CAMILLA’S POV
It was exactly how it felt: garish, ice-cold, and full of pomposity.
Tom had his arm over me, some sort of prized possession he just had to show the world.
I glued a fake smile on my lips as we went into the ballroom and the moment heads turned.
Every inch of that room screamed money and power, something Tom desired most yet was the only thing I abhorred.
“Remember,” he whispered into my ear, his fingers digging into my waist, “speak only when spoken to. We would not want you saying something foolish.”
I nodded, trying to let the expression on my face be meek.
Inside, a war was going on, with the clutch that felt controlling, and the way he told me to do this and that, it was all so intolerable.
All the same, I knew I needed to play along, for the time being at least.
In a flash, Tom’s colleagues came towards us, a Murmuration of pinstriped men hooting with laughter at jokes that weren’t funny.
Lapping this up, lapping up praise and adoration.
“And this must be your lovely fiancée,” one said, those same eyes scraping me with his greasy smile.
“Yes,” Tom said proudly, pulling me close, “Camilla. She’s been my greatest asset.”
He regarded me as a possession, nothing more.
I smiled politely, trying to hope that the revulsion, which had been quickening inside of me, did not show.
With every one of his words, another chain sounded louder and louder, clenched tighter around my neck.
“Good evening, gentlemen,” I whispered, for that was what I was supposed to do; be polite, become the perfect fiancée.
“Tell them how proud you are, Camilla,” Tom ordered this time in a low commanding voice.
“I’m so, so proud of Tom,” I jerked out over the lump commencing to grow in my throat.
“He has done so much and he’s a very successful man.”
“Oh, damn right I am,” he boasted, his chest puffing out hilariously.
“And I will keep on doing it.”
After that, I tuned them out.
Their chatter became a hum of background noise as my gaze roamed the room, searching for some sort of distraction.
And then I saw him.
Dante.
My heart didn’t just skip a beat, it stopped, the air catching in my lungs.
He was here, in the same room, looking just as handsome and intense as I remembered.
But he wasn’t alone.
Standing beside him was a tall, poised woman who rivaled his confidence.
They were deep in discussion.
Dante didn’t even seem to notice me.
Not that I wanted him to.
***********
DANTE’S POV
Ella the logistics coordinator of my company had been saying something concerning the next shipment; but obviously, my head was somewhere else.
This was a sideshow.
I needed to close this deal as soon as possible and get back to my real priorities.
The information leak in my company turned out to be worse than I thought.
We haven’t found that spy yet, and I really couldn’t afford more setbacks.
Then there was Camilla.
Yet, with time, things started flying, and well, I did have a mess of my own to go through.
Her face keeps playing in my mind, that look of desperation in her eyes at that moment when she agreed upon this contract marriage, keeps haunting me.
“Come on, we really need to wrap this up, Ella,” I muttered to myself, scanning the room for the man we were supposed to meet.
“I know,” she replied, turning to me.
“But let’s not rush it. Mr. Harrington likes to take his time with these things.”
“I don’t have time,” I growled, a little harder than I meant to.
Ella raised an eyebrow but let it go.
She knew me well enough to understand when not to push it.
I’d had something else prepared to say, and then that unmistakable pull, I noticed eyes on me, a type of sensation hit me.
I quickly scanned the crowd and, for just that split second, could have sworn I saw Camilla.
But it couldn’t be.
She wouldn’t be here.
I forced myself to concentrate.
Camilla was a complication that, at this very moment, I really couldn’t afford.
She had her life, her choices.
I so desperately needed not to let emotions cloud my judgment.
I had to be sharp.
For her sake, mine and our son.”
Ella dug her elbow into my arm, yanking me out of my reverie.
“There he is.
I turned to see Mr.
Harrington come toward us, his hand extended in greeting.
I forced a polite smile, though my mind was elsewhere.
No.
I needed to settle down.
One deal and I could go.
“Mr. Draven,” he said to me, the firm handshake of a man who knew who I was.
“Pleasure to finally meet in person.”
“Likewise,” I stuttered, my voice tight, for pleasantries were a waste of time.
“Cut to the chase, then?”
*********
CAMILLA’S POV
He didn’t see me.
I stared hard at Dante, waited, and hoped he’d feel my presence the way I felt his.
But nothing.
His attention was fully on the woman next to him, Ella.
I felt something inside me crack.
I had met her once before when I was still working as Dante’s maid and she was his college lover he got married to in my first life after I got married to Tom.
And now I had come back in time, she was the reason I told him I wouldn’t come between him and the woman he would love but he was the one who came and proposed a contract marriage to me.
My expectations weren’t that we would be in a loving relationship but there was no point in me agreeing to marry him if he was just going to cheat on me with another woman.
How could he be so serene?
How could he be here, with her, when I was stuck in this nightmare?
I’d trusted him.
I’d counted on him to yank me out of this mess, to save me and Jasper.
But seeing him now, so unbothered, I knew one thing.
Dante wasn’t coming for me.
He had his life and priorities, and I wasn’t a part of that.
That promise he’d made were just words.
Empty, just like everything else in my life.
I should have known better.
I should have known no one was going to save me.
Not even Dante.
“Camilla,” Tom’s voice snapped me back to reality.
The fist that was clenching at my side sent my mind racing about the prison I was stuck in.
“You’re drifting. Stay focused.”
“I’m sorry,” I said suddenly, more aware of the hollowness in my voice.
Tom’s eyes darkened ominously.
“Let’s not have that again, understood?”
I nodded but wasn’t really listening anymore.
In my head, the tumblers were clicking into place now; the plan pieced itself together.
I needed to be gone.
I couldn’t count on Dante anymore.
If I wanted to be free, if I wanted to keep Jasper safe, then I needed to take matters into my own hands.
I can disappear.
Jasper and I can be off to another country.
I had to prepare things that would be enough, that would give us a head start, and by the time Tom knew we were missing, well, he’d never find us.
Yet, I needed to be cunning.
Careful.
Tom was ever ready to spring upon the first crack of disobedience; and that would have overtaken all.
But the longer this thought fermented in my brain, the fuller it was for me.
I couldn’t wait on Dante, and neither could I wait on any soul.
The night drugged on.
I wasn’t thinking about it anymore, no longer hearing most of what Tom was saying, barely feeling his hand on my back anymore as he introduced me to just one more associate; my mind had moved along to my means of retreat.
I’d wait until the wedding preparations were in full swing.
That’s when security would be at its weakest.
I’d take Jasper, the essentials, and disappear.
Maybe Mexico.
Maybe further.
Anywhere but here.
Standing there, smiling, nodding, playing my role, the decision firmed in my mind.
I was going to run.
And I was going to do it soon.
This time I wasn’t waiting for anyone to save me.
Time to save myself.