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?"

grid network. Blackouts throughout the city. And most importantly..." he tapped the screen where Camille's office was located at the Grid headquarters, "....co Rose closed her eyes, savoring the mental image. Camille in

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

in the

the grid

two hours after that...

"Boom," Rose whispered.

"Precisely."

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 "There's one more thing we need to discuss," Herod said, turning away from

frowned. "What about

end. After the installation is complete, he needs to

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

eliminating a man whose only crime was being desperate enough to take

that necessary?" she asked, surprising

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

His tone held

couldn't afford to fail. She straightened her spine, raising her chin. "Not at all. I'm simply being practical. A dead electrician

in a car accident fifty miles from New York raises no questions at all. Particularly when his blood alcohol level suggests he was drinking heavily." Herod returned to his

Victoria's movements?" she asked,

showing Victoria Kane leaving her building, flanked by security. "She's increased surveillance

the time they figure out who I am, it will

the desk where several phones lay in a neat row.

Untraceable. Use a different one for

afterward."

the phones. The encrypted

communications will leave no

up her arm, a different kind

of everything," Rose

my family didn't. Why I rebuilt while Victoria thought she had destroyed us completely." Herod's voice dropped lower. "Never underestimate the power of

set," she said, pocketing the phone. "Nothing left but to watch

opened a drawer and removed a

silver pin shaped like a phoenix rising from

gift from an anonymous donor to every major news outlet in the city," Herod explained. "Arriving the morning after the explosions, with a note suggesting

Herod closed the box. "The phoenix that rises from these

months of humiliation, of watching Camille rise from the dead to claim a new identity

"Acquire what

Industries at pennies on the dollar. Rebuild it in my own image." His eyes met hers. "And

destruction that she'd given little consideration

Herod