Chapter 285
Chapter 285:
Victoria took Camille’s hands, her grip surprisingly firm despite her weakened state. “Listen to me. What we’ve built together—Kane Industries, the Phoenix Grid, your transformation—it can’t end when I do. It needs to continue. You need to continue.”
Camille pulled her hands away. “How can you talk about business at a time like this? We should be discussing treatments, specialists, clinical trials.”
“I’ve seen every specialist worth seeing,” Victoria said patiently. “Tried every treatment with any chance of success. The cancer has spread too far, too fast.”
“So you’re just giving up?” Anger flared again, hot and desperate. “The Victoria Kane I know would never surrender without a fight.”
“I have fought.” For the first time, real emotion cracked Victoria’s composed exterior. “I have fought with everything I have. But some battles can’t be won, Camille. Some enemies can’t be defeated through sheer will.”
The vulnerability in Victoria’s voice—something Camille had never heard before—punctured her anger. Suddenly, she saw not the formidable businesswoman who had rescued and transformed her, but a woman facing her own mortality. Afraid. In pain. Alone.
Camille’s anger dissolved, replaced by a wave of pure grief so powerful it nearly knocked her off her feet. She stumbled forward, wrapping her arms around Victoria.
“Don’t leave me,” she sobbed against Victoria’s shoulder. “Please don’t leave me, Mommy.”
The word slipped out without thought, a raw, honest expression of what Victoria had truly become to her. Not just a mentor. Not just a business partner. But a mother who had saved her, protected her, and loved her when she needed it most.
Victoria froze for a moment, then her arms came around Camille, holding her tightly. Camille felt a dampness against her hair and realized Victoria was crying too—silent tears she had probably never allowed herself to shed in front of anyone.
“My girl,” Victoria whispered, her voice thick with emotion. “My wonderful girl.” They stood like that, holding each other, tears mingling. For a moment, there was no Kane Industries, no Rose, no upcoming gala. Just a mother and daughter facing the cruelest separation.
A knock at the door interrupted them. They pulled apart as Alexander entered, his expression changing instantly as he took in the scene—Victoria’s pallor, Camille’s tear-streaked face, the medical files on the desk.
G a lno v els .com is packed with thrilling adventures
“What happened?” he asked, closing the door behind him.
Camille couldn’t speak. Victoria answered for her, her voice steadier than her tear-stained face suggested.
“She knows,” Victoria said. “About my condition.”
Understanding dawned on Alexander’s face. “I see.”
Camille spun toward him, fresh betrayal cutting through her grief. “You knew? You knew and you didn’t tell me?”
Alexander approached her carefully, as one might approach a wounded animal. “It wasn’t my place to tell you, Camille. Victoria asked me to respect her privacy.”
.
.
.