SCORNED EX WIFE Queen Of Ashes (Camille and Stefan)

Chapter 20

Camille's point of view.

The voice behind me sent the frame tumbling from my hands. It hit the carpet with a muffled thud as I spun around.

Victoria stood in the doorway, her expression a storm of fury and pain. Her usually perfect appearance was disheveled, clothes wrinkled from travel, hair slightly mussed, as if she'd rushed home unexpectedly. "L...I thought you were in Tokyo," I stammered, heart hammering against my ribs.

"Flight canceled due to mechanical issues." Her eyes swept the room, cataloging any disturbance I might have caused. "You didn't answer my question."

I could have lied. Could have claimed I got lost,

accidentally found the key, had innocent reasons for snooping But something in Victoria's face, the raw wound exposed beneath her anger, demanded honesty.

"I was curious," I admitted, bending to retrieve the fallen photo frame. "About the locked wing. About why it was. off-

limits."

"So you invaded my privacy. Searched my office for the key. Entered a space clearly meant to remain closed." Each sentence fell like a judgment, cold and precise. "Yes." No excuses. No justifications.

Victoria's gaze settled on the photo in my hands. Something flickered across her expression, grief so intense it momentarily overwhelmed the anger.

"Put that down," she said quietly. "And get out."

I carefully returned the frame to its place. "Victoria, I..."

"Now."

planted in the doorway, forcing me to squeeze past her, close enough to feel the rigid tension in her body, to smell the subtle scent of her perfume mixed with the staleness of

one hand gripping the frame as if for support. "I'm sorry," I said softly.

today is?"

my head, unease growing at the intensity of her

Victoria's knuckles whitened on the doorframe. "She would have been

three today."

like a physical blow. Of all days to violate this sanctuary, I'd chosen the one

know,"

shifted, the cold fury giving way to

finally stepped away from the doorway, moving to the chess board in the sitting area. With careful precision, she adjusted one of the pieces, a knight moving to threaten a bishop. "Sophia loved chess," she

afraid any movement might shatter this unexpected

me, I

what move she was contemplating" Victoria's finger hovered over a white pawn. "She

that she's just stepped out. That she'll return any moment with My chest tightened at the naked pain in her expression. Gone was the formidable businesswoman, the ruthless mentor, the demanding adoptive mother. In her place stood simply a woman hollowed by grief, pr "She was more than my daughter," Victoria said, sinking onto the sofa beside the chess set. "She was the

weight of the moment. Victoria had never spoken this

died, I wanted to die too." She touched a chess piece, the black queen, with gentle fingers. "But then revenge became my purpose. Destroying the Prestons gave me a reason to continue.

saw you? Not just that you looked like her, though the resemblance was striking. I thought:

slightly. "I recognized in you what the Prestons tried to stamp

countered.

investigated thoroughly," she interrupted. "Every aspect of your life examined. Your education records. Your medical history. Your social

still fought to carve out your own space. Imagine what you might have become

stung with its accuracy. All my life, I'd been swimming

Chapter 20

of my value independent of my usefulness for