SCORNED EX WIFE Queen Of Ashes (Camille and Stefan)

Chapter 26

STEFAN'S POINT OF VIEW

The bourbon burned down my throat, a welcome fire against the cold emptiness spreading through my chest. I signaled the bartender for another. My fourth? Fifth? I'd lost count hours ago.

"You sure about that, buddy?" he asked, eyeing the empty glasses.

"Just pour the damn drink," I growled,

The alcohol couldn't drown the words that had haunted me all day: Martin Greene reading Camille's will, her final message cutting through me like a blade.

*"To my former husband, Stefan Rodriguez, I return the engagement ring that belonged to his grandmother, with the hope that next time he gives

it, it will be with honesty and true devotion.

The ring sat heavy in my pocket, retrieved from the safety deposit box this morning. Grandmother Rosa's ring Three generations of Rodriguez women had worn it before I'd placed it on Camille's finger, promisin Thirty million dollars and the Cedar Hill estate. All of it to charity. Not a penny to her family. Nothing to Rose. Nothing to me. Everything to help girls who had no one else to turn to

That was Camille. Always giving. Always thinking of others. Even in death.

My phone vibrated again. Rose. Her sixth call tonight. I silenced it without answering. Couldn't talk to her. Not after watching calculation rather than grief cross her face at the will reading. All she cared about wa Had I really left Camille for that? For someone who couldn't even fake proper sadness at her own sister's generosity?

The night air hit me like a slap as I stumbled out of the bar. I started walking, no destination in mind, until I found myself at Riverside Park, where Camille and I had spent countless Sunday afternoons during our first year together.

Before Rose came back from London. Before everything changed.

I sank onto a bench overlooking the water, the same river that had swallowed Camille's car. Her body never found. Just

shoe, months later. A single, waterlogged reminder of

my pocket, I withdrew the ring box. The diamond caught what little light penetrated the park's darkness,

“I

I whispered to the night, to

phone buzzed. Rose

Her voice sharp

"Out"

need to talk about what happened

my mouth. Had I ever denied Rose

to spite us," Rose hissed. "To

sounded more like a sob. "Is that what you think? She was your

Chapter 26.

everything, she

alcohol had reached that treacherous plateau where emotions amplify

describing her dreams of working with disadvantaged youth." Everyone deserves a chance," she'd said, eyes bright with conviction. "Especially kids who start with I'd nodded along, pretending her passion moved me when really I was just calculating how long until I

I'd been shallow then. Had I ever truly

me with physical force. I'd left the one person

Inside, I traced the engraved letters

"With the ring. You're right. I wasn't honest. Wasn't devoted. Never

ring clutched in my fist.

always were. And I threw you away for what? For Rose? For exciten Hours later, I found myself outside the Lighthouse Foundation. Camille's charity. The organization she'd left her fortune to. Young women entered and exited, some with hard eyes

foster girls, carefully designed under

just practical help but emotional safety," Dr. Reyes

like to help," I heard myself say. "Financially.