Tee many people were around to talk epily, and since this Wes About
Camn isad his text and let out a dry, incredulous Isoph
"Unbelievable. They really have no shame."
''Three million?''
parents remully, ekish chiste is ittersaps her instead
It was bad enough they were banking on her to pull in a million. But now they
wanted to use her to cory up to the Woche family?
The Moore family-one of the most powerful names in all of Viremont?
"What a delusional little scheme.''
Another message popped up from Elijah. Elijah: [What''s your take on the whole Skyler thing?!
Cameron nced at him with a flicker of gratitude and typed back.
Cameron: [Elijah, first of all, thank you. I can''t believe you actually cut ties between yourpany and the Youngs over this ideally appreciate it but you didn''t have to. If it causes any negative impact on your family''s business, it''s not worth it.]
Elijah: [It won''t. Don''t worry about me.]
Cameron stared at the message.
''It won''t?''
That was impossible.
The Youngs and Moores had been working together for years. Breaking off that partnership would absolutely create ripple effects.
The Moore family couldn''t be immune to that.
A new message came in. Elijah: [Do you want me to help smooth things over with your dad?]
Cameron''s expression immediately darkened. "No. Absolutely not," she said out loud. "If you do, I''ll consider you my enemy."
Elijah looked at her like she''d lost her mind.
''Enemy? If anything, helping would bring our families closer.*
Elijah: [What do you mean?]
Cameron hesitated for a second. Cameron: [I''ve already severed all ties with them. We''re not family anymore.]
Elijah: [!!]
Elijah''s mind went nk.
The words hit him like a blow to the chest, and for a second, he felt his heart clench with something he couldn''t quite name.
''Severed ties? What have they done to push things that far? No wonder Cameron
has been so cold toward Milena. And yet...the Wace family to him like parasites.
gs
Elijah looked over at her, eyes unreadable.
Was it pity? Anger? He wasn''t sure
Then he teached out and gently ced a hand on her shoulder
A quiet, wordlessfort.
Cameron smiled faintly, brushing it off. I''m line, Elijsh. Restly. Let''s just leave
Martin and Heidi''s little n? It was already dead in the exten
Truth be told, Cameron didn''t think it had to go as far as cutting ties between the Moore and Young families.
But now, if she tried to step in and mend things, her so-called "family" would be the one to benefit.
She wasn''t going to let them profit from her.
As for whatever losses the Moore family might take......
She''d make up for them one day, when her pharmaceuticalpany was up and running
Elijah nodded. "Alright."
Cameron smiled. "Thanks. I guess I owe you another dinner."
Elijah''s lips curved slightly. "Looking forward to it."
The bell rang, and they both tucked their phones away without another word.
Three days passed.
Nothing changed on Cameron''s end.
The Young family, meanwhile, had started pestering Martin for updates. Martin, keeping up appearances, yed hard to get. And the Youngs didn''t dare push him too far-they still believed he had influence over Cameron.
So Martin turned around and pressured Milena instead.
After all, she was the only one in the family who could still approach Cameron.
But even Milena found it nearly impossible.
Xander had practically attached himself to Camerontely, following her around under the excuse of needing tutoring.
Cameron, meanwhile, had made a small fortune-over 100 thousand-off his "lessons."
Eventually, word got around to Mark. He finally learned the truth-Martin and Cameron were not on good terms. They had even signed a formal document severing their legal parent-child rtionship.
Only then did Mark realize-he''d been barking up the wrong tree.
So when Mark suddenly appeared in front of Cameron one afternoon, she was more than a little surprised.