Worse, sitting prominently on the coffee table was a small booklet with a bright red cover, almost deliberately displayed like a trophy. A new marriage certificate. The photo on it showed Leo smiling brightly, and Ashton looking equally radiant.
The world tilted. A wave of nausea churned in her stomach.
She involuntarily took a step back. The white cane slipped from her numb fingers and hit the marble floor with a loud crack.
The sound shattered the silence.
Leo's head snapped up, his brows furrowing in annoyance. Ashton, however, moved like a victorious cat. She slowly sat up, pulling herself away from Leo's embrace with lazy elegance. There was not a trace of panic on her face, only open, shameless provocation.
Ashton elegantly lifted a glass of champagne and raised it toward Camila. Her red lips curved into a perfect, cruel smile.
"Oh, look who's back." Ashton's voice was sickly sweet. "The little blind mouse of the house? No, wait, I forgot. You just had a corneal transplant. You can see now."
A complicated storm of emotions crossed Leo's face-surprise, irritation, but not a single trace of the joy Camila had dreamed of. For a brief second, his eyes met hers. Then his gaze shifted away, choosing Ashton.
He stood up, but he did not walk toward Camila. He walked to Ashton and stood slightly in front of her, shielding her like a protective barrier.
Ashton leaned against his back, her eyes locked onto Camila's pale face. Her cruel smile deepened, and in that silent, triumphant gaze, Camila understood one vicious word.
Surprise.
Camila's lips trembled, but no sound came out. She stared at Leo, the man she had loved for five years, the man she had once believed was her entire world. Her eyes begged him for an explanation, for anything except this.
He finally spoke, his voice as cold as the marble beneath her feet. "Camila, you're back. We... need to talk."
Talk? A bitter, silent laugh caught in her throat. In their home, after marrying another woman, he wanted to talk?
Ashton giggled, tightening her arm around Leo. She rested her head on his shoulder, showing off the huge diamond on her ring finger. "Darling, don't be so serious. I'm sure Camila is a reasonable person. She'll wish us well, won't she?"
Camila's vision blurred, not because of her former blindness, but because of the burning tears she refused to let fall. She felt like a joke, a fool who had wandered into the wrong story.
She bent down, her trembling fingers reaching for the fallen cane. It felt like the only solid thing left in her world.
Ashton's foot moved forward, pinning the end of the cane to the floor. She looked down at Camila, pure contempt on her face. "Don't be in such a hurry to leave, Camila. Why not stay and have a celebratory drink?"
Camila's hand reaching for the cane curled into a fist. Her nails dug deeply into her palm, the sharp pain strangely becoming a welcome distraction.
Leo only frowned. "Ash, stop it." His words were merely a gentle reprimand, filled with indulgence rather than anger.
That gentle rebuke shattered something deep inside Camila. Stop it. He had said it to Ashton. He had watched this entire cruel performance unfold, and his only reaction was to tell that woman to stop causing trouble.
The setting sun poured warm, golden light through the floor-to-ceiling windows, bathing the room in beautiful radiance. But none of it could reach the cold, empty hole that had just opened in Camila's chest.
Ashton, clearly not finished, picked up the marriage certificate from the table. She waved it like a trophy.
"See this clearly, Miss Torres?" she said softly. "From now on, this is Mrs. Montgomery's home."
Camila's eyes locked onto the marriage certificate. The date printed on it was the exact day she received her corneal transplant surgery.
A metallic taste filled her mouth. She swallowed it down, her body trembling from a rage so intense it felt like an illness.
Ashton watched her, enjoying her collapse. Then she delivered the final blow, her voice a victorious whisper.
"By the way, I bet Leo that you would cry and beg for mercy when you found out the truth. Looks like I'm going to win again."