Chapter Five

Camilla Isidore Esposito DeLeon is the epitome of a trophy wife. Their marriage had been arranged over a decade ago by her and Rafael’s parents. A very traditional path that had two prominent and rich families connecting themselves together. Camilla and Rafael had been given little say in the matter, but their upbringings had prepared them for it and shortly after their engagement had been announced, they were wed.

Twelve years later and Camilla was bored with nearly every aspect of her life. She had never expected marriage to a dragon to be so… dull. Of course, she hadn’t known of her husband’s dragon heritage when they were first engaged, but she learned of it quickly enough… and yet the excitement from it passed unfortunately quickly. Rafael almost never transformed into his true self, and when he did it was rare that she was around for it. Their relationship was far more of a business contract than a marriage of love. Sadly, it left Camilla with way too much time on her hands and far, far too little to do.

Coming from a large family, of which she was a middle child, one of the biggest changes for her after her marriage was moving into a home so devoid of other people. At the point of their marriage, Rafael’s mother had already passed away and his father was often away on business or some such. Rafael’s two younger brothers were about, but they kept their distance from her for the most part. She was a spoiled brat, a typical rich girl, and they quickly decided they didn’t like her.

Even their staff was limited. A single butler and one cook, nothing more. Whenever the family required more assistance for something, a rotation of people was hired from a number of outside companies. Never the same people twice and never for all that long. At first, she couldn’t understand why… but soon enough she realized it was a matter of safety. Yes, they were a family of dragons. But that did not mean they could let the entire world know. Careful secrecy had kept them safe, and rich, for generations. Camilla would just have to get used to a far quieter lifestyle.

It was quite the adjustment, to be honest. Going from a home bustling with life and people, friends and family, to a home that was nearly as empty as a tomb. The first few years were terrible for her. No longer did she have her own dedicated staff member and she had been rather restricted on which friends were allowed to visit their home. She was quite miserable for the first five years of her marriage to Rafael, constantly wishing that her husband would pay her just a little more attention… or at the very least provide her with some company to keep her days distracted. Instead, she was left to herself.

Leaving such a spoiled little rich girl to entertain herself was probably one of the worst mistakes Rafael ever made throughout his marriage. She became a terror. Most of her time was spent harassing Manuel and Lucia, demanding they do this and that. Poor Lucia nearly quit before Camilla had been in the house two years. It was only after a hefty raise, as well as a screaming match between Rafael and Camilla, that Lucia agreed to stay on. Of course, it all meant nothing to Camilla and she simply shifted her focus around.

Manuel was run ragged with tasks and chores. She made sure to start demanding specific foods for Lucia to find and prepare just to subtly twist the knife on the woman. She even began to harass Rafael’s younger brothers when she had the chance to. Ignacio was easier to find, since he was the older one and seemed to help out the household staff pretty often. He was 18 at that time and Camilla noticed he had grown into that gangly body of his finally.

At first, she tried to flirt with him casually, but he ignored her advances time and time again. Once she even flat out offered to give herself to him and he denied her… it was a feeling she had never really experienced before. In that moment, Ignacio became something of a unicorn for her. A quarry she desperately wanted to catch but who was always just beyond her grasp.

She was somewhat sated, for a short time, when the baby of the family got old enough to come onto her radar. Mateo was only 17, but he had been given all of the charm in the family when compared to his brothers. He showed an interest in Camilla, if only a carnal one, and kept her occupied for some time, though shortly after Ignacio fled from his engagement to Elena… Mateo took off as well. He’d left behind a note saying he wanted to find his own life… but there were quite a few assumptions as to the real reason he left.

These days, Camilla had pretty much turned to drinking in order to forget her boring life. Once the younger brothers had left, she had been left with only Elena and the help to pester. Of course, Elena had become quite a useful little tool, but that only did so much to entertain the trophy wife. Now that Ignacio had returned and had brought his little lover with him, Camilla felt a thrill of excitement at all of the fun she might be able to have.

After finding Lucia and sending her, grumbling, off to draw a bath for Elena, Camilla decided to go on a little hunt to find Ignacio. Based on what Elena had said, she knew that Ignacio and Maia had just spent some time together… but she also knew a dragon had a tendency to be ravenous after a romp in the sack.

She swung back around towards the kitchen but when she arrived all she found was Manuel working on preparations for dinner. With a huff, she continued on her little search for the most elusive of the DeLeon dragons. When she finally found him, it was in the main upstairs hallway. He came walking out of one of the main bathrooms in nothing more than a pair of gym shorts and a pair of slippers, ruffling a white towel through his hair. She noticed it seemed choppy in the way it was cut… as if he had just grabbed hold of it and lopped it right off and left it. Either way, he looked delicious.

“Well, well,” she purred when the distance between them shrank. “It looks as though whatever life you’ve been leading has been a good one.”

Her words were enough to surprise him and stop him in his tracks, but it was the feel of her finger dragging down along his chest and stomach that got a slight yelp out of him. When he pulled the towel away from his head he was greeted by the sight of Camilla smiling at him. She gave a little quirk of her brow at him and bit her lower lip in a flirty way.

“You look great, Ignacio,” she said, batting her eyes a bit. “I love what you’ve done with your hair.”

As she said it, she reached her hand out to brush aside a wet lock of his dark hair. He pulled away from her a bit, looking confused, but she didn’t back down. The sight of him half naked, freshly showered and smelling fantastic was impossible to resist.

