Filed to story: That Campus Prince Is a Girl
Cameron didn’t answer.
She glanced at him, eyes unreadable. “In that case, you can leave.”
Lance frowned. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
“Exactly what it sounds like.”
“You’re not coming with me? Do you have any idea what it did to our mom, thinking her baby was stillborn?”
Cameron was silent for a long moment before she finally said, “And you think that was my fault?”
Cameron was right. She had no say in any of it, for she was just as much a victim.
And at the end of the day, all Lance had were suspicions.
The real reason he’d come was to ask Cameron to take a DNA test with him.
He needed proof. “Cameron,” Lance said, his voice steady now, “everything points to the fact that you might be my biological brother, But I need something concrete to confirm it. Would you agree to a DNA test?”
“No,” Cameron replied.
“What?” Lance looked genuinely stunned.
He hadn’t expected a flat-out rejection.
“You’re not even willing to find out if we’re related?” he asked.
“Lance,” Cameron said, “first of all, ‘related’ is a stretch. There’s no actual proof. Second, I like the way my life is now. I don’t want it disrupted.”
There was a psychological term for it-tearned helplessness,
That was what Cameron had grown up with in the Wallace household, Martin and Heidi had taught her everything not tey expect from?” came to the idea of familial love, she felt nothing. No longing. No curiosity.
Lance’s sudden appearance stirred no emotion in her. Not happiness. Not pain. Just indifference.
She had no interest in knowing these so-called family members.
‘Ife doesn’t want to disrupt his life? Who turns down the chance to reunite with their birth family?’ Lande thought.
He couldn’t make sense of it.
Cameron stood. “You should go.”
The message was clear-she was done.
Lance knew pushing her now would only backfire. So he stood
She walked him to the door. as well.
Lance looked at her one last time and then said, “Cameron, if you really are my brother… Dad, Mom, Gavin-and me-we’d all be so glad you’re still alive.”
Cameron’s expression didn’t shift. Her hand rested on the doorfram
“We’ll meet again,” Lance said.
Cameron closed the door without replying.
Inside, Cameron leaned against the door and let out a quiet breath.
“Goodbye.”
‘Dad, Mom, Gavin, and Lance… So Gavin is the big brother. The Yates family sounds like a whole, functioning family. Four people… They probably have a good life together.’
Whatever happened in the past was over now.
She had no intention of disturbing that.
Lance left Noble Vista with a weight in his chest.
Before coming here, he’d imagined a dozen ways Cameron might react.
Excitement. Tears. Anger. Maybe even a bitter confrontation.
But this? He hadn’t expected indifference.
Cameron’s reaction had been far too calm.
He spoke to Lance like a bystander, with a detachment that made it seem as if none of it truly concerned him. No emotion. No tendero fue que impersonal replies.
By all logic, he should’ve been desperate to meet his real family. After all, he’d been raised by people who weren’t even his biological parents. He d’elen gone as far as sending them to jail himself.
Anyone else in his shoes would’ve clung to the chance of reconnecting with their birth parents.
But Cameron? He didn’t seem to care at all.
Lance couldn’t wrap his head around it.
Clearly, he was going to need to take some unorthodox measures to get Cameron’s DNA sample.
Once the paternity test was in hand, then they’d talk.
On his way home, Lance’s Bluetooth buzzed with an incoming call from Gavin.
“Yeah, Gavin,” he answered.
“Where are you guys? Already heading back to the island?” Gavin asked.
Lance sighed. “You’re getting ahead of yourself. Cameron refused to acknowledge us. I asked him to take a paternity test-he shut it down.”
“Why?” Gavin asked.
“I honestly have no idea,” Lance said.
“So where are you now?”
“On the road. Heading back,” Lance replied.
“Don’t tell Mom and Dad anything for now,” Gavin said. “Just send the Cameron’s contact info.”
Lance slammed on the brakes.
“Gavin, don’t reach out to him yet. I’m worried he’ll shut down completely if he feels cornered.”
Gavin scoffed, “He’s not that delicate.”
“Gavin,” he said after a pause, “let me handle this. You’ve got your hands full with the company.”
“And that’s more important than family?”
“You’re calling him family,” Lance said, “but he’s not ready to call us anything at all.”
“That doesn’t change the fact that we’re related,” Gavin replied.
“There’s no proof yet. No test,” Lance reminded him.
“Then get it done. Fast,” Gavin said firmly.
“I know. Just wait for my update. Don’t say anything to anyone-not yet.”
Helen needed to be warned ton.
Their parents had to be kept in the dark.
Especially their mother.
If their mom found out her long lost son was alive, only to be met with cold rejection-Lance wasn’t sure she could take that
Right now, his top priority was getting Cameron’s DNA.
But there was something else he needed first-understanding. “Why would someone react this way to the possibility of having a real family?”
He booked a session with a therapist.
While Lance had his people trying to discreetly collect a sample, he walked into the consultation room looking for insight.
The therapist listened and then offered him a single term-learned helplessness.
Cameron had likely been emotionally neglected by his adoptive parents for years. That kind of emotional environment could teach someone to stop expecting anything-especially love.
