CAMILLA’S POV
“Make sure you don’t do anything foolish, we can’t afford any Mistakes.”
Those words still echoed in my head as I slid through the darkness, Jasper clutched tight against my chest.
I was running, my heart racing in a marathon, but I dared not give in to fear.
It was now or never.
This was my only chance, and I had to be fast.
With every step we made an echo reverberated within the silence heavy with musty earth and tension.
We were almost there.
Almost free.
With every glance back, I half-expected the silhouette of Father or Tom to pop out from nowhere and sneak his way up to us.
But nothing stirred in that tunnel.
My heart was racing with every second spent; at the end of this hidden path lay freedom, freedom in its purest form for Jasper and me.
My fingers clutched his small hand.
I just couldn’t bear to lose him to that abominable place, to Father, to Tom.
We emerged onto the edge of the tunnel; the moonlight broke through the treetops.
My breath caught in my throat, my shaking hand covered in adrenaline, as I pushed the door open.
The driver I had hired sat waiting, just as he’d said he would.
Behind the wheel, he barely glanced over at me before his eyes refocused out onto the deserted road ahead.
No questions.
Just as I had asked him.
“Take me to the airport.”
Jasper whimpered softly in his sleep, and I gently rocked him, talking in hushed tones.
“Shh, sweetheart, we’re almost there. Just a little bit more and we are free.”.
He didn’t say anything, simply twisted the key in the ignition and really peeled away from the mansion as if his life depended on it.
I had my eyes glued to the back mirror until it fell out of view.
Only then could I play a small, triumphant smile over my face.
We were free.
I’d done it.
I’d outsmarted them.
I looked down at Jasper, yawning sleepy.
His little face was so serene-innocent, oblivious to the storm brewing around us.
I stroked his hair softly and pressed a kiss to his forehead.
“We are safe. We are finally free,” I whispered.
And there it was, right in front of my eyes; my heart had just done a little somersaulting, so close.
I could almost taste it.
He pulled up to the terminal and I hastily gathered our things together, thanking him in a hushed tone as I stepped out into the cool night air.
I clutched Jasper to myself as I walked into the airport toward the staff to present our plane tickets.
Taking a deep breath, I tried to calm the excitement that threatened to bubble over.
Once inside, the staff gave us a scant look before gesturing to an entrance that led to where the plane that would be our getaway vehicle was waiting at.
I felt a wave of relief wash over me as I boarded it.
“We did it, Sweetie,” I whispered, a smile threatening to spread across my face.
“We’re finally free.”
Something was off.
The cabin was silent but for the figure up front.
The hairs on the back of my neck rose.
I peered hard through the dark, hard beating in my chest.
That stance.
That presence.
It couldn’t be.
No.
No, no, no.
As if he knew my thoughts, he swiveled in his seat, and my heart fell to the bottom of my stomach.
It was then and there that my world started spinning because I was faced with him, my father.
His cold, calculated gaze impaled mine as his lips curled upward at the corners.
“You didn’t think you could run from me, did you?” he said calmly, almost with amusement.
I froze, my hand instinctively clutching Jasper closer to my body.
“N-no, this can’t be happening. How-how did you-?”
He laughed, the sound like a cold stroke down my back.
“Oh, Camilla. You always were so trusting. Did you actually think that I wouldn’t see your little plots? That I wouldn’t be watching every step you take?”
My voice caught in my throat as I tried to stutter out, “YOU, you knew?
You have known all this time?
He was on his feet in a moment; eyes pinning me with a calculated slowness of step after step: “Of course. I knew since you first started sneaking around. But what is the fun in stopping you early? I wanted you to think you’d succeeded, to feel that hope, only to crush it in the end.”
My legs buckled, clutching Jasper closer.
His small body shook against me.
My escape.
All that I had planned meant nothing.
My father had known all along.
“You’re. a monster,” I whispered, shaking.
He smirked.
“You can call me whatever you want, but you belong to me, Camilla. And so does Jasper.”
“No!” I pushed backward, keeping Jasper behind me.
“You can’t take him away from me. You can’t keep us locked up and use us for your own benefit forever!”
His eyes flashed dark and he nodded to the door.
As if on cue, his men emerged outside, awaiting his command.
“Take her back to the mansion. And make sure she’s watched. No more games.”
“Dad, please don’t do this-”
He cut me off, his tone glacial.
“You’ve blown your chance, Camilla. The second you thought you could resist me, you signed your death warrant.”
I was hauled off the plane, Jasper’s wails echoing in my ears as one of the men yanked him from me.
“Jasper!
Please let him go!
But my pleading fell on deaf ears.
My phone was snatched from my hand and I was flung into the back of one of my father’s black cars.
My heart racing against my chest as though to explode any moment, hot stinging tears welled in my eyes and blurred my vision.
This wasn’t happening.
Not now.
Not when we were this close.
It was all so fuzzy, returning to the mansion in the dark.
Inside my head, whirling around, were a thousand thoughts or more, none of which made any sense.
How did he know?
How could he even have seen every step of my plan?
For nothing, the snaking, the hiding, the planning?
Now, the moment we arrived at the mansion, I was whisked out of the car and into the mansion.
Efficiency was what marked Father’s men in that a master had an order, and as such needed to be duly executed, no questions asked.
“Lock her up,” he said, cold as ice to his guards.
“No!” I kicked as they pulled me into one of the rooms.
“You can’t do this! I’m your daughter! You can’t do this to me!”
He said nothing to me.
He simply watched, really, as they pulled me away.
“You tried to defy me, Camilla. And this is what happens when you betray your family.”
Frantically, I fought the guards, my face wet with my tears.
“You’re sick! You’re evil!”
But it did not crack.
It turned away, and left me in the ice drowning dark of the room they threw me into.
The heavy door slammed shut, and the lock clicked in place, sealing me in.
I have waited in that cold, darkened room for hours staring at the door for something to come forth, anything, yet nobody came, no Dante, nobody.
Heavy as mud, futility weighed upon me now, hard against my chest.
It could barely expand with each tick of the seconds passing.
It was over, I was done, I’d blown it.
All that I had ever striven for, all that I’d ever dreamed about, was gone: Dante, he had promised me, sworn he would get me out, and here I was, alone.
Was I really doomed to have to endure this nightmare, too, just like my past life?
With my face in my hands, I cried softly.
Nothing was left inside me to fight anymore.
My father won.
He has taken everything from me.
But then.
“I wouldn’t lose hope just yet, I need to change this miserable fate,” I whispered softly.
I would not let them defeat me, not like that.
Never.
I got to my feet, moving in small slow circles in the room as my heart began to beat fast.
“If I’m not allowed to leave…,” I muttered softly, a dark smile tugging upwards.
“Then I will make sure that they wished they had let me go.