SCORNED EX WIFE Queen Of Ashes (Camille and Stefan)

Chapter 77

Chapter 77

Rain pounded against the windows of Camille's office, matching her mood as she stared at the notification on her phone. The message was brief: her parents were waiting in the lobby. No warning, no call ahead. They had simply shown up, expecting her to drop everything and see them.

Some things never changed.

"Ms. Kane?" Rebecca stood in the

doorway, her expression concerned. "Your... the Lewises are downstairs. They're insisting on seeing you."

Camille set down her pen, her fingers surprisingly steady despite the storm brewing inside her. "How long have they been waiting?"

"Almost an hour. They refuse to leave without speaking to you."

Of course they did. Margaret and Richard Lewis had always believed doors should open for them, that their demands warranted immediate attention. Even now, after everything that had happened, they expecte "Send them up in fifteen minutes," Camille said, turning back to her computer. "Not a second earlier."

Rebecca nodded and disappeared, leaving Camille alone with thoughts she had tried to bury since the Phoenix Gala. Unlike with Stefan, whose visit she had

anticipated and prepared for, this confrontation caught her off guard. She had hoped her parents would respect her wishes, would understand that some bridges couldn't be rebuilt.

But hope had always been her weakness where family was concerned.

Camille stood and walked to the window, watching raindrops race down the glass. The

sky had turned nearly black, thunder rumbling in the distance. A perfect backdrop for the scene about to unfold.

Fifteen minutes later, Rebecca's voice came through the intercom. "They're here, Ms. Kane."

"Send them in," Camille replied, remaining by the window, her back to the door.

She heard them enter, heard her mother's sharp intake of breath, heard her father clear his throat, that familiar sound that had always preceded his lectures. Camille didn't turn around.

"Camille," her mother's voice broke on her name. "Please look at us."

Slowly, Camille turned. They looked smaller somehow, diminished. Her mother's carefully maintained appearance showed

cracks, hair not quite perfect, makeup slightly smudged from the rain or perhaps tears. Her father

stood straight as always, but new lines marked his face, and his eyes held none of their usual confidence.

"Why are you here?" Camille asked, her voice flat.

"Because you're our daughter," her father said, as if that explained everything, as if the word "daughter" still meant anything between them.

going out of our minds," her mother added, taking a step forward. "Ever since the gala, we've been trying

I became someone new? Or how your precious Rose tried

flinched. "All of it. Please, Camille. We need to talk about

Chapter 77

solid oak barrier between them. "I said everything I

father insisted, moving closer. We're your parents. Whatever mistakes we've

"Is that what you

had no idea what Rose had done. How could we possibly

told you both that Rose was having an affair with Stefan. That she had manipulated both

Camille cut in. "You adopted a teenager who

a gift of love.

true," her father protested, but the doubt in his

got a B in math, you hired a tutor and praised her efforts. When I got an A-, you asked why it wasn't an A. When Rose wore something you didn't approve of, it was 'expressing herself. Whe the same, I was

a lifetime of small cuts that had bled her confidence dry. "And it wasn't just when we were young. When I told you Stefan was cheating, your first instinct

didn't. And deep

filled the room, broken only by the thunder outside and

voice rough. "We've made terrible

second chance, a miracle. Can't we

of me and the best of Rose, no matter the evidence? That when I needed you most, you abandoned me Her father's face crumpled, his carefully maintained facade

your death, it

our last conversation with you was an argument, that

her heart pounded painfully in her chest. "You want me to tell you it's okay, that I forgive you, so you can sleep at night "We want our daughter back," her mother pleaded, moving around

Lewis ded that night in the parking garage.

might have

can change that, not even what Rose

Chapter 77

she was my executioner. But

flinched as if

taught her that Camille walked back to the window, watching lightning streak across the darkened sky. "When Stefan

you about his affair with Rose, that's exactly what happened. You defended them both. You

he couldn't bring himself to admit, that every word Camille spoke was accurate. "We've lost everything," her mother whispered. "Rose is gone. The family name is ruined. And now you... you won't even give us a chance

things can't be fixed," Camille said, a hint of gentleness entering

reunion and everything is magically healed. Real life doesn't work

past was already taken from me," Camille replied. “The night I discovered my

in a parking garage and left me for dead. The night I realized my parents

have room in my new life for people who couldn't love me as I deserved to be loved." "Please," her mother begged, rising from the chair.

voice final. “I spent my

your approval, your love.

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