Chapter 470

Chapter 470:

“I can explain,” he said finally.

“Can you?” Camille’s voice cracked despite her efforts to stay calm. “Can you explain why you have dozens of photos of Victoria taken during our wedding? Can you explain the security plans for Kane Industries? Can you explain Richard Pierce’s journal?”

Alexander looked up at her then, and she saw something she’d never seen before. Not the loving husband, not the supportive partner. This was someone else entirely. Someone who’d been hiding behind Alexander’s face all along.

“Yes,” he said simply. “I can explain all of it.”

Camille had expected him to deny everything. To lie, to make excuses, to try to convince her she’d misunderstood what she’d seen. His calm admission hit her like a physical blow.

“Victoria Kane destroyed my uncle,” Alexander said, his voice steady and cold. “She deliberately covered up a factory accident that killed seventeen people. When my uncle Richard threatened to expose her, she systematically destroyed his company and his life.”

Camille felt the room spinning around her. “That’s not true. Victoria would never…”

“Seventeen people died because of faulty equipment that Victoria knew was dangerous,” Alexander continued, ignoring her protest. “Workers with families. People with children. Victoria chose profits over human lives, and when my uncle tried to do the right thing, she crushed him like an insect.”

“You’re lying.” But even as she said it, doubt crept into her voice. She’d seen Richard Pierce’s journal entries. The pain in those pages had felt real.

Alexander leaned forward, his eyes burning with intensity. “My uncle lost everything. His company. His reputation. His will to live. Victoria made sure no one would hire him, no bank would lend to him, no business partner would trust him. She isolated him completely.”

“Even if that’s true,” Camille said, her voice shaking, “what does that have to do with us? With our marriage?”

“I found out the night before our engagement party,” Alexander said. “Someone sent me documents. Proof of what Victoria had done. Evidence that the woman who saved you was the same woman who murdered my uncle.”

Camille’s chest felt tight. She remembered their engagement party. How Alexander had seemed different after talking to someone she didn’t recognize. How he’d been quieter, more distant in the days that followed.

“So you decided to use me,” she whispered.

“I decided to get justice for my uncle.” Alexander’s jaw tightened. “Victoria Kane has never faced consequences for what she did. She’s built an empire on the graves of innocent people, and everyone treats her like some kind of savior.”

“By marrying me? By pretending to love me?”

For the first time, Alexander’s controlled mask slipped. Pain flashed across his features. “It wasn’t pretending. Not all of it.”

“How much?” The words came out as a sob. “How much of our relationship was real, Alexander? How much of what I felt, what I believed, was actually true?”

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