Chapter 47 Domestic Violence Is A Crime
Cameron’s eyes were icy. “I’m a girl. Am I not allowed to wear a dress?”
“Allowed?” Martin snapped. “Have you forgotten what you are? Wearing a dress–don’t you think that’s a little messed up?” Cameron stared at him coldly. “Messed up? I wear a dress and suddenly I’m the weird one? You made me dress like a boy from the day I was born–what do you call that?”
Martin was momentarily speechless. “You’re really pushing it,” he growled, then raised his hand and swung it toward her face.‘
Unsurprisingly, Cameron caught his wrist midair and held it in a tight grip. “Domestic violence is a crime. Ever heard of that?” she said, her voice sharp and clear.
Cameron wasn’t short, to begin with. In heels, she stood at five foot eleven, towering over Martin, whose height had never been impressive. Just standing there, she completely overpowered him.
Martin froze. He hadn’t expected Cameron to fight back. For eighteen years, she had taken countless beatings and verbal abuse. Whenever he was mad, he hit her. But this was the first time she resisted.
He just stood there, stunned, staring at her in disbelief, unable to speak.
“Cameron,” Heidi barked. She thought, ‘How dare Cameron grab Martin’s hand like that? She’s completely out of line.‘ Cameron turned, her cold gaze landing on Heidi who instantly went quiet. The chill in Cameron’s eyes sent a shiver down her spine.
Heidi thought, ‘That look in her eyes is terrifying. How could she stare at me like that? I’m her mother.’
After the initial shock, Heidi quickly composed herself. She stepped in to play the peacemaker. “Come on now. Cam’s a girl. What’s the big deal about her wearing a dress?”
She pulled the two apart and gave Martin a subtle look. He caught the signal and sat down with a stiff expression.
Heidi gently took Cameron’s hand. “Cam, this is the first time I’ve seen you in a dress. You look beautiful.” She thought, ‘Too bad it’s also going to be the last.‘
Milena, clutching her fingers tightly, forced herself to echo the sentiment, saying, “You really do look amazing, Cam.” Cameron felt nothing from their compliments. She sat down on the couch, her voice cold. “I came back to tell you…” She paused for a few seconds.
Martin, Heidi, and Milena all looked at her curiously.
“I’m calling off the engagement with the Chapman heiress. And I’m taking back my identity as a woman,” Cameron said. Her tone was flat, declarative. She wasn’t asking for their opinion–she was informing them.
The three of them went silent, their eyes going wide in shock. They looked even more shaken now than when they’d seen her in the dress.
“Cam, are you insane?” Milena was the first to react. She thought, ‘She wants to break off the engagement with the Chapman heiress? Does she even understand what that means?‘
Right now, every deal the Wallace family had on the table was made under the guise of being the Chapman family’s future in–laws. Without that connection backing them, the Wallace family would be doomed.
At Langford Academy, every student came from money or power. These days, Milena could barely keep up appearances as
it was.
She thought, ‘If Cameron breaks off the engagement and the Wallace family sinks any lower, how am I supposed to face my classmates? I might as well be dead.‘
The veins in Martin’s forehead bulged. “Don’t you
dare.”
Cameron replied with a scoff, “Try me.”
Martin was so furious he couldn’t even form a comeback.
Heidi was the first to regain her composure. She smoothed out her shocked expression and looked at Cameron with fake warmth. “Cam, something must’ve happened at school right? It’s nonno he alright. Just talk to me. We’ll figure it out.”
Successfully unlocked! She turned to Ruth. “Ruth, go make Cam a cup
“Yes, ma’am,” Ruth answered, and as she walked off, the two women exchanged a quick look.
