Sham Marriage Quit Real Heiress Strikes Back novel Chapter 313

Sham Marriage Quit, Real Heiress Strikes Back

Chapter 313 A Mother’s Tears

Finished

Camille leaned in, pressing her cheek gently against Catherine’s. “I… I might not be able to visit as often from now on. Dad’ll look after you. Once I’m settled with the Sterlings, I’ll come back. You understand, don’t you? You won’t hold it against me-”

“Where do you think you’re going?”

Richard’s voice cut through the quiet from behind her.

Camille jumped, startled. She turned to find him standing in the doorway, his expression unreadable. She had no idea how long he’d been there. The cold, hardened look in his eyes sent a shiver straight down her spine.

“Dad… what are you doing here?”

She forced a weak smile.

She still hadn’t found the right way to tell him she was leaving for the Sterling family.

“What was that you were saying to your mother?”

Richard stepped into the room, his voice low.

Camille swallowed reflexively. “Nothing, really…”

But she knew she had to tell him sooner or later.

In just a few days, the Sterlings would hold the recognition ceremony.

Her smile tightened nervously. “Dad, there’s something I need to tell you. You remember Malcolm, right? Well, it turns out he’s the eldest son of the Sterling family. I’m his daughter- they want me back now. Once I’m with them and have my feet under the table, I can get us resources. We won’t have to worry about the Hawthornes or the Kingsleys anymore.”

Richard’s gaze never left her.

“When Malcolm first tried to take you back, you said you couldn’t bear to leave your mother and me. So what changed now?”

Camille struggled for words.

“It’s different now. After Mom’s accident, things have been tough for the family business. The Kingsleys have been pushing us around nonstop. If I go back to the Sterlings, everything could

turn around.”

She spoke in a hurried rush, and it reminded Richard of the first time Camille learned she was Malcolm’s daughter–ready to walk away from the Harts.

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Chapter 313 A Mother’s Tears

43

Finished

Back then, she’d clung to Catherine, sobbing her heart out.

She’d sworn she didn’t want to leave. That in her heart, they were her real parents, and nothing could make her walk away.

She’d even said they’d be forcing her to die if they made her go.

Looking back now, it was all just an act–a performance to keep the comfortable life she’d always known.

The daughter he raised was just like him: profits first, everything else later.

That same day, an anonymous email had popped up on his phone. He’d opened it and heard the recording–Camille desperately distancing herself from the Harts, her voice dripping with fake sincerity.

Like she’d really been trapped here against her will.

Now, watching her put on that same pitiful show right in front of him, Richard thought that if he didn’t know her better, he might actually have fallen for it.

“Dad…”

Camille had no clue what was going through his mind, and his silence made her uneasy.

Then, out of nowhere, Richard reached over and softly patted her hair. “You’re right. With your mother like this, it’s just the two of us holding down the fort now. Camille, you’d better make this work. Whether the Harts can get back on top… that’s on you now.”

Camille had heard lines like that more times than she could remember.

In his eyes, she was an asset first, and his daughter second.

Resentment simmered inside her, but Camille still nodded obediently. “I know, Dad. Don’t worry. You and Mom will always be my parents to me.”

“That’s my girl.”

Richard smiled–a thin, knowing smile.

“I should get going. I’ve got things to take care of.”

Camille didn’t want to be alone with Richard a moment longer than she had to, and she made her exit as quickly as she could.

Once she was gone, Richard turned to Catherine lying motionless in the hospital bed. A dry chuckle escaped him. “You see that? Our wonderful daughter. Such a treasure. Now that the

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Chapter 313 A Mother’s Tears

Sterlings want her, she can’t wait to toss us aside…”

Finished.

Catherine didn’t move a muscle. But a single tear traced a path from the corner of her eye down her temple.

She could hear everything.

And there was nothing she could do about it.

How did it come to this?

Camille was the daughter she’d loved and cherished all these years. For her sake, Catherine had even turned her back on her own flesh and blood.

How could Camille just abandon them and run straight into the Sterlings‘ arms?

Richard must have gotten it wrong.

It was just like Camille said.

She was only going to the Sterlings to secure resources for them–to help the Hart family rise again.

When Elena got home, Alexander still wasn’t back. She dozed off into a restless sleep, until she felt a cool hand resting lightly on her forehead.

Her eyes flew open.

She found herself staring into a pair of bright, familiar eyes.

But the look in them was completely foreign.

Elena knew something was off. Without a word, she reached over instinctively to the nightstand, pulled open the drawer, and took out a small prescription bottle. She shook two pills into her palm.

Moving swiftly, she placed them directly into his mouth.

Alexander didn’t speak. Elena brought her warm hand up to cradle his face. She could feel the tension in his jaw, the subtle rise of a vein along his temple beneath her fingertip.

“Take the medicine, Alexander”

She leaned her forehead against his.

She felt the uneven rhythm of his breathing and softened her voice, speaking as if soothing

a

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Chapter 313 A Mother’s Tears

child. “Swallow it.”

Finished

His Adam’s apple moved. Fighting back the raging storm in his mind–the beast threatening to break loose–he swallowed the pills.

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