Heartless People

ELEVEN

"I love the old way best, the simple way of poison, where we too are strong as men"

Euripides

CAMILA

"After hours of rescue missions and millions of prayers, we have yet to have any survivors of Flight 735. Our hearts go out to all the families affected by this tragedy, which was cause by a simple and unpredictable engine failure. The Jauregui family has created a charity in honor of the victims and has already donated fifteen million dollars on behalf of Camila and Lauren who, as we all know, are getting married this evening. Their wedding had been the talk of the town since we broke the story to you only three days ago. Apparently, the couple had been seeing each other in secret for quite some time now. The rumors of who are the attend this wedding range from US. senators to the very top of the A list . . . "

"Ma'am would you like me to turn it off?" Adriana asked as she fixed my hair. Taking a sip of wine, I shook my head at her before looking into the mirror.

"Adriana, I do not want an up do." Screw tradition, I liked my hair down.

"Are you sure?" Clara smiled kindly as she walked into my room.

Tying the robe around myself just a little tighter, I smiled before standing up. Adriana left us quickly to get the dress that hung in the deepest, darkest part of my closet.

"I prefer it down," I stated when Clara walked up to me looking me up and down before nodding. Reaching over she pulled the pin out of my hair and took a simple step back.

"Well, I must say you look even more beautiful with it down."

"Thank you, Clara."

"Camila, please look at me," she asked, and when I did her palm came right across my face so quickly I never saw it coming.

Shocked, I touched the side of my cheek, unsure if I was dreaming or not.

"What the fuck!"

She didn't even flinch. "So, I'm guessing this is the real Camila Cabello, the girl who had the balls to step in my house, destroy my Jackson Pollock, and then shoot my fucking husband?"

Now I was started to get angry, standing straighter, I glared into her eyes. She got one slap and that was it, the next time she raised her arm at me I was going to break it. Before she could move, Adriana stood behind her with a gun to her skull.

I grinned, wiping my cut lip thanks to her fucking ring. "Clara, you should know better."

Clara glared back not even a little bit scared. "I come to you as a mother coming to a daughter. Had it been any of my kids who had put a bullet in Michael, I would have taken them out of this world so quickly they wouldn't even know it was me. I may not walk the same line you do, nor do I wish to, but you should know that when it comes to my husband, I will not hesitate to kills anyone. You crossed the lines."

Look who has a spine. Nodding over to Adriana, she took a step back and walked over to the bed pulling out my dress.

"Noted," I said, not even a least threatened. I was too amused for that. "Michael is off limits. He wasn't my target anyways; your idiot daughter was."

She glared once more before smirking. "It took me a long time to shift Michael's view on woman when I first met him and again when he first learned about you."

What?

"Michael found out about me the same time Lauren did."  Didn't t he?"

Clara beamed. "Like I said, I may not choose to walk the same path as you, but that doesn't mean I'm naïve to the inner workings of this family. Everything Michael has ever done he has told me. The moment he knew what you were, he believed you were the best thing for my idiot daughter, as you so elegantly put it. He kept it a secret from her to let her deal with the information as he saw fit. I will commend you on your acting and will expect it whenever you are in public with me. What you and Lauren do is none of my concern. I just wanted to make sure you knew where you stand."