His Camelia [Completed]

Chapter 9- Kent

"What do you mean I'm going to have round the clock protection?"  Camelia asked her parents.

The three of them were currently seated in her father's study. The room was slightly dark, except for a roaring fireplace and the soft glow of a lamp on a side coffee table.  It was a little after six in the evening and Camelia had just returned from a full day of attending classes.

Both her parents shared a look, a silent communication passing between the two of them. 

What was going on?

"We have reason to believe someone is out to hurt us...to be more specific, we have strong evidence suggesting a enemy of ours will attempt to hurt you to reach your mother and I."  Julien stated.  He shifted on the love seat he shared with her mother and released a deep exhale.

"Over twenty years ago, before your mother and I married...a vicious man verbally and physically insulted her. I was not going to allow him to get away with it so I accumulated enough evidence over the span of a few months that sent him to prison for a long time due many criminal offenses he committed before that particular encounter."  Her father continued.

"His name is Nathan Diam." Her mother explains. "Remember the envelope that was offered to me on a silver platter, the night of the auction?" 

Camelia nodded numbly.

"Well, it was a message from him.  He used the same words he spoke to me that day with a threat. It read, IT'S BEEN FAR TOO LONG.   SUCH A BEAUTIFUL LITTLE ONE YOU HAVE. I PLAN TO GIVE YOU A LESSON YOU WILL NEVER FORGET..." Annie recited the note by heart and in a tone that held absolutely zero emotion.

She's never heard of the man let alone her parents speak of what happened years ago.   It was the first time she had heard they even had an enemy.  It was a shock to her system to hear the detailed extent of how serious they sounded.

The only emotions Camelia witnessed was in her mother's India-ink blue colored eyes —her father's label of the color.   It set her on edge recognizing the identical colored pair cloud with unmasked worry. It was a sight Camelia was afraid she was not used to witnessing. 

Annie was a force not to be reckoned with.  It was hard to penetrate the walls she placed when matters turned sour.  It frightened her to see her mother look almost vulnerable. 

Camelia switched her gaze to her father's deep silver eyes. A simple glare from her father's icy stare was as sharp as broken glass. His aura oozed power and authority. He was a man who loved his family and would do anything to protect them. But his eyes appeared deeply troubled and the set of his shoulders looked as if they held a tremendous, unbearable amount of responsibility.

Goosebumps erupted all over her body and at the same time her heart somersaulted from the somber looks they were giving her.

"This is no joke, is it?"  Camelia asked in a small voice, wringing her hands together.  They knotted in her lap uncomfortably.   When her father shook his head silently, the fear started to creep further up her spine.  "This man is after me?"  She whispered, feeling lost and trapped. 

"Yes." Came the answer she hoped not to hear. 

Camelia's heart nearly stopped.

"For the past week I've had a string of undercover operatives follow you for your safety. We feel you need closer protection... so we have appointed a bodyguard to accompany you wherever you go.  We don't mean to frighten you, love, but we need to take certain precautions with your safety. "  Her father explained with a pained expression.