Page 64 of The Weight of Her Silence
“Don’t tell me what to do, Nate. I’m done with waiting in the shadows.”
The line went dead before he could reply.
Minutes later, there was a knock at the door. Nate’s heart slammed against his ribs. He didn’t want this confrontation, but here it was—unavoidable.
He opened the door.
Camille stood there, rain slicking her dark hair, eyes blazing with a mix of desperation and fury. She didn’t wait for an invitation. She stepped inside.
“I want to be more than the secret, Nate,” she said, voice low but fierce. “I want you to choose me. Fully. Or I walk away.”
Nate swallowed, feeling the walls close in. The life he tried to hold together was unraveling fast, and Camille was pulling harder than ever.
“I can’t just walk away,” he whispered.
She shook her head. “You will. Or I will.”
The storm outside thundered as the tension inside reached a breaking point.
Camille’s eyes locked onto his, fierce and unrelenting. “Nate, how long do you think you can keep living this lie? Pretending to be a husband and father while sneaking around behind their backs?”
His jaw clenched. “You don’t get to lecture me. You’re the one who chose to be part of this.”
She stepped closer, the scent of rain and something wild wrapped around her. “I didn’t ask to be the secret anymore. I want to be your future, not your dirty little secret.”
His voice dropped, rough with frustration and something darker. “You want to control me? Dictate how this ends?”
“No,” she whispered, voice almost a growl, “I want you to choose. Me, or everything else.”
Nate’s hands shook, anger and desire warring inside him. The weight of his promises, the guilt, the passion—it all crashed together like a violent storm.
“Don’t think I’m just here for your convenience,” Camille said, stepping even closer, their breaths mingling. “I want the whole damn thing, Nate. All or nothing.”
He looked away, pain cutting through him. “I don’t know if I can give you that.”
Her fingers curled around his wrist, hard and demanding. “Then don’t waste my time.”
The room seemed to pulse with tension, their unspoken battles raging beneath the surface. Camille’s ultimatum wasn’t just words—it was a reckoning.
Nate stood frozen, caught between the life he was losing and the dangerous pull of what he could never fully have.
Camille’s grip tightened on Nate’s wrist, her eyes burning with a fierce intensity. “I’m done being the shadow you hide behind. Either I’m in your life—completely—or I walk away forever.”
Nate’s heart pounded, torn between desire, guilt, and fear. “This isn’t fair, Camille. None of this is fair.”
“Fair?” She scoffed. “You want fairness? Look at what you’ve done—to your wife, your children. I’m the only one here fighting for something real.”
Her words hit him like a slap.
Suddenly, footsteps echoed from the hallway—soft but unmistakable.
“Ava?” Nate whispered, panic flaring in his chest.
Before either of them could react, the door to the study creaked open wider, revealing Ava and Caleb standing frozen in the doorway. Their eyes wide, disbelief etched on their faces as they took in Camille’s presence.
Ava’s voice was barely a whisper, trembling with shock. “Who… who are you?”
Camille’s gaze flicked to the children, a dark smile playing on her lips. “I’m the woman your father wants.”
