Page 71 of Violent Attraction

Eventually the tears stopped. Leo left me and Camila to check on something and me and my sister just laid in my bed, having a silent conversation until we both fell asleep.

Now morning has arrived, and I don’t want to get up from this bed, because I’m scared of what awaits me once I leave the comfort of this mattress.

So, I watch my little sister sleep.

Her almost white hair is all over the place and it’s like a sheet making her look like an angel.

Camila is the rebel that I will never be. She lets me dress her up in my designs, but she makes each and every one of them her own, what with her Docs always on her feet.

She takes risks that scare me, but those risks are making her up to be a young woman that our mother would have been proud of.

Camila will do great things in this life, but she just needs to get out of these four walls to be able to achieve them. No way in hell will I be letting our father do to her what he is doing to me.

My marveling over her must have not been as silent as I thought, because she begins to stir and eventually, I’m met with a sleepy brown-eyed gaze.

“It’s not creepy at all to wake up and find someone staring at you.” She closes her eyes again, but she scoots closer to me, placing her head against my shoulder.

“I have a beautiful sister. Sue me if I want to stare at her for a few seconds before she wakes up and turns into something out of a horror movie.”

The comment earns me a pinch to the hip, and I can’t help but let out a laugh.

I stop when I notice Camila staring up at me with eyes full of wonder.

“What?” I ask her curiously.

“That’s the first time I heard you laugh in a while. I missed it.”

Has it really been that long since I laugh at something?

I try to think about it, but the only thing that I can come up with is that my sister is right. I haven’t laughed in a very long time. I think ever since I found out I was to wed Emilio.

My mood becomes a bit somber and I slide down the bed a bit to wrap my arms around her.

“It has been a while.” I murmur into her hair.

She nods against my shoulder and wraps her own arms around me.

“Leo will figure it out, you know,” she says, pulling back slightly to look me in the eyes.

“What will he figure out?”

“A way to stop that wedding. He will figure it out and end whatever arrangement dad has. It will happen.”

She’s hopeful. I can see in her face and hear it in her voice.

I want to be hopeful right there with her, but a big part of my brain is telling me that I shouldn’t. That this whole situation will take a lot more than Leo figuring it out.

“I hope you are right.” I give my little sister a smile and wrap my arms around her again. Eventually she falls back asleep, and I stay awake with my thoughts keeping me company.

I do hope she’s right.

But at this point I’m not sure how much hope I have left.

20

7 months before wedding

“Do you really think icing out your wife is a good idea?”

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