Divorce Him, Then Dazzle novel Chapter 55

Camilla was barely halfway home when her phone started buzzing. It was Barbara. The second she picked up, Barbara’s voice came crackling through, all sharp and accusing.

“You really went to Mom and Dad’s place? What did you tell them?” Barbara sounded angrier by the second. “I’m not even in the country, but would it kill you to just not upset them for once? You can’t even manage that?”

Camilla tried to keep her cool. “I just told them I want a divorce. That’s all.”

“And you thought bothering them with something like that was a good idea?” Barbara snapped. “Daniel is a perfectly good guy. What, exactly, isn’t good enough for you? You say he doesn’t love you, so why don’t you try a little harder to be better, make him fall for you? Bad things happen, sure, and maybe you feel insecure right now, but that’s not a reason to just give up on your marriage.”

Sometimes Camilla wondered if families really did breed the same kind of people, because in a lot of ways, Barbara was just like Lean and Adah. So many years had gone by, and Camilla still couldn’t master the art of quietly tearing someone down, of steering them with just a few choice words.

“I’m not good enough for him, okay? I just don’t want to drag him down anymore,” Camilla said. “Fine, I’m insecure, I’m not accomplished, whatever—you win. I admit it.”

“Then why don’t you hold on to him even tighter?” Barbara’s tone was panicked now. She was close to getting what she wanted in her own love life, and she couldn’t afford any drama at home throwing things off. She had her sights set on marrying rich, and the last thing she needed was the embarrassment of a divorced sister. People talked. She knew that.

Her phone buzzed again—Lambert was checking in about the so-called confession. The truth was, no one had even confessed to her. She’d just made it up, hoping it would finally force Lambert to say something real to her, to change whatever unspoken thing lay between them.

Sure enough, Lambert came right out and asked if it was true, every word he sent laced with nerves. Barbara replied, I turned him down, obviously. I don’t even like the guy.

But she wanted a reaction, so she added, I rejected him flat out, but he still won’t stop. He follows me around every day. Tell me, what am I supposed to do?

Camilla couldn’t help laughing. “I’m the victim. So what exactly did I do wrong?”

“If you’d just been better, tried harder, made Daniel fall in love with you, he wouldn’t have given you away so easily when things went bad.”

“Fine, I get it. I’m just not good enough.” Camilla’s voice hardened. “You always say Daniel likes you, right? Since you think he’s so amazing, I’ll divorce him and he can be yours.”

“Are you crazy? Stop saying stuff like that!” Barbara was fuming now. “If anyone heard that, imagine what they’d say about me. Even if I liked Daniel, I’d never go for my own sister’s husband. That’s why I left the country in the first place!”