SCORNED EX WIFE Queen Of Ashes (Camille and Stefan)

Chapter 83

Chapter 83

The late afternoon sun slanted through the tall windows of the Lewis family estate, casting long

shadows across the polished floors. Margaret Lewis sat alone in the east wing parlor, surrounded by open photo albums. Her trembling fingers traced a photograph of seven- year- old Camille, beaming with a missing front tooth

and holding a science fair ribbon.

"First place," Margaret whispered to the empty room, her smile crumpling.

She turned a page. Camille at

ten, sitting with Margaret on marble steps, their heads bent over. "The Secret Garden." Margaret remembered how Camille had begged to read two chapters that night.

The memories washed over her in waves. These were all from before Rose had

arrived when Camille was thirteen. Before everything changed.

With shaking hands, she pulled out a photo

tucked between pages: Camille at ten in the kitchen with Margaret, making Christmas cookies despite the chef's protests. Flour dusted their faces, laughter frozen in time. They had been inseparable then.

"We were happy," Margaret said to the photograph. "We were so happy."

She hadn't realized she was crying until a tear splashed onto the

plastic sleeve. Margaret wiped it away carefully, then pressed

the album to her chest.

The fifteen-thousand-square-foot mansion felt

too vast now, too quiet. Since the day the visited Camille and she cut ties with them, Margaret had moved through each day like a ghost. Richard's voice echoed in the hallway as he spoke to Bradford, their butler.

"No calls, Bradford. Not even from the board."

"Very good, sir. Shall I have Mrs. Peters prepare dinner for two

in the small dining room?"

"That would be fine. And tell her no seafood tonight. Margaret isn't up to it."

Margaret turned another page. Camille at

fourteen, playing the grand piano at her recital.

Richard's footsteps approached, then stopped in the doorway.

"Oh, Maggie," he said softly, using the nickname he hadn't spoken in years.

Margaret looked up at her husband. His bespoke suit couldn't hide how his frame had thinned, his shoulders slumped. His face seemed to have aged a decade in

the past month, deep lines carved around his mouth.

“Look at us,” Margaret said, holding up a family vacation photo. "She was twelve here. Remember how she wanted to learn to scuba dive, and you were so worried?"

Richard knelt beside her, taking the photo.

he

smile crossing his face. "Came back with that

worried

have

Camille on

making a mistake choosing Boston instead of Yale. I told

opportunities." He shook his head. “She was following her heart, and

Camille winning debate

animal shelter, laughing with

good, Richard. So kind." Margaret's

happen?

picked up a more recent photo, Camille and Stefan at their

them, smiling that perfect smile that had

to see," he said. "Rose was so... perfect on the surface. She said all the right things, did all the right things. She moved through our world like she was born to it." "Not like Camille,"

care about appearing in the society pages or impressing the

her." Richard's voice broke. "Our own daughter, and

remembering Camille's face at

cold and

she'll ever forgive us? Ever come back

answer immediately. He gathered

photos, looking at each one with

don't know," he said honestly.

Rose and Stefan... The way we doubted

desperately.

already tried that

at us like we

Like we meant

our Camille. Victoria Kane has turned her into

"No,"

that's who our daughter had to become to survive what was done to her.

She reached for a photo from Camille's wedding to Stefan. The three of them stood together, with Rose visible at

even then. How did we

to," Richard admitted. "Rose was the daughter we

was

and real and... so much stronger than we ever gave her credit

eleven, riding horses, reading books, winning awards, making silly faces. Then, after Rose came, the images changed

lost her starting the day

every time we chose Rose's version

we praised Rose's perfect manners

nodded. "And now she

her? Actually loves her, not

know if Victoria Kane is capable of love the way we understand it. But she saw value

gave her purpose, power,

old one

Rose." Margaret's hands curled into fists. "Our 'perfect' daughter who tried to

our real daughter killed."

when

silence. She broke

falling from her horse, and I slept in her room for a week. It was

would tell

girls who fought dragons or solved

to be

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