Divorce Him, Then Dazzle novel Chapter 152

Lambert glanced in the rearview mirror.

Camilla sat quietly, staring out the window with a far-off look in her eyes. She seemed somewhere else entirely, lost in thought and barely aware of the world around her.

Lambert didn’t say anything more, just drove on in silence.

It was Catheleen who broke the quiet. “Lambert, seriously, thank you for today. If you hadn’t shown up, Cammie and I would’ve lost our minds. We would’ve had no idea what to do.”

A mess like that, it was impossible to clear up on your own. Especially with Ladd dropping those vague hints, all but inviting everyone to think the worst. If Lambert hadn’t gotten there when he did, Camilla would’ve taken the fall for something she had nothing to do with.

Just thinking about it made her skin crawl.

Right then, Camilla’s phone rang. The number on the screen wasn’t saved in her contacts. Without a second thought, she rejected the call.

She still hadn’t gotten over the last time she answered an unknown number and got a stream of abuse. Now, just seeing a call she didn’t recognize put her on edge.

***

Meanwhile, back at the hotel, Daniel handed the phone back to the front desk, jaw tight.

He’d just called Jackson, filling him in that all the talk about Camilla cheating was just a giant misunderstanding. Jackson checked into it and, sure enough, realized it was all just a rumor that spiraled out of control.

Suddenly, Daniel wasn’t sure about the divorce anymore.

He tried to call Camilla, but she didn’t pick up. With no one else to turn to, he called Barbara.

Barbara had been waiting for this call, hoping for good news.

When she’d first heard about the cheating scandal, her mind went straight to figuring out how many people she could tell, how far she could spread it. Adah and Lean didn’t know that many people, mostly just professors and other folks from the university, but Barbara got creative. She even managed to dig up the name of Camilla’s supposed lover, then reached out to Henrietta. That was why Henrietta had shown up at the hotel, right as Maddox was confronting Camilla.

Daniel kept going, like he needed an answer to cling to. “Barbie, are you coming back for the holidays or not? If you aren’t, I can come visit you. How does that sound?”

“Don’t come!” Barbara snapped, just a bit too quickly. “I’m… I’m coming back for the holidays, alright?”

That seemed to light Daniel right up. “Really? You mean it?”

She really meant it.

Barbara could feel Lambert drifting away lately. He didn’t seem quite as passionate as he was a few days ago. She understood, sort of. A man like him, rich and powerful, was bound to be surrounded by other women. With her far away, she knew she had to act before someone else caught his attention. She wanted to go home and make sure their relationship was locked in.

Lambert, however, had no idea someone was plotting to stake a claim on him.

After dropping them off, he turned to Catheleen. “Why don’t you head up first? I want a word with Cammie.”