Chapter 3

Arlene Bale.

Camden was the one who had suggested giving her that name. He told me that the name meant "a pledge" or "an oath", and he wanted Arlene to witness his oath to love me and protect me for the rest of his life.

I married him when I was 18 years old.

At the time, his family was on the verge of bankruptcy. On the other hand, I had a net worth of hundreds of millions of dollars.

I had gotten pregnant before marriage back then. Dad didn't want me or his grandchild to suffer, so he gave me a huge sum of money, and I used part of it to pull Bale Group back from the brink of collapse.

Even now, I still owned 30% of the shares in their company.

At first, I had thought of giving Camden both my pregnancy test result and the share transfer agreement as a surprise. After all, I knew that he was still being controlled by the other older shareholders of the company.

But now, it wasn't necessary anymore.

I couldn't sleep the entire night.

Saul emailed me the drafted divorce agreement, and I immediately went to print it out in the study.

When I came out, I ran into Patricia bringing up a big bowl of chicken stew up the stairs. She shielded the stew from me and yelled, "What's the hurry? Don't you know that I spent three hours making this stew for Ruth? How's she going to eat it if it's spilled on the floor?"

I didn't hold back like I used to anymore. I knocked the bowl to the floor and said, "Well, she can't eat it now! Arlene never got to eat it anyway."

Patricia's temper cooled halfway down at the mention of Arlene's name. However, she still stubbornly said, "That's a different matter altogether! Who would have thought that she'd still be disobedient and run off on her own when she was already ten years old?

"That's enough, Angeline. Arlene was my granddaughter too. How could I now be upset about her death? But you can't keep using her as an excuse to act crazy everywhere you go!"

The last strand of my sanity snapped as soon as she talked about Arlene.

"What do you mean by her being disobedient and running out on her own?" I roared. "You watched her grow up! You know how obedient she was! You were the ones who never kept an eye on her! You were the ones who caused her death!"

Camden appeared and pulled me back, dark circles hanging under his face.

"Angeline! How could you talk to Mom like that? Don't you know that she stayed up all night out of guilt? Look at her; her eyes are still bloodshot! You're not the only one who loved Arlene!"

I shoved him aside with all my strength. "Are her eyes bloodshot because of guilt? Or, is it because she stayed up all night making the stew for her new daughter-in-law? Don't you dare use Arlene as a shield against me. I'm not blind!"

Patricia was at her wits' end. She shook her head and exclaimed, "You're out of your mind! You've clearly lost your marbles!"

Ruth pushed the door open and walked out, massaging her temples.

"What's all this noise about?"

Patricia glared at me before smiling brightly at Ruth.

"It's nothing. Go back to bed. I'll bring you another bowl of chicken stew in a while."

Ruth, however, didn't budge. She just smiled lightly at Patricia and said, "Thank you."

Then, she cast me a look of pity and said to Camden, "I know a few skilled psychologists, Camden. Maybe you should bring Ms. White in for a visit. Her condition seems very unstable and abnormal."

Then, she turned and went back into the room.

Camden stared at me like he was seriously considering Ruth's suggestion.

"I'm not sick," I said coldly before returning to my room.

Camden wanted to come after me, but there was a sudden loud cry, and he immediately ran back to hug Ruth.

My lips curled upward in a self-mocking grin. He really was his mother's son. Why did I even get my hopes up about what he wanted to say to me?

The family doctor was quickly summoned. After the checkup, he diagnosed Ruth with food poisoning and recommended that she get her stomach pumped at the hospital as soon as possible.

"Ruth's meals have been personally put together by the nutritionist. How could she possibly get food poisoning all of a sudden?" Camden demanded.

Then, he looked at the butler and said, "Reginald, find the person behind this! Nobody in this household will be exempted!"

Camden's sharp gaze swept across everyone in the villa. Then, he went out after Ruth, clearly planning to drive her to the hospital.

An idea suddenly struck me, and I called out to him.

"Camden."

"If you want to talk, we can do it after I return from the hospital," he said, not stopping at all.

I spoke up again.

"I want to transfer the shares to you."

Camden gradually slowed down. He told the doctor to send Ruth to the hospital first, then started walking back toward me.

"Why are you bringing this up now?"

I mocked him internally for prioritizing money over his so-called first love.

"I had prepared a surprise for you on Ari's birthday, but so many things happened these past few days, and I forgot about it. Since it's the annual shareholders' meeting tomorrow, I was thinking of transferring the shares to you before it happens."

I then handed him the share transfer agreement, along with the divorce agreement, feeling my heart pounding in my chest.

Camden flipped through the documents and asked, "Why is this document so thick? Is there another document in here?"