“Oh, come now. You’ve been denying me for years,” she murmured, stepping closer to him. “At least give me a little taste…”

She slipped her arms around his waist, pulled him close and planted her lips right on his. It lasted for all of five seconds, which was about how long it took Ignacio to gather his wits, and then he pushed her away. The look of shock and mild disgust on his face hurt more than actually being pushed away.

“What the hell, Camilla?!” He barked at her, his brow knitting together as he started to get a bit angry.

He opened his mouth to yell at her some more, but before he got more than the first word out, Elena came from seemingly out of nowhere and shoved Camilla. He had never seen Elena with such a fierce look of rage in her eyes and to be honest, it frightened him a little.

“You slut! How dare you?” Elena shrieked. “You selfish, lying harpy of a woman! You tell me he is no good for me and now I find you throwing yourself at him? I should have known! A woman like you is nothing more than a whore playing housewife!”

The look on Ignacio’s face was one of pure shock as he listened to Elena. It seemed she had a temper after all and it was a vicious one. Camilla, however, was far less impressed with the younger woman, even going so far to scoff with laughter at her.

“You have always been such a naive little thing, Elena,” Camilla chirped with a smirk. “Five years in this house and you still have no idea what is actually going on around you.”

She scoffed again, turned her back on the two of them, and sauntered off as if nothing had just happened. As if she hadn’t just thrown herself at her brother-in-law and been caught by his unwanted fiancée. Elena stood there, fists balled at her sides, huffing in anger and frustration over Camilla. Ignacio was still frozen by his utter shock and disbelief over how… evil some members of his family seemed to be. How had his brother not seen this in Camilla after all these years?

“This is all because of you, you know!” Elena suddenly snapped, whirling to shove a finger against Ignacio’s chest. “If you hadn’t run off like a coward, none of this would be happening!”

“Elena, I’m sorry,” he started. “I know I caused a lot of problems… a lot of pain for you. But I just couldn’t go through with it. It wasn’t what I wanted but Rafael wouldn’t take no for an answer and…”

“No!” Elena shouted, interrupting him as she threw up her hands. “No, Ignacio! You do not get to say you’re sorry to me. You have ruined the last 5 years of my life, and for what? That whore you brought home with you!? She isn’t even that pretty!”

“Elena…” Ignacio said, his voice taking on a dangerous tone.

“That woman has caused nothing but trouble in our home!” She continued, becoming more agitated. “She stands in the way of our marriage and to be quite honest with you, Ignacio, she probably is only with you for your money. Once she has it, she will be just like Camilla!”

“That’s enough!” Ignacio shouted, sounding far more like his brother than he liked.

He grabbed hold of her upper arms, holding her firm as he looked her right in the eye. He felt so many things all at once. Anger, despair, and pity to name a few. But most of all, he felt rage at what Elena was saying about Maia. Never had he felt so protective of someone like he did with Maia. So much so that even a verbal attack against her set him on edge.

“Elena, I said ENOUGH!” He barked, gripping her hard enough to make his point but not enough to hurt her, he hoped. “You have no idea what you’re saying, and you need to stop! Camilla was right, you have no idea what is actually going on around here. You live in a fucking fantasy world, Elena!”

CRACK!

Elena’s hand flew through the air faster than anyone might have expected and connected against the side of Ignacio’s face with quite a deal of force. His face on fire, he stood there staring at her in shock. She had just slapped him, hard. His face would likely be bright red for some time from it. He only had about 5 seconds to consider what had just happened, however, before Elena threw herself at him.

Her arms wrapped around his neck and shoulders, her lips connecting to his with just as much power as her slap. She kissed him deeply, passionately and with all of the emotion she had been carrying around with her these past 5 years. This was truly only their second kiss and yet it felt like so much more. In reality, she barely even knew the man she was kissing. But in her mind, in that little fantasy world she had lived in all these years, Ignacio was the love of her life and her lost prince had returned home.

This was now a total of 3 times just so far today that a woman had unwantedly thrown herself at him with a kiss. Once again, he pushed Elena away as best he could, though his anger had deflated significantly. He took pity on her, really. He knew, deep down, that he was ultimately responsible for the situation she had been living in… but there was nothing he could really do about it. Part of him, a small part, wanted to give in and make her happy. To do the one thing that would make up for all of the years of pain. But he knew it wasn’t the right thing to do.

“I’m sorry, Elena,” he said, sighing softly as he dropped his eyes away from her and stepped back. “I’m so sorry.”

He shook his head slightly and then simply turned to walk away from her. He made a point not to look back, knowing it would only make things worse for her. She stood there by herself, her body trembling as it flooded with emotion. She wanted to run after Ignacio and demand that he go through with their marriage, yet at the same time she wanted to drop to the floor and cry her heart out. Angry and confused, she stood there for quite some time before she finally exploded.

Tears welled and streamed from her eyes and she let loose a wail of pain that anyone on that side of the house would have heard, including Ignacio. She fell back against the wall of the hallway, sinking slowly into a puddle on the floor, her knees tight against her chest. It was there she remained for some time, sobbing softly with her head against her knees and her arms wrapped around herself in search of some form of comfort.

For 5 years, she had been waiting with hopeful patience for her fiancé to return to her. For 5 years, she had been planning and preparing every aspect of their wedding with an eager joy. Now that Ignacio had returned… her heart had been ripped from her chest and her dreams of married life dashed on the floor. She had no idea what she would do now.