SCORNED EX WIFE Queen Of Ashes (Camille and Stefan)

Chapter 98

Rose stared at the screens covering the wall of Herod

Preston's penthouse office. Six displays showed different angles of the Phoenix Grid construction site, live feeds that shouldn't exist. Workers in yellow hard hats moved across the site like ants, unaware of the "Your security access is impressive," Rose said, stepping closer to examine a monitor showing the main control center where engineers hunched over computers. "How did you get these feeds?" Herod's mouth curled into the barest hint of a smile. "Money opens doors. Especially when those doors belong to underpaid security guards with gambling debts."

He stood beside her, close enough that she could smell his expensive cologne. In the three weeks since they'd begun working together, Rose had grown to appreciate his attention to detail. Unlike the men she' "And our man?" she asked, tapping a fingernail against the screen showing workers installing circuit panels.

Herod pressed a button on his desk. The center screen zoomed in on a thin man with ginger hair tucked under his hard hat. "James Walsh. Senior electrician. Twenty years' experience. Divorced. Two children h wife's medical bills."

Rose studied the man's face. Ordinary. Forgettable. Perfect.

"And he's completely bought in?"

"He believes he's working for a competitor looking

to delay the project." Herod's voice carried the confident tone of someone who had covered every angle. "He has no idea what will really happen when those modified circuits overload."

Rose felt a thrill race through her body. Not just excitement something deeper. More primal. For twelve months she had lived in the wreckage of her carefully constructed life. Watching her fashion empire crumb Now, finally, revenge was within reach.

"Show me the blueprint modifications again," she said.

Herod slid a tablet across his glass desk. On screen, two sets of technical drawings appeared

side by side. To Rose's

symbols, and measurements.

untrained eye, they looked identical, a maze of linen

"The original is on the left," Herod explained, pointing to specific sections. "Our version is on the right. The changes are subtle. Temperature sensors adjusted to report normal readings even when heat levels ris shutting down. Backup systems reconfigured to fail simultaneously rather than sequentially."

Rose didn't fully understand the technical details, but she understood the result. "And these changes guarantee disaster?"

Herod nodded, eyes gleaming with something that looked unnervingly like excitement. "The system will appear to function normally during

testing. The flaws won't activate until

full power runs through the grid for at least seventy-

two hours. By then, the heat buildup in the main junction boxes will be unstoppable."

"And the result?"

he tapped the screen where Camille's office was located at the Grid headquarters, "....co Rose closed

window overlooking the Manhattan skyline. "Walsh installs the modified circuits tomorrow. Final testing begins the day after. The

wait." Herod's reflection in the

the grid goes fully

two hours after that...

"Boom," Rose whispered.

"Precisely."

face when she realized what was happening. Would she know immediately that Rose was behind it? Or would the confusion and panic keep her from seeing the truth until it was t

"What

loose end. After the installation is complete, he

coldness in Herod's voice sent an unexpected chill through Rose. She had wished Camille dead, had

only crime was being desperate enough to take

that necessary?" she asked, surprising herself with

studied her face, his expression unreadable. "Having second thoughts, Rose? That seems unlike

His tone held

fail. She straightened her spine, raising her chin. "Not

electrician in a car accident fifty miles from New York raises no questions at all. Particularly when his blood alcohol level suggests he was

on Victoria's movements?" she asked, changing

her building, flanked by security. "She's increased surveillance on you. My

absolute. "By the time they figure out who I am, it will be

several phones lay in a neat row. "And these

a different one

them afterward." He

The encrypted messaging app is

communications will

a different kind of thrill than

thought of everything,"

voice dropped lower. "Never underestimate the power of patient hatred, Rose. It burn Rose understood. Hadn't she nursed her own hatred for Camille since childhood? Hadn't she plotted for years to

pocketing the phone. "Nothing left but

a drawer and removed a small box. "One final

a silver pin shaped like a phoenix rising from flames, identical to the emblem

the morning after the explosions, with a note suggesting they investigate whether Kane Industries knew about Rose picked up the pin, turning it in the light. "My sister

box.

felt dizzy with anticipation. After months of humiliation, of watching Camille rise from the dead to claim a new identity and destroy everything Rose had built, the tables were finally turning. "What will you

"Acquire what

it in my own image." His

thought that far ahead. Her focus had been so completely on destruction that she'd given little consideration to what came after.

Herod