Chapter 19 Camilla
Something is wrong.
I know it the moment Renato enters my room, carrying his phone in one hand and wearing an expression I've never seen before. Not the controlled businessman from our early sessions, not the desire from yesterday's lesson. This is something darker. Something that looks almost like dread.
"Good morning," I say from my position by the window, studying his face carefully. "You look troubled."
"Sit down." He gestures to the bed. "It's time."
"Time?" My heart jumps. "Time for what?"
"To talk to them." He holds up the phone. "Your fiancé. Your father. Alessandro. I've kept them from speaking to you since the kidnapping. Now you're going to tell them exactly what will happen to you if they don't pay what they owe me."
Finally.
After days of knowing they're out there, being negotiated with like I'm a business asset, I'm finally going to hear their voices.
"You'll tell them everything you've learned from those files," Renato continues, his jaw tight. "Every detail about the buyers. Every depravity, every preference, every way these men treat their acquisitions. Make it real for them. This is your chance to convince them. Say whatever you need to."
"And then they'll pay?" Hope flares in my chest.
"That depends on how much you're worth to them." Something bitter crosses his face. "You can say whatever you want. Beg, plead, describe what these buyers will do to you. But you do NOT tell them where you are. If you give away any location details, I end the call immediately. Understood?"
"Yes. Yes, I understand."
I see the shadows under his dark eyes, the tension in his shoulders. Whatever's troubling him runs deeper than business negotiations.
"Start with Lorenzo. Let's see if your future husband values you enough to pay for your return." There's something cruel in his tone as he pulls up the contact and hands me the phone.
My hands shake as I take it. The phone rings twice before Lorenzo answers.
"Hello?"
"Lorenzo, it's me. It's Camilla."
A sharp intake of breath. "Camilla." He sounds almost uncomfortable. Caught off guard. "I... are you alright?"
"Am I alright?" The question nearly breaks me. "Lorenzo, I've been kidnapped. I've been held for days. And this is the first time anyone has let me speak to you or anyone."
"Yes, well, Vitiello has been very unaccommodating. He wouldn't allow communication. Papa has been handling the negotiations with him."
"Negotiations? Lorenzo, do you understand what happens if those negotiations fail?"
A pause. "Papa says Vitiello is just trying to pressure us. That it's all an empty threat to get his money."
"It's not a threat! There are buyers coming soon. Real men who purchase women. I've seen their files, Lorenzo. I know what they do. What they’re capable of."
"Camilla, you're getting hysterical for no reason. Papa says—"
"I don't care what your Papa says! Listen to me.
There's a Saudi businessman who keeps women in isolation for years.
Complete submission, total control. His last acquisition hasn't been seen in public in three years.
He expects—" My voice catches. "He expects women to thank him for every moment of pain he inflicts. "
Silence on the other end.
"And there's a Russian arms dealer, Kozlov. He broke his last acquisition's jaw when she hesitated to obey him. Broke her ribs when she looked at another man. Women don't last long with him, Lorenzo. They can't survive him. He’s very interested in me."
"This sounds..." He clears his throat. "This sounds like something outrageous out of a movie. Are you sure Vitiello isn't just trying to scare you? He's evil, Camilla. You can’t trust him."
"I've read their files! Their sexual preferences, their requirements, how they treat the women they own.
And there's another man, a broker, who bids on women for his clients all across the globe.
Do you understand what I'm telling you? They buy women like we're a fine piece of art.
If you don't pay, I will belong to one of these men. I’ll be owned like property. "
Another pause, longer this time. When Lorenzo speaks again, his voice is strained. "Camilla, I... this is complicated. You need to talk to my father about this. He's handling everything. I don't know the details."
"What do you mean, talk to your father? You're my fiancé! Or you were supposed to be. Doesn't that mean anything to you?"
"Of course it means something. But six million euros is a lot of money. These are business matters. Papa makes these decisions. I don’t have control of the money."
"I'm more than a business matter!" I'm shaking now. "Lorenzo, I'm going to be sold to a man who will keep me as a slave. Who will hurt me whenever he wants. Who might kill me. And you're calling it a business matter? What the fuck is wrong with you? All of you!"
"That's not what I meant. I just... look, I've been talking to Papa about this every day. He's working on it. But I can't just write a check for six million euros. That's not how our finances work."
