Chapter 24
Camilla balled her hands into fists. “Lance, can you send me that surveillance footage?” she asked quietly.
“No problem. Add me first,” Lance replied, all easygoing as he pulled out his phone and held it out to her.
She scanned his code. The video landed in her inbox right away.
Lance watched her, clearly amused. “Your nanny’s something else. But your husband? He takes the cake p>
Camilla’s face lost all warmth. “Not for much longer p>
“You’re divorcing him?” Lance asked.
She nodded, just a small movement. He grinned. “Want some help? Since your son calls me ‘Uncle,’ I could hook you up with a lawyer p>
The offer caught Camilla off guard. She tilted her head, studying him. “Lance… are you always this helpful p>
“Only with you.” He noticed the panic flicker in her eyes, then smirked. “Honestly, I’ve just been bored lately. Watching a neighbor take down a cheating husband? Sounds like quality entertainment to me p>
Staring into his fox-bright eyes, Camilla realized what he was. Pure trouble. He wasn’t just helping her. He was looking for something to spice up his week.
But she needed someone in her corner, and if Lance wanted front-row seats to her divorce, fine. They weren’t working against each other.
She let the offer stand.
Any lawyer Lance recommended was bound to be sharp. This divorce wasn’t going to be simple and having someone good on her side might save her from a million headaches.
“So, Camilla,” Lance was already one step ahead, “just give me the basics—what you want, what you don’t. I’ll have someone draw up an agreement for you to look over p>
She didn’t hold anything back, outlining her living situation and everything that had happened. As she talked, she caught the shift in his expression. He stopped joking, his whole face sharpening, dark eyes shadowed for a split second with something almost like sympathy. Then it was gone, replaced with his usual devil-may-care attitude.
A silence settled over the room after she finished.
“Lance… is this going to be messy?” she finally asked.
He flashed that signature grin. “Messy, maybe. Interesting, definitely. You’ve got me in for this game.” The relaxed, flippant tone managed to give Camilla a little comfort. Maybe she wasn’t as alone in this as she thought.
The white light above them glowed softly, casting his face in a gentle halo. Everything about him looked sharp and unreal, like a character drawn from a comic book instead of a neighbor.
Her gaze lingered on his deep blue stud earring. For a moment, she was sure she had seen him before—even though she couldn’t pull up a single real memory.
It started to feel late. Their clothes were finally dry. The rain had ended.
It was already past nine.
Camilla trailed after Lance as they left the study. Out in the living room, Jasper and Snow were sprawled out on the couch, sleeping hard after all the excitement.
She moved to wake Jasper for the trip home, but the second her hand touched his cheek, she realized he was burning up. Fever.
Lance called over Dane to fetch a thick blanket. Then, instead of hesitating, he scooped Jasper up in his arms. “Come on. If we want this game to go smoothly, I have to make sure the treasure is safe p>
He was calling her divorce a game, framing Barnard as the boss to beat, Jasper the treasure at the end of the level. The playful way he put it somehow made the whole ordeal a little less heavy—maybe even made Camilla feel a glimmer of determination she hadn’t felt before.
Lance drove both of them to the hospital. Once Jasper was checking in and hooked up to an IV, Camilla did her best to convince Lance to go home. She felt guilty enough for dragging him into everything.
She thought she’d just stay up and watch over Jasper, but in the middle of the night her own head started to throb and she felt herself burning too.
She asked the nurse for a thermometer. Running a fever, and even higher than Jasper’s.
Good thing Lance had the forethought to arrange for two caregivers to help them out. Soon, Camilla was lying in the next bed over with her own IV drip.
The illness dragged on for three days.
Jasper didn’t bounce back much faster, so they wound up staying in the hospital together—her and her son, side by side.
Lance stopped in again the next day, but Camilla was even more embarrassed to ask for help now. She called her friend Dahlia to keep her company. After that, Lance didn’t come back.
Dahlia came bearing good news for once—the perfect apartment had finally turned up.
Once she was discharged, Camilla took Jasper to meet the landlord and signed the lease right away.
These past few days, Barnard had called her over and over. She let them all go unanswered.
Now the dust had finally started to settle. Camilla was ready to return and settle things with Davina.
Meanwhile, back at Saddlebrook Estates, things weren’t going so smoothly.
Before Camilla even made an appearance, Barnard was already in a foul mood. He sat at his desk, phone screen glowing with call after call.
Today alone, he’d called her twenty times. Not one answered.
There, right in front of him, was a divorce agreement someone had mailed over that morning. No signature yet, but he knew exactly who had sent it.
Even hours later, just looking at the document left him restless and annoyed.
He couldn’t wrap his head around it. The Camilla he knew had always been dependent on him, always said yes, never argued.
Now she wanted a divorce. And he just couldn’t believe it.