After a few minutes, I got a call from Camilla. It took me by suprise. We hadn’t really spoken all week. I was trying to give her the space that she deserved.“Where are you?” She asked.“What?” I was taken aback by the question.“Where did you go with my daughter?” She asked again.“What? I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Was she drunk or?“What do you mean by you don’t know what Im talking about? The school said you came to pick Rory up.” “What? I'm in New York.”“Are you being serious?”“Yes. What happened?” I was starting to get wor
Chapter Sixty-SevenCamilla’s POVThe past week was just a rush of things. We moved out of our old house into a much safer house. We also hired private security just in case. I was thinking of changing schools for Rory but I just decided to let her continue going there. It’d be hard for her to adapt to a new environment.I spent almost all my time at work. I put in all the hours I’d taken off before. I met with Alexander one time and vented to him. He was a good friend, he reassured me and gave me words of encouragement to keep going. It was finally Friday and I was happy to spend the weekend in bed. I dropped Rory off at school and then went to work. I went to my office and got started on work. During my lunch break, I got a call from Alexander. “Hey. How are you doing?”“I’m fine. How are you?”“Good, good. How’s the new place?”“It’s alright. It’s a lot different than our old house and Rory’s a bit scared to sleep in her new room but she’ll come around.”“I know she will. Any ne
Chapter Sixty-SixRaphael's POVI sat down on the couch in defeat. I’d mange’s to make Camilla angry at me again. Every time we wanted to talk, I somehow always said the wrong thing and pushed her further away from me.It wasn’t my intent to shame her for her decisions when she was younger or make her think Aurora was something to be hidden. I’d fucked up, once again.The chairman who had followed behind her returned to the living room.“She’s leaving, tonight. She’s packing already.”“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to say all those things to her.”“But you did. You can’t seem to let go of the past, can’t you? You always bring that up in every conversation you guys have. She’s already apologized for that countless times. Why do you have to keep punishing her? She’s already going through enough.”“I know. I'm sorry but she took those years of my life. I can never get that back. You had a hand in that too.”“You know, you could have refused the marriage. But you didn’t, because of your father
Chapter Sixty-FiveCamilla’s POVI stormed out of the living room after I slapped Raphael. Normally I wouldn’t resort to violence but he riled me up so fast I didn’t know when I walked up to him and slapped him.How dare he? Shame me for being in love. And I thought we were already past that but if seemed we still had a lot to talk about.I went to my room and started packing up my things. I also went to Rory’s room to pack her bags. Whether he liked it or not, we were going to leave tonight.I didn’t know if I was angry with what he said because it was true or not. I wasn’t ashamed of my daughter, I could never be. I was only trying to protect her from the things I was exposed to. No child deserves to grow up under the limelight and scrutiny of the media. I was crying and I didn’t even know it. My eyes were clouded with tears and I could barely see. I sat down on the bed trying to calm myself down.I heard a knock on the door and I looked up to see a figure of my grandpa.“Are you o