Home / MM Romance / Rival's Marriage Agreement / Chapter 171 - Chapter 180

All Chapters of Rival's Marriage Agreement : Chapter 171 - Chapter 180

189 Chapters

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

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

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

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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

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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

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

177

I stared at the photograph until my eyes began hurting.Adrian.The person standing behind us was Adrian.He was holding a gun.My fingers tightened around the photograph as I looked at him, but he did not move.He simply stood there with his face completely drained of color.“Adrian,” I whispered.Nobody answered.I looked at Brandon.He looked at Adrian.Then I looked at Amelia, who was already crying.“What is this?”Adrian slowly stepped forward.“Cameron…”“No.”My voice came out sharper than I expected.“You don’t get to say my name like everything is normal.”Adrian stopped.I held up the photograph.“You had a gun.”His eyes closed.“Yes.”The room seemed to shrink around us.“You were there.”“Yes.”“You watched Brandon get shot.”“Yes.”“And you let me believe I did it?”Adrian’s face twisted with pain.“I didn’t let you believe anything.”“Then what did you do?”“I saved your life.”I laughed bitterly.“Everyone keeps saying that.”“Because it’s true.”“Then explain it!”Ad

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CameronFor one terrifying second, nobody moved.Daniel’s gun remained pointed directly at Brandon, and I could hear my own heartbeat pounding so loudly that it almost drowned out everything else in the room.My father stood beside him with a cold expression.But Daniel looked different.He looked tired.Not angry.Not triumphant.Just tired.“Put the gun down,” I said.Daniel’s eyes moved toward me.“I can’t do that.”“You can.”“No, Cameron.”His voice was soft.Almost apologetic.“That is exactly what I couldn’t do that night.”My stomach twisted.“What does that mean?”My father laughed quietly.“You still don’t understand.”I looked at him.“You’ve spent years making me believe things that weren’t true.”His smile disappeared.“You were always difficult.”“I’m not talking to you.”My father stepped forward.“Cameron—”“Don’t.”I raised the photograph.“You lied about Brandon.”His jaw tightened.“You lied about Amelia.”His expression changed.“You lied about the fire.”I took an

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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

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

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