The Possessive Lord's Contract Wife

Camille ran after Hayden, hopeful she could stop him from making a grave mistake.

"Hayden!" Camille called after him, but he ignored her. "I know that you hear me. You must stop and listen to me. Just this one last time."

Hayden sighed and stopped. "You sound and look like a woman with a bad upbringing. Have you no shame? When did you stop caring about your appearance?"

Camille placed her hand on her chest as she caught her breath. "If you had stopped sooner, then I wouldn’t have to chase after you. You must stop what you are doing. Our children can never become the heirs of the estate."

"Not now with this," Hayden said, already uninterested. "Return to our chamber to get some rest. It is evident that the rain and lack of sleep have gotten to you."

Camille grabbed Hayden’s arm, her nails digging into his skin. "No. You shall listen to me since it concerns my family. We might have connected our families with my marriage, but that doesn’t give you the right to meddle with who is Lord Hawthorne."

Hayden looked down at where Camille held him. "You are one very confusing woman. One moment you are pleading with me to defend you, claiming that I don’t do it, and then you are asking me to stop."

"It has not changed about wanting you to protect me, but that doesn’t mean you are to interfere with who Lord Hawthorne is. My brother has his heirs, and while I am angry with him, Damien is the best one to hold the title," Camille argued.

Camille knew that Quinn would do well, while Kyle might play around too much, but still, Damien was the one most suited.

"No one will handle the affairs of the estate better than he does. The matters of the land and keeping it protected. He has been doing it just as well as my brother. You can be angry with his actions and still admit he is best suited," said Camille.

Hayden didn’t care for what Camille said. "It scares me to leave the children in your hands. I think that you are slowly becoming ill, and it is all because of what Damien did to you. How he almost killed you."

Camille pulled back her hand. "What?"

"I will send for the doctor to take a look at you and mention this to the court. We mustn’t overlook what has become of you as a result of his actions," Hayden said, considering whether to confine Camille to their chamber.

"Have you lost your senses? It can only be so because of the nonsense you spout. I am very well," Camille said, backing away from Hayden. "It is you who needs to be looked at. I have moved on from that scare."

"It appears you haven’t," Hayden replied, stepping forward to close the distance. "You’ve been talking like a madwoman since then."

"To answer your earlier question about us being in love or holding onto the past. I find myself still in love with the woman I saw years ago. I am falling out of love with the woman before me. So," he said, coming to a stop before Camille.

Camille looked up, her ears filled with water and her heart aching at the cruelty of his confession.

"If you don’t want to end your perfect love story and lose the way young ladies look up to you, I suggest you be like your old self. You were so much lovelier then," Hayden said, fixing her appearance to make her more lovely. "The perfect lady."

"You want me to go back to the lady who didn’t question you. That is all," Camille said, followed by a chuckle lacking warmth. "I should have been appreciative of the days when you stayed away. I could go on thinking we were well."

Camille turned away from Hayden, her hands trembling as she raked her fingers through her hair, creating a mess that mirrored her turmoil. "I must be truly mad to think you would have been better off having a mistress than all of this."

’How did it come to this?’ She wondered bitterly.

"I wanted you to speak to Damien. Make him feel guilty about the way he treated me, but now I understand perfectly why he is so guarded. To think you harboured all of these feelings," Camille continued.

"Go on with your business," Camille urged Hayden.

"Do not think of inviting Damien into my home. It will not be good for you or this marriage," Hayden warned, his words dripping with authority.

"This is our home, and you should not threaten me. I don’t have any interest in bringing Damien here, but you can’t tell me what to do. When you return home, do not be surprised by your belongings being moved to another chamber," said Camille.

Hayden laughed it off, his arrogance unshaken. "I will return home, and I shall rest beside you. This side of you is not beautiful, Camille. I think you should heed my words and go back to your old self. Now, I have business to tend to."

Camille didn’t try to stop Hayden as he walked off. He was making a grave mistake trying to meddle too much in her family affairs and now trying to control her.

’That bastard!’ Camille mentally cursed him, her thoughts searing with rage.

Camille thought of all the trouble that would come if Damien were to be wounded or if Hayden succeeded in killing him.

The Hawthorne family would be in a state of disarray.

Relatives would come from wherever they were now, hoping to take a piece of the wealth and bother Quinn. Even Jane would be caught in the mix as others would fight to care for her so they could take her wealth.

Camille gritted her teeth, her heart aching with the weight of loyalty and betrayal. Her love for the others never went away, even when she was angry with Damien. More importantly, she never stopped loving her late brother and his wife. Both were taken from her so soon, so hearing Hayden trying to use it to his advantage wounded her deeply.

Camille wiped the tears that started to fall and stormed back to her chamber. She would settle her troubles with her family alone and put Hayden right back in his place.

’If he loves being away from home so much, then he should stay there,’ Camille thought, already coming up with a plot to end this.

Camille stopped, thinking over what she had in mind. It would be cruel to do, but it was needed if she was to protect her name, the future of her children, and the state of the Hawthorne estate.

For everyone’s sake, Hayden needed to be under her control.

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