Divorced the Cheat Married the Fleet (Camilla and Lance) novel Chapter 78

The Verdant project she mentioned was the one The Black Group had been hyping up for months. The Carter Group always wanted a slice of the new energy game, but they’d never managed to snag an in. Sure, they’d worked with The Black family before, but it was all on the sidelines, nothing truly important. Now it looked like Barnard was hoping to cozy up to Carol and land the Black family’s most lucrative new project.

Camilla had her fingerprints all over the company’s biggest wins, and Barnard knew she was no fool. He didn’t bother hiding anything. “Camilla, you get how critical this is for us, right? Jim and Carol are ridiculously close. If we can make Carol happy, the project is almost in the bag.”

“So, if we get the project, what’s our profit for the first quarter?” Camilla asked.

Barnard frowned, a little thrown by the question, but he answered anyway. “Rough estimate… about half a billion.”

“Fifty million,” Camilla replied smoothly.

Barnard blinked, confused. “What?”

She looked at him, her expression calm. “Barnard, it’s your plan to impress The Black Group, but you’re taking next quarter’s top products from my line. I’ll have to pull endless overtime to fix it. All I want is ten percent of the first quarter’s profits as my cut. Seems fair, doesn’t it?”

“We’re married, Camilla. Do we really have to keep such strict tabs?” Barnard tried to laugh it off, but something sharp twisted in his chest. Camilla used to be easy to handle, always predictable, but now… She felt out of reach.

Camilla just raised a brow. “Clear accounting saves a lot of drama later. And honestly, it gives me more motivation to do the job.”

Barnard narrowed his eyes, searching her face for the easygoing Camilla of old. Her tone was different, almost mocking.

“You never talked like this before.”

“That’s because I used to be naive. I didn’t realize how much money actually matters. So, Barnard, are you in or not? No point dragging it out.”

She’d already made it clear she wanted a divorce, so she saw no reason to tiptoe around him.

Barnard gripped his hands tight, let go, then repeated it again and again, lost in thought. Camilla had been asking for big money lately—more than he’d ever given her in the past five years. She’d always helped the company just because he asked, never asking for anything, let alone making conditions.

But now…

Barnard left without another word.

As Camilla turned to head back to the hospital room, she spotted Elise standing at the end of the hallway. She had no idea how long her mother had been standing there, just watching her.

Camilla walked over. “Mom, it’s late. Why aren’t you resting?”

Elise reached out, taking her daughter’s hand. “Camilla, I heard everything you just said. I’m so sorry, sweetheart. It’s my fault for misunderstanding things. I never should’ve let you go through all this.”

All these years, Elise thought Barnard loved Camilla deeply. She always believed that marrying into the Carter family and having a husband like Barnard was the best luck Camilla could ever have. When Camilla seemed unhappy, Elise blamed her for not appreciating her husband.

But now—with her own eyes—she finally saw the truth. There was no love in Barnard’s actions. He was only ever using Camilla.

Maybe that stranger had been right. Camilla had given the Carter family far more than she’d ever gotten in return. That’s why Barnard could turn around, right after fighting for someone else, and still swallow his pride just to keep Camilla on his side.