SCORNED EX WIFE Queen Of Ashes (Camille and Stefan)

Chapter 97

Rain lashed against the windows of Victoria Kane's office, matching her dark mood. She sat rigid in her leather chair, eyes fixed on the large screen mounted on the wall. The security footage playing before her

Martin, her head of security, stood nearby, his face grim as they watched Rose Lewis slip into a side entrance of an upscale restaurant. The timestamp showed 9:43 PM, two days ago. "Pause it," Victoria commanded.

Martin pressed a button on the remote. The image froze, capturing Rose mid-

step, her face partly hidden by large sunglasses despite the late hour. Even in disguise, the hatred Victoria felt for this woman burned in her stomach

like acid.

"Continue."

The footage resumed. Rose moved through the restaurant, head down, until she reached a private dining area in the back. A walter pulled aside a curtain, revealing a booth where someone already waited. The "Can you get a better view of his face?" Victoria asked, leaning forward.

Martin shook his head. "No, ma'am. We've tried enhancing from every angle. The restaurant's security system isn't positioned to capture that corner clearly. It seems..."

"Deliberate," Victoria finished for him. "As if they knew exactly where to sit to avoid identification."

"Yes, ma'am."

Victoria's fingers tapped against the polished wood of her desk, a habit she allowed herself only in moments of deep concern. "What else?"

Martin changed to another video feed. This one showed Rose and the mystery man leaving separately. First Rose, glancing nervously over her shoulder, then twenty minutes later, the man, still with his back to backed confidence of someone used to command.

"We followed her?" Victoria asked.

"Yes. She went directly to her apartment." Martin hesitated "We tried to track the man, but he had a car waiting Black Bentley, tinted windows, changed license plates twice before we lost him in Queens." Victoria's eyes narrowed. Amateur mistakes weren't made by Martin's team. "He knew you were following."

"It appears so." Martin's professional pride seemed wounded. "Whoever he is, he has resources. And training." Victoria stood, moving to the window. Below, New York sprawled out, glistening wet from the rain, how me the other encounters," she ordered, turning back

Martin pulled up four more video clips, different locations different days. A coffee shop in Brooklyn. A bench in Central Park. The lobby of a hotel. A dock at the marina. Always the same pattern: Rose and the mystery man, faces hidden or obscured, meeting in locations that seemed randeni but Victoria recognized as strategically selected for minimal surveillance.

Chapter 97

"They're planning something," Victoria murmured, more to herself than to Martin.

a tablet and handed it to her. "There's more. Financial records show Rose has accessed emergency funds we weren't aware of. Not much, two hundred thousand dollars, bu Victoria swiped

Which suggests someone

her age today, the weight of it pressing down on her

is Camille

final

safe, Victoria thought. Protected

his own security team. But

Victoria moved back

desk and pressed the intercom. "Sarah, cancel my meetings for

ready

making it obvious. And I want every second of Rose's day tracked, where she goes, who she meets, what she buys." "Yes, ma'am." Martin's expression remained neutral, but Victoria caught the faintest flicker of concern in his eyes. "And the man?" "Find him," Victoria said, her voice going sharp as a blade. "Whatever it

Alone, Victoria pulled open her desk drawer and removed an old photograph, herself and Sophia, thirteen years ago, at the hospital fundraiser where Sofia had met Charles Pre The ache in her chest surprised her. Victoria Kane did not indulge in regret, it was unproductive, wasteful. Yet lately, watching Camille begin to open her heart to Alexander, seeing glimpses of the woman she had been before Rose's betrayal, Victoria wondered

The surgery. The training. The calculated

her.

stay in the hands

phone buzzed with a

the Grid blueprints. Minor but concerning.

More evidence of a coordinated attack. She

close. Coming

her coat and moved toward the door, then paused, turning back to look once more at the frozen image on the screen, Rose and the shadow of a man whose face they couldn't capture. "Who are you?" she asked the figure. "And

that variables she hadn' For the first time since taking Camille under her wing, Victoria wondered if she might be outmaneuvered. The thought sent a chill through her that had nothing to do with the rain- cooled

to the garage, Victoria pressed her palm against the hidden scanner, granting access to the secure communications system built into the wall. "Connect me to Alexander

beep, then Alexander's voice filled the

"Can you speak freely?"

Hannah reviewing the altered sections

low despite the elevator's

been meeting with someone, a man.

"Someone helping her target the

seems likely. The timing, the secrecy. My security team couldn't track him, he knew they were

floor numbers tick down. "Alexander, I've never asked about the full

"What exactly are

They exceed standard corporate security,