SCORNED EX WIFE Queen Of Ashes (Camille and Stefan)

Chapter 66

Camille's point of view

I stood by the floor-to-

ceiling windows in Victoria's penthouse office, watching the city lights flicker to life as dusk settled over Manhattan. Rain tapped against the glass, a gentle percussion accompanying the victory drumming throug On six massive screens behind Victoria's desk, Rose's destruction played out in real-

time. Every major news channel, every entertainment show, every social media feed, all consumed with the spectacular downfall of fashion's rising star.

"More champagne?" Victoria asked, appearing at my side with the bottle of Dom Pérignon we'd opened when the first reports broke this morning. Her smile, rare and genuine, made her look younger. "Please," I said, holding out my crystal flute.

Victoria clinked her glass against mine. "To justice," she said, voice warm with satisfaction. "Long overdue." "To justice," I echoed, turning back to the spectacle on the screens.

A reporter stood outside Rose's apartment building, rain dampening her hair as she struggled to maintain her professional demeanor despite the obvious joy in delivering the news.

"Fashion designer Rose Lewis remained inside her penthouse apartment all day as more allegations surfaced about affairs with married men, stolen designs, and

questionable financial ties to figures under investigation for money laundering, Sources close to Lewis say she is 'devastated' by what her legal team is calling a "coordinated character assassination.""

I couldn't help but laugh. "Devastated. I wonder if that's how she described me to Stefan when they were planning my replacement."

Victoria squeezed my shoulder. "This is only the beginning. By tomorrow, every major retailer will have canceled their orders. By next week, her investors will pull out completely. By next month, Rose Lewis will The satisfaction I felt should have been pure and sweet. This was what we'd worked toward for nearly two years, the systematic destruction of the woman who had stolen my husband, my life, my identity. The w So why did victory taste so complex? Why did the champagne feel both sweet and slightly bitter?

On the renter screen, footage played of Rose leaving her building through a service entrance, head high, crimson dress a slash of defiance against the gray day. Even in her downfall, she performed the role of wronged innocent perfectly.

"Look at her," I said, unable to keep the bitterness from my voice. "Still playing to the cameras. Still manipulating perceptions."

Victoria moved to her desk, pressing a button that muted the screens. "That performance won't save her. Not this

time

I turned away from the windows, studying the woman who had rescued me, rebuilt me, guided me through the transformation from broken victim to powerful avenger.

"How did you find them all?" I asked, settling into a leather chair facing her desk. "Jonathan Hayes, Lord Hartley,

Anton Bessonoy's assistant.. they all disappeared from her life years ago."

Victoria's smile tumed almost predatory. "Money opens mamy doors, but information is the true currency of revenge. For nearly one years, I've had investigators tracking down everyone Hose ever used, betraye "And the banking records? The evidence of money Laundering?"

"More challenging, but nothing is truly hidden from those who know where to look." Victoria studied me over her glass. "You're troubled. Why? This is what we've worked toward "

Only satisfaction watching her world crumble. But there's something else... something I can't quite name." Victoria leaned forward, her expression turning serious. "Don't confuse justice with vengeance, Camille. What we've done isn't about making you feel

of me expected to feel... more. Some profound sense of

to others," Victoria said quietly. "It comes from what happens within you, Rose's destruction is simply the external

healing is a separate

I hadn't expected from a woman whose focus had always been strategic rather than emotional. Perhaps there were depths to Victoria Kane I still

rea How did he always know my mind so precisely? I slipped the phone

watched me with that penetrating gaze.

not bothering

she observed, her tone neutral but her eyes sharp. "A variable we didn't account for

threat to what we've accomplished,"

He wants something from you, Camille.

another button, switching the largest screen to a financial

channel. The analyst was

fashion industry, specifically how several designers' stock prices had jumped as retailers looked to

Victoria said. "With their contracts canceled, they'll be desperate. We could get their facilities and

was perfect Victoria, seeing opportunity

someone else have it," I said, surprising

eyebrows rose slightly. “That's...

dismantling of everything

I struggled to articulate my shifting emotions. But there's something about picking through the

smile played at Victoria's lips. "Us.

constricting, as if the perfect vengea Who was 1, when not defined by revenge? What would drive me, when Rose and Stefan had been thoroughly destroyed? What filled the void when hatred no longer consumed every thought? Victoria joined me

been filtered through the lens of justice for what they did to

entirely on you." Victoria turned to

on that garage, 1 offered you a choice, disappear into a new life somewhere far away, or

an instrument of revenge, or as someone with a

deep, touching uncertainties I'd been avoiding since our plan began

destruction began making room for other

I am without this," I admitted, gesturing toward the screens. "Without the goal

Kane beyond revenge. Beyond the past Beyond even my careful molding." The suggestion surprised me. Victoria had always been directive, strategic, clear about who

become. This open-

to define myself beyond

purpose, was unexpected.

that?" I asked carefully. "Even

an emotion I couldn't identify. "I saved you, Camille. Rebuilt you.

back to her