SCORNED EX WIFE Queen Of Ashes (Camille and Stefan)

Chapter 1

CAMILLE'S POINT OF VIEW

Three years. One thousand and ninety-five days of trying to be the perfect wife, and this was my reward divorce papers on our anniversary.

I stared at Stefan's perfect signature on the last page, the ink still fresh. He must have signed them this morning, probably right after I'd left that stupid handmade card on his desk. The one I'd spent hours making, like a fool who still believed in fairy tales.

The anniversary card I made for my husband Stefan still sat on the kitchen counter, untouched. Three years of marriage summed up in a handmade gesture he couldn't even bother to open. I'd spent hours on it last night, writing words I thought mattered.

My coffee had gone cold. Funny how you notice small things when your world is falling apart.

"Sign here. And here." Stefan's voice was distant, businesslike. He'd laid out the divorce papers like contracts at one of his meetings, sticky tabs marking each signature line. "The highlighted sections need initials."

My hands wouldn't stop shaking. "You're doing this today? On our anniversary?"

"Camille." He sighed, that familiar sound of disappointment I'd heard so many times before. "There's no point dragging this out."

The morning sun streamed through our kitchen windows, catching the diamond on my finger. Three carats, princess cut, picked out by his mother. "Not your style, dear, but it's what a Rodriguez wife should wear," she'd said at the time. Like everything else in my life, it had never really been mine.

"Is there someone else?"

The question hung in the air between us. Stefan straightened his tie, Italian silk, the blue one I'd given him for Christmas. "Yes."

One word. That's all it took to erase three years of trying to be perfect.

"How long?"

"Two months." He wouldn't meet my eyes. "She came back to town and..."

"Two months," I repeated. All those late nights at the office. The missed dinners. The way he'd stopped kissing me goodbye in the mornings. "Were you ever going to tell me? Or just keep lying until the papers were ready?"

didn't want to hurt

laugh bubbled up, harsh, unfamiliar. "That's thoughtful of

knocked against my coffee mug, sending it crashing to the floor. Dark liquid spread across the pristine tiles, staining the

that..." Stefan reached for

My voice cracked. "Just... don't

bent to pick up the broken pieces. A photo

in the

The world stopped.

smile. Those eyes. That perfectly poised expression that had haunted every family photo since I was

like poison.

Stefan's silence said everything.

pick out my wedding dress. Rose giving toasts at our engagement party. Rose calling every week to

sister. My parents' golden child. The one they'd chosen to

town, did she?" The pieces were falling into place. "She's been here the whole time, waiting. Playing the supportive sister while you both laughed

his hair, that gesture I used to find endearing. "We tried to fight it. But some people are just meant

mug at your head." My fingers tightened around the broken ceramic.

same time I'd started dating Stefan. The same time Rose had suddenly become my

set this up," I whispered. "All of it. And I

being dramatic. Rose

first boyfriend I was damaged goods? Or when she convinced my parents I was too unstable for college?" The broken mug cut into my palm, but I barely felt it. "She's been sabotaging me my whole life, and I kept making excuses because that's

reached for my hand but I

I grabbed a dish towel, wrapping it around my palm. "Where is she now? Waiting to comfort me through my divorce?

to be here, but I thought

the sound edged with hysteria. "Yes, you've both

what's better

pen, the Mont Blanc he'd given me on our first anniversary.

wait. We should

signed every page, my signature perfectly steady. Let them see I wasn't