Divorced the Cheat Married the Fleet (Camilla and Lance) novel Chapter 497

By the time Camilla and Lance returned to Laguna Shores, the mountain of clothes she had purchased with Tessa had already been delivered.

Jasper stared at the towering pile of designer bags, his little forehead wrinkled in confusion. “Mom, did you rob a mall? Why is there so much stuff?”

“These are presents from... your grandmother. Go see if you like them.” Camilla hesitated slightly, glancing at Lance before using the title.

Lance raised an eyebrow. “Since when are you two close enough to go shopping together? The woman is delusional and constantly crossing boundaries. You should keep your distance before she drags you into another disaster.”

“She used to be delusional, sure, but she finally took a hard line regarding Sarah today. I think she’s finally woken up,” Camilla defended smoothly. “Besides, I promised your grandfather I’d take the reins at The Charles Group. I won’t be able to avoid interacting with her and your father forever. But don't worry, Lance. If you're not ready to forgive her, I won't get deeply involved with her either.”

Lance’s voice lost some of its edge. “As long as it's just business, do what you have to do.”

Camilla smiled faintly, recognizing the subtle softening in his tone. He wasn't nearly as hostile toward his mother as he had been a few weeks ago.

The clothes served as a minor blip in their evening. Camilla had the staff hang Lance’s new shirts in his closet, and he didn't utter a word of complaint.

Early the next morning, the police successfully breached Sarah's encrypted laptop.

The hard drive contained access logs to a dark web forum routed directly through Silvania.

Sarah hadn't been a mastermind; she was just a desperate customer who had used her wealth to hire the mercenaries who had kidnapped Tessa.

But as cyber investigators traced the forum's traffic, they hit the jackpot. The IP addresses pinging back and forth from Silvania perfectly matched a shadow network operating out of Valdoria.

This wasn't just a handful of criminals—it was an international syndicate. Besides Clement, dozens of seemingly legitimate corporations were tangled in this massive web of illegal trade.

Following Lance’s initial rescue, military intelligence had been quietly piecing the puzzle together. Now, with the data from the forum acting as the final key, law enforcement agencies coordinated a sweeping nationwide crackdown. Within a matter of days, over a dozen high-profile suspects were dragged out of their offices in handcuffs.

The evidence was insurmountable. They were knee-deep in drug trafficking and illegal pharmaceutical trials. The operation culminated with Clement himself being ambushed and captured near the Silvanian border.

The identities of the syndicate’s leadership perfectly matched the targets Chief Mahoney's task force had been hunting. Through a joint military-police operation, an international arrest warrant brought the rest of the leadership to its knees.

The news hit the media like an atomic bomb.

But Camilla had never given up hope. She refused to accept that her father was gone.

Gripping her mother's fragile hands tightly, Camilla spoke with unwavering conviction. “Yes, Mom. And I promise you, we’re going to find out exactly what happened to him.”

Anxiety warred with hope in Elise’s eyes. She let out a ragged sigh. “It's been so many years. I stopped praying for miracles a long time ago. Just knowing those monsters are behind bars is enough to bring me peace.”

She had spent a decade burying her hope, terrified of having her heart broken all over again. By accepting he had died in the line of duty, she spared herself the agonizing uncertainty.

But now, with the truth hovering inches away, the paralyzing terror returned.

What if her husband was one of the victims they had dragged out of that lab? What if he had spent the last decade enduring unimaginable torture?

Meanwhile, back in Valdoria, Clement was sitting in an interrogation room.

The resulting fallout had also briefly entangled Mike, dragging the underworld boss into a grueling series of police interviews.