Chapter 162

Chapter 162:

“Camille,” she murmured, her voice rough and faint.

“I’m here,” Camille repeated, squeezing her hand gently. “The surgery was successful. They got the entire tumor.”

Victoria’s gaze drifted around the room, taking in her surroundings with growing awareness. “How long?”

“Just over four hours,” Camille told her. “Dr. Lin said there was less spread than they feared. Your prognosis is excellent.”

Victoria nodded slightly, the movement clearly requiring effort. “The company?”

Even now, even here, Victoria’s thoughts turned to Kane Industries. Camille almost smiled.

“Everything is under control,” she assured her. “Section A of the Grid is fully operational. The stock price is stable. I’ve updated the board that your procedure was successful and you’re resting.”

“Good,” Victoria whispered. Her eyelids drooped, the medication still heavy in her system.

Camille leaned closer. “Victoria,” she said softly, “I read your notes.”

Victoria’s eyes opened again, fixing on Camille’s face with surprising clarity. “I need to tell you something,” Camille continued, her voice catching.

“Something I should have said before.”

Victoria waited, a rare patience in her gaze.

“You saved me,” Camille said simply. “Not just from Rose and Stefan. Not just from being destroyed. You saved me from becoming like them, someone who only takes, who only ruins what others build.”

She paused, gathering courage for the words that mattered most. “When my own mother chose Rose over me, you chose me. You saw me when no one else did. You became…”

Camille’s voice faltered, tears threatening again. “You became my mother. Not by blood, but by everything that matters.”

Victoria’s fingers tightened around hers with unexpected strength. For a moment, Camille feared she had gone too far, crossed a boundary that Victoria would never permit. But when she met Victoria’s eyes, she saw something she had never witnessed before—tears gathering at the corners, making the gray irises shine in the dim light.

“I know,” Victoria whispered.

Just those two words, but they held everything Camille needed to hear. Victoria knew. She understood. She accepted the bond between them, not mentor and student, not benefactor and recipient, but mother and daughter in the ways that truly mattered.

Victoria’s eyes began to close again, the medication pulling her back toward sleep. “Stay,” she murmured, her grip on Camille’s hand loosening as consciousness slipped away.

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