"Then how do they work? Because from where I'm sitting, it seems like you've known for days that I've been taken, and you haven't even asked to speak to me until now."
"Vitiello wouldn't allow it! I told you, he controlled all the communication."
"Did you try? Did you demand to speak to me? Did you insist on knowing if I was hurt, if I was scared, if I was alive? Did you demand proof of life?"
The silence stretches.
"I thought Papa was handling it," he finally says, and there's something almost defensive in his tone. "He said it was better not to complicate the negotiations with emotional appeals. That Vitiello was a businessman who would respond to business terms, not sentiment."
"And you just accepted that? You didn't fight for me?"
"Camilla, please. This isn't fair. I'm trying to help, but I have to go through the proper channels. Talk to my father. Make him understand what you just told me. Maybe if he hears it directly from you..." He trails off. "I have to go. I'm sorry. I really am."
"Lorenzo, wait—"
But the line is already dead.
I stare at the phone, my hands trembling. He sounded guilty. Uncomfortable. Like I'd caught him in something shameful. But he didn't sound like a man fighting to save the woman he was supposed to marry.
He sounded like a man trying to avoid an inconvenient conversation.
Renato takes the phone from my shaking hands, his expression unreadable.
"Ready for the next call?" He pulls up another contact, and I see my father's name. "Let's see if blood is thicker than money."
The phone rings longer this time. When my father answers, his voice is thick with emotion.
"Yes?"
"Papa, it's me."
"Camilla! Are you hurt? Has he hurt you?"
The concern in his voice nearly breaks me. This is different from Lorenzo's careful distance. This is real.
"I'm not hurt. Not yet. But Papa, I need you to listen. The man who took me, Renato Vitiello—"
"I know who he is. That bastard Alessandro got us into this mess with his debts."
"Papa, please. Listen. He's going to sell me if you and Alessandro don't pay the six million euros owed to him. There are buyers for me. Real men who purchase women like... like property."
"Camilla, no." His voice drops to a whisper. "This can't be happening. He wouldn't really do that. Not with your fine breeding and family reputation."
"That's exactly why I'm in hot demand! It is happening.
I've seen their files. There's a Saudi who keeps women locked away for years.
A Russian who broke his last woman's bones.
" My voice cracks. "Papa, if you don't pay, I'll belong to one of them.
They'll do whatever they want to me. However they want to hurt me or use me. "
"Stop. Stop, please." He's crying now. I can hear it. "Camilla, if I had the money, you know I would pay it in a heartbeat. You're my daughter. My little girl."
"Then find the money. Or at least part of it. Between you and Alessandro you should be able to come up with the six million euros. That's all it takes to end this."
"Six million..." He makes a choked sound. "Camilla, I swear to you, I don't have it. I've made bad deals, bad investments. I'm leveraged to the hilt. The creditors are circling. I've already tried to borrow money, but no one will touch me. Everyone knows I'm overextended."
"There has to be a way. Sell something. Mortgage something. Papa, please!"
"Don't you think I've tried?" His voice rises desperately.
"I've spent the last three days trying to find the money.
Calling in every favor, every connection.
But I'm drowning, Camilla. I can't even borrow enough to keep my own business afloat, let alone pay a six million euro ransom. It's not even my debt!"
"Then what am I supposed to do?"
"Alessandro. It has to be Alessandro." There's bitterness in his voice now. "This is his debt. His mess. He's the one who owes Vitiello the money. He has resources, connections, actual liquidity. He has to be the one to pay."
"But what if he doesn't?"
Silence.
"Papa? What if Alessandro doesn't pay?"
"Then..." His voice breaks. "Then I don't know. I don't know. But you have to make him understand. Make him see what will happen to you. He's not a monster. He wouldn't let his future daughter-in-law be sold to criminals. Think of the damage it would do to his family's reputation?"
"Wouldn't he?" The question comes out before I can stop it. "He's known for days that I've been taken. Has he tried to speak to me? Has he demanded proof of life? Has he done anything except negotiate?"
"I don't know. He's kept me out of it, said it was his problem to solve. But Camilla..." He pauses. "Be careful with Alessandro. He's not like us. He thinks differently. Everything is business to him, even family."
"What are you saying?"