Chapter 14
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Camila looked at Agnes with calm, unreadable eyes.
She hadn’t even done anything, yet Agnes recoiled as if she had been startled. Her body trembled, and she took several steps back, her face pale as she stammered, “Camila, please don’t look at me like that… with so much hatred. You’re scaring me.”
Arthur’s fury erupted. He shoved Camila aside and roared, “What are you trying to do to Agnes?”
Caught off guard, Camila stumbled backward, her body slamming into the railing. For a split second, she teetered dangerously on the edge, nearly falling from the second floor.
But no one cared. Arthur and Belinda stood in front of Agnes like a shield, their faces full of wariness and distrust–as if Camila were the threat.
Harry opened his mouth, ready to reprimand her out of habit. But just as the words were about to leave his lips, he hesitated.
The memory of what she had endured in prison flashed through his mind. The cruel remarks he once threw at her so effortlessly now felt impossible to say.
Camila’s face remained emotionless, but the faint curve of her lips carried unmistakable mockery. She thought, ‘This is my family. The moment Agnes shows the slightest bit of distress, I become the scapegoat.‘
There was a time when their judgment could shake her, when a single look or word from them could cut her to the bone. But not anymore.
Now, even as they misunderstood and condemned her, she felt nothing–no anger, no sadness, not even disappointment. She didn’t explain herself. Instead, she lowered her gaze.
Her complete indifference made Harry’s chest tighten. His voice softened despite himself. “Did you hit yourself? Does it hurt?”
Camila looked up, surprised. For a moment, she struggled to reconcile this version of him–the one who seemed to care–with the brother who once humiliated her with cutting words.
Funny how habits worked. He showed her the slightest concern, and somehow, she wasn’t used to it.
“No, it doesn’t hurt,” she said. A small bruise was nothing. Compared to the agony of having her leg shattered, this didn’t even register.
“Just now… you heard everything?”
Camila hesitated for a second, realizing what he was referring to She gave a quiet “Yeah.” And nothing more.
Harry thought, ‘That is it? I have cut ties with the Connor Group for her. Terminated a crucial business partnership. Cost the Jackson Group 300 million dollars in a single night–all for her sake. And she can’t even spare a single word of gratitude?”
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A wave of frustration burned in his chest, seeping into his stomach like a hundred needles piercing him at violently.
once.
His chronic stomach condition flared up
As if punishing her for her indifference, Harry gritted ly’s teeth and clenched the railing, his face pale with pain.
In the past, whenever he had a stomachache, she was always the first to panic. His eyes locked onto her, searching desperately for a trace of worry–just
a flicker of the old Camila, the one who would have dropped everything to help him.
Even just a few words of concern. That was all it would take to make everything he did today feel worth it.
But there was nothing. Camila didn’t even look at him. Her face remained calm, detached–so utterly indifferent that it was suffocating.
“If there’s nothing else, I’ll be going now,” she said. Her tone was steady, but the words were ruthless, like a dull knife slicing into flesh–slow, deliberate, and unbearably painful.
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16:16 Tue, 15 Apr 0
Chapter 14
Under the weight of four pairs of eyes, she turned and walked away. Her steps were unsteady, but she never faltered.
Harry gripped the railing tightly, watching her leave with an expression of pain and disappointment.
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He thought, ‘It isn’t supposed to be like this. She used to care. Whenever I was in pain, she would cry while frantically searching for my medicine, as if she wished she could take on the suffering in my place.
“When has that changed? When did she stop caring?
“Camila!” He forced her name from his lips, his voice raw with emotion.
She instinctively paused.
Seeing Camila pause, a flicker of hope lit up Harry’s eyes. His voice unconsciously softened, tinged with a rare vulnerability. “Camila, my stomach hurts.”
It was an offering, a way out of this standoff–a chance for her to step down gracefully. But who said she had to take it?
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