Chapter 103

Camille felt sick imagining it. "Your family..."

"Closed ranks around Thomas. Made sure no one knew he'd been drinking. Paid off witnesses." Alexander's voice hardened. "My father made it clear that the family reputation was more important than anything "That's horrible," Camille whispered.

"It

was clarifying," Alexander corrected. "I saw my family for what they really were. The moment I could walk well enough, I

left. Took the trust fund money they couldn't legally keep from me and disappeared."

He pulled the car to a stop in front of a small brick apartment building. Nothing special, just one of thousands of such buildings in Boston.

"I came to Boston. Rented an apartment in this building. Started over." He nodded toward the building. "I was determined to make it on my own, to build something my own way. Got a job on the loading docks a Camille tried to picture

Alexander, now one of the world's wealthiest men, living in that ordinary building, working on a loading dock.

"And then came the second accident," Alexander continued his expression changing. "The one where our paths first crossed."

He reached into his pocket and removed something small and silver. When

he opened his palm, Camille saw the delicate rose pendant on a thin chain, the one she had given him years ago, the one he

had returned to her that night he first mentioned their connection.

"You kept it all this time?" she asked, though she already knew the answer.

"It was my talisman," Alexander said quietly. "When things got hard... and they did, many times, I'd hold it and remember that someone had once seen value in me when I couldn't see it in myself." He started the car again, driving a

few blocks to a sleek office building with "Pierce Technologies" emblazoned on the side.

"I built my first company here. Developed shipping logistics software that revolutionized the industry. By twenty-

By twenty six, a Trillionaire."

of-

And when I crossed into trillionaire territory three years ago, guess who suddenly wanted to reconnect?"

"Your family," Camille said.

to blame but himself." A shadow crossed Alexander's face. "They reached out through lawyers

you do?" Camille

directly. Wanted

"I cut them off

no son, just as I had no parents." His voice was steady, but Camille could hear the old pain beneath the

people treat you when you

blood, Camille.

how easily her parents had sided with Rose, how quickly

to tell you all this for so long," Alexander said turning to face her

charity gala, I've wanted to explain

what?"

get close to you." His eyes held hers, vulnerability visible for perhaps the first time since

when manipulation had

undid something tight and guarde in

the pendant from his palm. Their fingers brushed, sending warmth up her arm. "It protected you,"

that." Alexander's voice dropped lower. It led

looked up, meeting his gaze. All the

helped her build, the strategic thinking, the emotional distance, the calculated moves, crumbled in that moment. Not because they were weak, but because she chose to lower ther Her hand rose to touch

his face to press a kiss against her palm. The gesture was so tender, so genuine, that Camille

never feel this again," she whispered. "After Rose and Stefan... I

was dead."

"Nothing dies

murmured. "Not

to pull away. But Camille didn't want distance anymore. She

her

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