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Chapter 99

Author: Gem
last update publish date: 2026-03-03 23:56:36

Cameron’s POV

I didn’t sleep.

Not because I was afraid.

Because I knew they wouldn’t stay quiet.

Exposure forces one of two responses: surrender or retaliation.

Institutions rarely choose surrender.

At 6:12 a.m., my phone lit up.

Campus-wide email.

Subject line: Commitment to Transparency and Institutional Integrity

I didn’t need to open it to know what it would say.

I opened it anyway.

Language polished. Corporate. Detached.

The university welcomes external review.

The preservation order was p
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  • Rival's Marriage Agreement    184

    Cameron POVThe footsteps became louder.They were coming from both sides of the corridor.I looked around the archive room.There were too many of them.“We need another way out,” Daniel said.Evan was already moving toward the shelves.“There is one.”My father stared at him.“You won’t find it.”Evan looked back.“You’re forgetting who taught me how to escape this place.”My father’s expression hardened.“Cameron did.”“Yes.”Evan pulled a file from a shelf and threw it onto the floor.Behind it was a narrow opening in the wall.Amelia stared.“That was there the whole time?”Evan nodded.“This facility was built with emergency passages.”Adrian hurried toward it.“Where does it lead?”“Outside.”Everyone started moving.Everyone except me.I was still staring at the screen.The final sentence remained there.THE HUNT STARTS NOW.My younger self had known this would happen.He had planned for it.But there was something else.A small blinking icon had appeared in the corner of the

  • Rival's Marriage Agreement    183

    Cameron POVMy father’s laughter followed me through the corridor.It was the kind of laugh that made my skin crawl because there was no happiness in it.There was only certainty.As if everything happening around us had been planned long before any of us realized we were trapped inside his game.“The person I loved?” I repeated.Evan nodded.Brandon looked at me.I could see the same question in his eyes.“What does that mean?” I asked.Evan glanced toward my father.“It means the final archive wasn’t protected by a password.”I frowned.“Then what was it protected by?”“A choice.”My heart sank.“What choice?”Evan looked directly at Brandon.“You had to choose him.”I stared at Brandon.“I don’t understand.”“You weren’t supposed to access the archive by remembering a password,” Evan explained. “You were supposed to access it by remembering why you created it.”My father’s laughter stopped.“Enough.”Victor raised his gun.“Everyone move.”We hurried down the corridor.I could hear

  • Rival's Marriage Agreement    182

    Cameron POVFor several seconds, I could not move.I could barely breathe.The man standing across from me had my face.My eyes.My mouth.Even the small scar above my eyebrow.It felt like I was staring into a mirror that had somehow stepped out of the wall and learned how to breathe.Brandon moved in front of me.“Stay behind me.”The stranger laughed softly.“You still do that.”Brandon froze.“What?”“You always protect him.”The way he said it made my stomach twist.He knew Brandon.Not from stories.Not from photographs.He knew him.I stepped around Brandon.“Who are you?”The stranger looked at me.“You already know.”“No.”“Yes, you do.”He pointed toward my head.“You just haven’t reached the memory yet.”My father walked into the room behind him.“Enough.”I turned toward him.“You created him.”My father smiled.“I created many things.”“You created another me.”“No.”He looked at the stranger.“He created himself.”The stranger’s expression hardened.“That is not what you

  • Rival's Marriage Agreement    181

    Cameron POVThe lights went out.For a moment, I could not see anything.I could hear everyone breathing around me, the scrape of shoes against the floor, and somewhere in the darkness, the sharp sound of someone cocking a gun.“Everybody stay where you are!” Daniel shouted.My heart slammed against my ribs.Then I heard Brandon.“Cameron!”“I’m here!”I reached out blindly, desperate to find him.My fingers caught his hand.He pulled me toward him immediately, and I grabbed his shirt with both hands as if letting go would make him disappear again.“I’ve got you,” he whispered.“I know.”But I did not know.Nothing made sense anymore.My memories were not mine.My father had built Project Heir.Victor had erased memories.Adrian had been forced to help.And somehow, I had spent years believing things that might never have happened.Then a gunshot exploded in the darkness.I screamed.Brandon pulled me down.Another shot followed.Someone shouted.“Move!”Footsteps rushed across the ro

  • Rival's Marriage Agreement    180

    Cameron POVI stared at the phone.Then I looked at my father.He was smiling.Not the angry smile I had seen before.Not the cruel one.This was different.It was the smile of someone who had finally stopped pretending.“You,” I whispered.My father tilted his head.“Yes.”The word seemed to echo around the underground room.“You created Project Heir.”“Yes.”Amelia stepped backward.“No.”My father looked at her.“You always were the emotional one.”“You told me I was dead.”“I needed you to disappear.”“You burned our house.”“I needed everyone to believe you were gone.”Amelia’s face crumpled.“You ruined our family.”He shrugged.“Your grandfather ruined it long before I did.”Grandfather stepped forward.“Enough.”My father laughed.“You still think you can command me?”“I raised you.”“And you made me exactly what you wanted.”Victor suddenly spoke.“That’s not true.”My father turned toward him.“You of all people should know it is.”Victor’s face was hard.“You were never mea

  • Rival's Marriage Agreement    179

    Cameron POVFor several seconds, I could not look at Victor.My father’s words kept repeating inside my head.“It was him.”Victor had ordered Brandon’s shooting.Victor had planned the memory loss.Victor had told me to trust him.I felt Brandon’s hand still wrapped around mine, but suddenly I was afraid to move.“Is it true?” I asked.Victor didn’t answer.That silence was enough to make my stomach drop.“Victor.”He finally looked at me.“Yes.”My heart stopped.“You ordered it?”“Yes.”Brandon stepped forward.“Cameron, wait.”I pulled my hand away from his.“No.”He stared at me.“You knew?”“I knew he arranged the shooting.”My eyes widened.“You knew?”“I knew enough.”I laughed, but there was nothing funny about it.“Everyone knew.”Nobody spoke.“Everyone knew except me.”My voice cracked.“I was the only person who didn’t know what happened to my own life.”Victor’s expression remained calm, but there was pain in his eyes.“I did what you asked me to do.”“No.”I shook my he

  • Rival's Marriage Agreement    Chapter 61

    CAMERON’S POV Brandon didn’t let go of my hand until we were inside the room with the weird metal panel—Peter’s “lab,” or whatever the hell it was. The moment the door slammed behind us, the whole space seemed to swallow the sound, like the walls were made of thick, padded secrets.I stared at the

  • Rival's Marriage Agreement    Chapter 60

    Cameron POvPeter moved faster than I expected—like way faster. One second he was across the room, and the next he was grabbing my arm so hard it felt like my bones rattled.“CAMERON?!” he shouted, voice cracking with shock and something way darker.I stumbled forward, nearly hitting the closet doo

  • Rival's Marriage Agreement    Chapter 59

    By the time lunch rolled around, my brain felt like it had been wrung out, hung up, and put through emotional laundry three times. Talking to Brandon that morning helped—a lot. It felt like we’d finally stepped out of the fog. But the fog didn’t lift entirely.Not when the blackmail was still unsol

  • Rival's Marriage Agreement    Chapter 57

    Cameron’s POVI don’t know why my hands wouldn’t stop shaking.Like, genuinely shaking.I thought seeing Brandon on those bleachers after school would calm me down, help me breathe, maybe even give me back a piece of the sanity I’d lost overnight. But instead… it felt like staring straight into a s

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