SCORNED EX WIFE Queen Of Ashes (Camille and Stefan)

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Chapter 46

Rose point of view

I stared at my phone screen until the words blurred, reading the same headline for the twentieth time. "ROSE LEWIS: THE PRIVATE LIFE SHE DIDN'T WANT YOU TO SEE” Beneath it, that grainy photo of me How? How had anyone found this? I'd been so careful.

My boutique office, normally my sanctuary, felt suffocating now. Outside, I could hear my staff whispering, their usual respectful silence replaced by urgent murmurs. They'd seen the stories. Everyone had.

Three major fashion sites had dropped my spring collection Five influencers had canceled promotional contracts. Two department stores had "postponed" their orders. All within twenty- four hours.

My empire, built so carefully brick by brick, was crumbling beneath my feet.

The phone on my desk rang again. My publicity team, no doubt, with another useless strategy. I'd already released three statements, first denying everything, then suggesting the photos were manipulated, final I ignored the call, returning to my social media feeds. The comments cut like knives.

"Always knew she was fake."

"Poor Camille, no wonder she drove into that river."

"#RoseThoms is right beautiful but toxic!"

Tears stung my eyes. Not from shame, I'd never felt shame for taking what I wanted, but from rage. I'd spent years crafting the perfect image. The talented designer. The grieving sister. The devoted fiancée. All stolen moment captured on film.

The office door banged open. Stefan stood there, still wearing his work suit, face thunderous. He held his phone in a white-

knuckled grip.

"When were you going to tell me?" His voice was dangerously quiet.

I stood, smoothing my skirt, forcing my face into concerned lines. "Stefan, darling. I've been

trying to reach you all day. These rumors are....”

"Not rumors." He stepped inside, slamming the door behind him. "Facts. With photographic evidence."

"It was years ago. Before us. Before..."

“Before us?” He laughed, a harsh sound I'd never heard from him. "According to the date on this photo, you were sleeping with your mentor's husband three weeks after I married your sister."

Ice slid down my spine. I hadn't noticed the timestamp. Hadn't thought anyone would look that closely.

"It wasn't serious," I tried, moving toward him. "A mistake One night that meant nothing."

stepped back, avoiding my touch. "And the others?

dropped. They knew about Anton too? How much had they uncovered?

demanded, offense

destroy what we have?"

his hair, disheveled in a way that would normally make me want to fix it. "What exactly do we have, Rose? A relationship built on our manipulation of Camille? A future "I never lied to you," I insisted. "I just didn't share every detail

me like he'd

during your 'year in Paris'? Because according to these new photos,

planning counterattacks. Who was doing this? Who had the

looks like," I said,

it

London just when our marriage was struggling. Not your sudden

you," I hissed, genuine anger flaring.

face that night. When they told us her car went off that bridge. You didn't look surprised, Rose. You looked... relieved." My heart stuttered.

people differently. You know

Stefan said slowly, "is that I'm beginning to wonder if I ever knew

door opened again before I

the threshold, my mother's eyes red-

usually so

gone cold.

office now, the walls closing in. I'd faced criticism before, weathered minor scandals, but never this coordinated attack

you can see.

I said, desperation leaking into my voice. "I'm dealing

sleeping with a married man while you were studying? Is that what you call lying about where you were during your 'fashi laugh was sharp, almost cruel. “That's

come back, you were busy messing around

raw pain in his voice shocked me. The betrayal in his eyes cut deeper than my parents' disappointment. He truly had been waiting for me, just as I'd planned. But now be

were on some Russian's yacht? In some lord worst husband imaginable to

missing bed?" His voice

having fun?"

had always been my strongest advocate, always taken my side against Camille, against anyone who challenged me. And Stefan had been my sure thing,

would always want

are being taken out

another damning image. Me with Jonathan at a private dinner. Me with Lord Hartley at his country estate. Me boarding Anton's

said, drawing myself up. "Cholces men make every day

pretend to be working in Paris while lounging on criminal

husbands while claiming

had never confronted me this way, had always accepted my explanations, my tears, my

mother's question sliced through my shock. "Because the daughter we

over your own blood! The daughter you let get away with everything because she was so special, so tal My voice had risen to a shout, years of

thi "My reputation?" I grabbed a vase from my desk, hurling it against the wall. Water and flowers sprayed across my design sketches, ruining weeks of work. "My entire career is being dismantled by these stories, Stefan moved between me and my parents, hands raised as