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

months later. A single, waterlogged reminder of

diamond caught what little light penetrated the park's darkness, winking at me like it knew all my

“I

night,

phone buzzed.

you?" Her

"Out"

drunk. Come over. We need to talk

in my mouth. Had I ever denied Rose

us," Rose hissed. "To

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

Chapter 26.

everything,

The alcohol had reached that treacherous plateau where emotions amplify

with conviction. "Especially kids who start with I'd nodded along, pretending her passion moved me when really I

been shallow then. Had I ever truly

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

engraved letters of Camille's memorial plaque, added despite my father's objections that she wasn't

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

grandmother's ring clutched in my fist. "You

about your inheritance, just quietly planned how to use it to help others." My voice cracked. "That's who you 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

carefully designed under Camille's guidance before her

women could find not just practical help but emotional safety," Dr. Reyes explained. "Many of them have never

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