Chapter 9%
Camilla’s POVE
“Also, I’m not like you, Brandon,” I said, steady and calm. “I don’t chase after replacements just to trample over what’s real when I can’t have who I want “E
The word replacements hit hard. He didn’t hide it.
His composure slipped. “Camilla, no–you’ve got it wrong. I never saw you as Sabrina’s stand–in. I swear. She’s cold, prideful. You’re not like that. You’re kind. Thoughtful. You always were.
He looked at me, desperate to make it stick. “You’re not the same. I know that. And yeah, you’re mad because she’s pregnant, but it wasn’t what you think. It was one night. A mistake. I’ll never let her near you again. I promise I won’t let her hurt you anymore.”
And just like that, Brandon shoved Jaxon aside like he wasn’t even standing there. He opened his arms like he thought I’d still want them
I stepped back, dodging him. “Mr. Doyle, have some self-respect. ”
That name landed harder than anything else I could’ve said. He froze like it pulled him straight into the past.
I saw it in his eyes. The memory was instant.
Six years ago, with cheeks burning, I quietly asked him, Mc Doyle… can I call you
Now, it was the opposite.
Brandon?
I noticed how his expression tightened, nostrils flared, and tears appeared as if they were about to well up in his eyes.
“Baby, don’t do this, okay?” he said softly. “Please. I’m done with Sabrina. That’s over. I swear, there won’t be anyone else. Not ever again. Don’t you remember? I was your first love. You said we’d be together forever. That you’d never leave me.”
Yeah, I made that promise back then when I foolishly believed he loved me.
Before the night I held our daughter’s hand in a hospital bed while she whispered her last words, Brandon ignored every one of her calls.
Before I knelt outside Sabrina’s door, begging like I didn’t matter.
Before every last piece of me broke.
Whatever love I had left for Brandon died with Lyra.
Now, when I looked at him, there was nothing.
No heat. No heartbreak. Just quiet.
“Brandon,” I said, voice low but certain, “whatever’s going on between you and Sabrina, that’s your problem. Not mine.”
I slipped my arm through Jaxon’s, our fingers intertwining without thought or effort.
“I’m with someone new. Someone I chose. So please… don’t come back. Don’t show up again.“}
That was it. No more explanations.”
I turned, walked into the villa with Jaxon at my side, and didn’t look back.!!
Brandon’s POV
I didn’t leave, not for a week.
The helicopter sat on the edge of the coast, untouched, like some stupid monument to everything I’d screwed up. I stayed inside, day and night, staring at the water, waiting for her.
I didn’t eat. I barely slept. The sun scorched during the day, and at night, the cold cut through everything. The back–and–forth burned out my lungs until every breath rattled. Every cough came sharp and deep.
The pilot said it was pneumonia.
But none of that mattered. I wasn’t leaving until I saw her.
And then, one morning, I did.X
Camilla stepped out onto the beach, barefoot, the wind catching in her hair. The sun hit her skin like a spotlight, and for a moment, I forgot how to breathe.
Then I saw him.X
Jaxon.
He sprinted toward her like he couldn’t wait a second longer, tackled her into the sand like some scene straight out of a rom–com.
And Camilla?E
She didn’t flinch. Didn’t scream.
She laughed. X
That deep, head–thrown–back kind of laugh I hadn’t heard in years.
They rolled in the sand, arms tangled, faces close, lost in each other
Touching Teasing. Like they belonged there.
She looked alive. She looked free.”
A sharp, burning sensation rose in my chest, and I bent over, coughing into my hand. I tasted blood, but I couldn’t pull my eyes away.
That was Camilla. My Camilla!!
241 PM c c
A sharp, burning sensation rose in my chest, and I bent over, coughing into my hand. I tasted blood, but I couldn’t pull my eyes away.
That was Camilla. My Camilla X
Except she wasn’t mine anymore. Not for a long time.!!
I closed my eyes, defeat flooding my veins, and clenched my fists so tightly my palms stung. I didn’t want to ruin the only moment of happiness I’d seen in her for six years. For all the pain I’d caused her the least I could do was step back.”
I just needed to see her before I left.
I just-
Jaxon’s hand slid beneath her skirt.
Slow. Intentional, Provocative.
And that did it.
I stormed out of the helicopter, fists clenched, chest tight, my head buzzing with rage.”
“You bastard! Get your hands off my wife!”
The words tore out before I could stop them.
Jaxon stopped, jaw clenched, eyes hard. He didn’t hesitate. Without hesitation, he slammed his fist into my jaw.
I staggered.
“Your wife?” he spat. “You’ve got some fucking nerve, Brandon! Showing up here like none of it ever happened? You don’t know the kind of hell you put her through.”
And then he hit me again, Harder.”
But this time, it wasn’t just the impact that knocked the wind out of me.
It was the truth behind it.
