Page 16 of Possessive Vows

She becomes eerily still as I lean closer, but her frantic breaths ghost over my knuckles as I smooth the bandage onto her cheek, covering the scars. Unable to curb my curiosity, I rub my fingertips over her soft skin, and to my delight, she doesn’t evade my touch.

Tears shimmer in her eyes, but she doesn’t let them fall. I step back and stick the wrapper in my pocket before gesturing for her to lead the way into the building.

The inside matches the opulence of the garden, and despite the underlying hint of cleaning agents, the place overall smells of lavender. Less than five steps into the building, a woman in a nursing uniform approaches Camilla.

“Is everything okay?” she asks as she gives me furtive glances over Camilla’s shoulder.

“Yes, I just forgot my purse in my room,” Camilla says.

The nurse looks unconvinced.

“Is he with you?” she asks.

Camilla nods.

“What’s his name? Is he signed in?” the nurse presses.

Camilla tugs my jacket tighter around her and shakes her head.

“He’s not signed in, but I’ll call my guardian as soon as I get my phone.”

While I appreciate her avoiding telling the woman my name, she doesn’t need to, but her caution endears me to her more.

The nurse clues in to the warning in Camilla’s tone and turns her full focus on her face.

“Did you get hurt in the garden?” she asks, obviously referencing the colorful Band-Aid on my charge’s cheek.

“I’m fine, Nurse Shelly. Honest. This is the right thing to do,” Camilla says.

After searching her face for an extended moment, the nurse nods but doesn’t step aside.

“Then you won’t mind if I tag along, right?” she says.

Camilla looks over her shoulder at me.

“We will not mind,” I answer.

I have visited many elite medical facilities before and rarely encountered a nurse so invested in her patient’s safety. When we pass the front desk, I realize she isn’t the only staff member keeping careful watch on the people in their care.

Whoever admitted Camilla here chose wisely. A part of me wonders if taking her away from this place is the best idea, but despite all this security, she still required my protection today.

I will take her with me.

Nurse Shelly walks beside Camilla, no longer sending me hostile glances as she greets other patients in the hall, showing how much she trusts Camilla, but when we reach the room and Camilla takes her purse off the hook by the door, she gives the bag a pointed look.

Camilla takes out her phone and types out a text before holding her screen out for the nurse to see.

The contact shows Serenity Vivaldi.

I’m leaving the facility. I’m safe. I’ll call in 30 minutes.

As the nurse nods, I take the phone from Camilla, find her brother under the contact Giorgio Vivaldi, hit send, and put it on speaker.

I fight a surge of desire as Camilla aims her dark eyes at me.

Giorgio answers on the third ring, his voice rough and his breathing fast as though he was doing something strenuous.

“Camilla?”

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