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."

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

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

is?" she interrupted, voice

my head, unease growing at

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

three today."

all days to violate this sanctuary, I'd chosen the one

know,"

her tone shifted, the cold fury giving way to something more complex. "You didn't. Because I never told

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

any movement might

me, I

as we left it. Sometimes I sit here and try to remember what move she was contemplating" Victoria's finger hovered over a white pawn. "She always took her time, considered every possibility The

her space, pretending for a few hours 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 best of me. The kindness I couldn't afford to show, the warmth I'd forgotten how to express, the hope l' I

of the moment. Victoria had never spoken this openly before, never revealed

"But then revenge became my purpose. Destroying the Prestons gave me a reason to continue. And

with sudden intensity. "Do you know what I thought when I first saw you? Not just that

Prestons tried to stamp out in Sophia. Potential, Intelligence. A fundamental strength your

countered.

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

dreams You were undermined at every turn, yet still fought to carve

All my life, I'd been swimming against the current

Chapter 20

I recognized something worth saving. W of my value independent of my usefulness for revenge or my resemblance to Sophia. "When I saw you in here," Victoria said, gesturing toward Sophia's bedroom, "my first