Chapter 158

Chapter 158:

Camille took a deep breath, steadying herself. “Victoria would say humanity is overrated.”

Alexander smiled slightly. “Victoria says a lot of things. But she also took in a stranger who reminded her of her daughter, rebuilt her, and made everything she values. Those aren’t the actions of someone who doesn’t understand love.”

A nurse appeared at the café entrance, scanning the room until she spotted them. “Ms. Kane? They’ve taken Ms. Victoria to surgery now.”

Camille nodded, pulling herself together with visible effort. “Thank you. I’ll be up shortly.”

After the nurse left, Camille turned back to Alexander. “Will you stay? During the surgery?”

“Of course,” he replied without hesitation. “As long as you need me.”

She gathered Victoria’s folder from the table, hugging it to her chest. “She left me notes. Things she wants me to know. I haven’t been able to read them yet.”

“Would it help if we read them together?”

Camille considered the offer. The papers felt intensely private, a direct line to Victoria’s thoughts. But the idea of facing them alone seemed suddenly overwhelming.

“Yes,” she admitted. “It would.”

They walked to the private waiting room that had been prepared for them, a small space with comfortable furniture and windows overlooking the hospital gardens. Camille sat on the sofa, Alexander beside her, and opened the folder with trembling fingers.

Victoria’s handwriting filled the pages—elegant, precise strokes that reflected her personality. Camille began to read aloud, her voice soft in the quiet room.

“Camille,” she began, “If you’re reading this, I am either in surgery or have not survived it. I prefer to believe the former, but I’ve never been one to ignore possibilities, however unpleasant.”

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Camille paused, steadying her voice before continuing.

“There are practical matters addressed in these notes, strategies for dealing with the board, warnings about potential rivals, advice for the completion of the Phoenix Grid. All important, all necessary. But there are other things I need to say, things we never found the right moment to tell you.”

Alexander’s hand found hers—warm and supportive.

“When I found you that night, beaten and broken, I saw myself as I had been thirty years ago, a woman betrayed, left with nothing. I told myself I was helping you for Sophia’s sake, that saving you would somehow redeem my failure to protect my daughter. I was wrong.”

Camille looked up, meeting Alexander’s gaze with surprise. Victoria Kane rarely admitted being wrong about anything.

“I helped you because you deserved to be helped. Because the strength in you called to the strength in me. Because in your eyes, I saw not just pain but a fire that others had tried and failed to extinguish.”

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