Divorced the Cheat Married the Fleet (Camilla and Lance) novel Chapter 45

As it turned out, Camilla really hadn’t been unfair to Davina after all.

The following evening, Camilla got a call from the hospital. Elise had suffered a fright, her condition had worsened, and she’d been rushed back to the ICU. Camilla barely had time to figure out what had happened when Laura’s name lit up her phone.

It was Calvin on the line. His voice was sharp and urgent. “Get to the police station right now. Do whatever it takes, but get Barnard out of there. This issue has to be covered up, and absolutely nothing can lead back to Barnard.”

Camilla gripped her phone tightly and didn’t answer for a long moment.

Honestly, today’s mess really was Davina’s doing.

Apparently, Davina had decided on her own to visit Elise at the hospital. That’s where she crossed paths with a former employer—someone she used to work for as a nanny. The story, as Camilla had pieced together from the nurses, went like this. While Davina was working for that family, she’d been careless, and their little girl had knocked over a pot of boiling water. The scalds were so severe that the child was hospitalized in the ICU. The parents, furious and heartbroken, had taken Davina to court.

Shortly after that, Barnard stepped in to “fix” things for Davina. To this day, Camilla had no idea what he’d actually done. All she knew came from hospital gossip and snippets from the nurses.

When Davina bumped into that family at the hospital, chaos followed. The parents shouted that she should pay with her life. Barnard showed up and tried to protect Davina, but in the commotion, Elise got scared and was rushed into the ICU herself.

Someone at the hospital ended up calling the police. That’s how the family, plus Barnard and Davina, all wound up at the station.

The whole thing was just... absurd. Camilla could hardly believe it. She’d always thought Davina was a little scatterbrained, but she never imagined she could be so reckless. Making a careless mistake as someone’s nanny was one thing, but to cause that kind of harm and then end up in this mess?

Still, all Camilla could really think about was Elise. With her mother in the ICU, how was she supposed to find the energy or the headspace to deal with Barnard and Davina’s trouble at the police station?

Camilla’s silence seemed to make Calvin even angrier. “Did you hear me? This can’t wait. Before anyone finds out, you need to get Barnard out of there—immediately.”

Camilla could only sigh. Her whole body felt drained. “I’ll go in and see what’s going on.”

Inside the mediation room, a young couple was still furious, pointing at Davina and yelling. Next to them sat an older woman in her sixties, probably the grandmother. She stared at the floor, so quiet she barely seemed to breathe.

Davina, on the other hand, just repeated in a small voice, “I didn’t mean for it to happen. I didn’t do it on purpose… I’m sorry…”

Barnard stood between Davina and the family, shielding her. There was an obvious flicker of impatience in his eyes. “Why are you still making such a big deal? Didn’t we agree already? We gave you a million, you signed the settlement, and that should’ve been the end of it. Why are we still talking about this?”

The young man exploded. “A settlement? Are you kidding me? My daughter is still in the ICU! What kind of settlement is that?” He jabbed a finger at Barnard, voice shaking with anger. “You tricked my mother into signing those papers behind our backs while my wife and I were gone. What are those even worth? You people are heartless. My wife and I trusted you with our child, and now she’s in the ICU because of you. And you think a million settles it? Dream on!”

Listening to this argument, Camilla finally understood the whole story. The way Barnard had “fixed” things for Davina was by convincing an elderly woman—without her son or daughter-in-law there—to sign the settlement for the family.