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Author: Gem
last update publish date: 2026-04-04 23:54:41

Brandon’s POV

I woke up slowly, not in the usual rushed and disoriented way that comes with alarms or stress or unfinished thoughts, but in a quiet, almost unfamiliar calm that made me want to stay exactly where I was without moving at all. For a few seconds, I kept my eyes closed, letting myself exist in that space between sleep and reality, trying to understand what felt so different, what had shifted enough to make everything feel softer.

Then I realized.

Cameron.

My head was resting against
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  • Rival's Marriage Agreement    176

    Cameron POVFor a few seconds, I could not breathe.I stared at Brandon as if I had never seen him before, even though I had spent what felt like my entire life trying to remember his face.“You were dead,” I whispered.Brandon’s eyes filled with tears again.“I know.”“No.” I shook my head violently. “No, you were dead. I watched you die.”“You watched me disappear.”“I watched you die.”My voice cracked so badly that everyone in the room went silent.Brandon stepped toward me, but I immediately stepped backward.The movement hurt him.I could see it in his face.“Cameron…”“Don’t.”He stopped.I pressed my hands against my head, desperately trying to hold back the images fighting their way through my mind.Blood.A gun.Brandon on the floor.His hand reaching toward me.My own voice screaming his name.Then darkness.“I remember holding you,” I whispered.Brandon swallowed.“I remember.”“You were bleeding.”“Yes.”“There was so much blood.”“I know.”“I thought I killed you.”“You

  • Rival's Marriage Agreement    175

    Cameron’s POVI couldn’t breathe.I couldn’t even blink.The image was still inside my head.Blood.A gun.Brandon crying.And my hands covered in red.I looked down at my palms.They were clean.They had always been clean.But suddenly, I could feel the warmth of blood between my fingers.I could smell it.I could hear someone screaming.I squeezed my eyes shut.“Cameron.”Brandon’s voice sounded far away.“Cameron, look at me.”I couldn’t.“I killed someone.”“No.”His answer came immediately.“You don’t know that.”“My father said—”“Your father lies.”“But I remembered it!”Brandon grabbed my face gently.“Then remember everything.”I opened my eyes.He was standing inches away.His eyes were filled with fear.Not fear of me.Fear for me.“You remembered blood,” he whispered.“Yes.”“You remembered a gun.”“Yes.”“You remembered me.”I nodded.“But you didn’t remember who was holding the gun.”I froze.Brandon’s expression changed.“You don’t remember that part, do you?”“No.”He

  • Rival's Marriage Agreement    174

    Cameron’s POVI stared at my grandfather.He was crying.Not pretending.Not hiding it.Actually crying.And somehow, that was worse than anything my father could have said.Because my grandfather had always looked untouchable.He was the man who seemed to know every secret in the room.The man who always had an answer.The man who had spent years telling everyone that he was protecting us.Now he couldn’t even look me in the eyes.“Grandfather.”My voice barely came out.He wiped his face.“Cameron…”“Did I kill someone?”Nobody answered.My father’s expression remained calm.Almost too calm.Brandon stepped closer to me.“Don’t listen to him.”My father looked at Brandon.“You’re still protecting him.”“Yes.”“Even now?”“Especially now.”My father laughed.“You really are loyal.”Brandon’s jaw tightened.I looked at my grandfather again.“Tell me.”He closed his eyes.“Cameron, you need to understand what happened.”“No.”My voice became louder.“I don’t need another explanation th

  • Rival's Marriage Agreement    173

    Cameron’s POVMy father’s voice echoed through the tunnel.“Bring my son to me.”I couldn’t move.It was strange how one sentence could make every memory I’d ever buried claw its way back to the surface.My palms became sweaty.My chest tightened.And suddenly, I was twelve again.Standing in that hallway.Holding Amelia’s hand.Listening to my father’s footsteps getting closer.“Cameron.”Brandon’s voice pulled me back.I looked at him.He was standing directly in front of me.Protecting me.Again.“Stay behind me.”I swallowed.“I don’t want you to get hurt again.”His eyes softened.“I don’t care.”“I do.”He stared at me.Then I reached for his hand.“I care about you too much.”For a second, he looked like he wanted to say something.Then Ethan whispered,“Can we have this emotional moment somewhere that isn’t about to become a crime scene?”Adrian elbowed him.“Ow.”“What?”“You’re ruining the moment.”“I’m trying to keep everyone alive.”Despite everything, I almost smiled.The

  • Rival's Marriage Agreement    172

    Cameron’s POV“Amelia.”The name left my mouth like a question.Like if I said it too loudly, the voice would disappear.Nobody moved.Nobody dared to breathe.The darkness around us felt heavy, but somehow, all I could hear was my own heartbeat pounding inside my chest.Then the voice came again.“Cameron?”My knees almost gave out.Brandon caught me around the waist.“Easy.”I grabbed his arm.“She’s alive.”My voice cracked.“She’s actually alive.”My grandfather didn’t say anything.Ethan did.“Where is she?”The voice answered from somewhere behind us.“I’m here.”A tiny light flickered on.Then another.A figure slowly stepped out from behind one of the shelves.A woman.Her hair was longer than I remembered.Her face was thinner.She looked older.But I knew those eyes.I knew that smile.I knew the tiny scar above her eyebrow from when we were children and she had fallen off her bicycle because she insisted she could ride without holding the handles.My sister.My Amelia.My h

  • Rival's Marriage Agreement    171

    Cameron’s POVI couldn’t stop staring at the note.Victor isn’t the enemy. He’s protecting me.Those words didn’t make sense.None of this made sense.My grandfather was supposedly controlling my father.Victor was supposedly controlling my grandfather.Brandon had supposedly erased my memories.My sister had disappeared.And somehow, I had apparently planned part of it myself.At this point, I was starting to think my family needed therapy more than secrets.A lot of therapy.Brandon stepped closer.“Cameron?”I looked at him.“What?”“You’re shaking.”I looked down.He was right.My hands were trembling badly.“I don’t understand anything anymore.”Brandon gently took the note from my fingers.“You don’t have to understand everything tonight.”“Yes, I do.”My voice cracked.“I’ve spent years not knowing who I am.”He stared at me quietly.“I wake up every day with holes in my memories, and everyone keeps telling me they’re protecting me.”My eyes filled with tears.“But nobody ever

  • Rival's Marriage Agreement    Chapter 68

    CAMERON’S POVSummer didn’t arrive loudly.It crept in through open windows, warm air, lighter clothes, and the way campus slowly emptied out like a party winding down. Finals ended. People left. The world got quieter again—but this time, it felt earned.Brandon’s internship offer sat between us li

  • Rival's Marriage Agreement    Chapter 65

    BRANDON’S POVNormal came back slowly.Not like a switch flipping on, but like a bruise fading—still tender if you touched it too hard, still visible if you looked closely, but not screaming anymore.Campus started acting like campus again.People rushed to class. Complained about deadlines. Argued

  • Rival's Marriage Agreement    Chapter 64

    CAMERON’S POVThe quiet felt illegal.That was the first thing I noticed the morning after everything ended. No buzzing phone. No anonymous messages. No trending hashtags attached to my name. Just sunlight slipping through the curtains and the soft sound of Brandon breathing beside me.I lay there

  • Rival's Marriage Agreement    Chapter 62

    BRANDON’S POVPhase Five didn’t come with a text.It came with silence.No messages.No threats.No anonymous numbers lighting up Cameron’s phone.Just… nothing.And somehow, that was worse.I noticed it first the next morning. Cameron sat on the edge of the bed at my cousin’s apartment, scrolling

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