SCORNED EX WIFE Queen Of Ashes (Camille and Stefan)

Chapter 10

CAMILLE'S POINT OF VIEW

The black car moved through morning fog, tires humming gainst wet roads. I stared out the window, watching trees blur into gray mist. Victoria sat beside me, her face a mask of calm, but her fingers tapped a n

"Where are we going?" I asked, breaking the silence that had stretched between us since we left the mansion Thirty

minutes ago. The papers making me

officially Camille Kane had been signed at dawn, the ink barely dry. Victoria's eyes stayed fixed on the passing landscape. "To meet someone important."

The car turned onto a narrow road lined with tall iron gates and stone walls. A cemetery. My stomach tightened. "Sophia?" I whispered.

Victoria nodded once, sharp and quick, like admitting pain "Today marks ten years since I lost her."

The cemetery was empty of visitors, kept private by security guards who nodded respectfully as our car passed. Ancient trees created a natural cathedral over graves that dated back centuries. This was no ordi

Our driver stopped at the end of a curving path. "We walk from here," Victoria said, gathering her bag and stepping out without waiting for help.

I followed her along a stone path that wound uphill toward secluded corner overlooking the city. The grass here was greener, the flowers fresher. Clearly tended with special care.

We stopped before a white marble headstone, simple yet elegant. Quality that whispered rather than shouted.

SOPHIA ELIZABETH KANE

BELOVED DAUGHTER

TAKEN TOO SOON

1990-2013

Below those words, a single line of poetry: "Some souls are too bright for this world."

Victoria placed white lilies by the stone, her movements practiced yet tender. I hung back, feeling like an intruder on this private grief.

"Come," she said, not looking at me. "She would want to meet you."

I stepped forward,

uneasy. What do you say to a grave of someone you never knew? Someone whose death made your

new life possible?

Victoria knelt despite her expensive sult, uncaring about grass stains or dirt. "Hello, my darling," she said, touching the carved letters of Sophia's name. "I've brought someone to meet you." just cold.

The wind picked up, sanding, fallen leaves dancing around 1 zipped my jacket higher, shivering from more than

"Tell me about her," I said. "The real story, not the public rsion."

Victoria was

quiet so long I thought she wouldn't answer. When she spoke, her voien

Chapter 10

also kind, which I failed to teach her." A bitter smile crossed her

connections. Handsome, charming, seemed perfect. His family owned shipping companies that

face hardened. "They never thought her good enough. The Kanes were

nothing. Built everything. They came from generations

them."

of rejection echoed in my chest. Always being measured and found

happened?" I asked, though part

died. Car crash on a mountain road. Brake lines cut."

Their son free to marry the 'right' background. They underestimated how far a

someone from

me shiver again. This wasn't griel anymore, but something harder.

their companies failed. Stock prices crashed. Ships lost at sea. Mysterious audits. Computer systems failing. Nothing that could be

Victoria's smile

jumped from his penthouse. Left a note confessing he'd known about the brake lines. Couldn't live with the guilt." I swallowed hard.

auctioned. The Preston name forgotten by

About taking what matters most to those who hurt you," She opened her bag,

to why

the box to me. I took it,

"What is it?"

Victoria's eyes were steady on mine.

"You want

attachment, and weakness of your old life.

chest in my hands, suddenly

were," Victoria continued. "The woman they

traced the carved wood. "And If

ends now. You go

you start

There's no shame in that choice. But there's no revenge

the moment pressed down on me. Step forward or back. Choose power or peace. Become the

I opened the box.

Like the future stretching before me, a blank

had left of my old life. The few things I'd grabbed before leaving the house that day, plus what Victoria's people had collected from my hotel room be

a Rodriguez wife should wear." I stared at it, remembering the day Stefan had slid it onto my

ring into the box. The sound it made

parents had given me for my sixteenth birthday. Each charm representing some achievement of mine they'd

said. "Your deepest

joined

next. Me as a child,

enough all by myself. Me at my wedding, smiling so hopefully. A family

illusions," Victoria noted. "The stories

photos fluttered into the

Inside, my driver's license, credit cards, social security card. The official records of Camille

whispered. "Who they

went into the chest.

strange lightness

chest will be buried here, beside Sophia.