Diana leaned closer, ready to strike again.
And then Cameron stood.
The entire ballroom went silent.
He rose smoothly to his full height, adjusted a loose strand of hair, and offered Simone his hand.
Her mind stopped.
He could walk.
He had never been paralyzed.
When she took his hand, he tucked it into his arm and guided her from the ballroom while chaos exploded behind them.
Back at the penthouse, Simone rounded on him.
“You lied to me.”
“Yes,” Cameron said calmly.
“That’s all you have to say?”
He set down his drink and looked at her fully. “Sit down. I’ll tell you everything.”
His accident, he explained, had been real—but someone had tampered with his brakes. While he lay in the hospital, he overheard his stepmother Vanessa discussing “finishing the job.”
So he let the world believe he was paralyzed.
“It made my enemies comfortable,” he said. “They thought I was weak. They got careless.”
