SCORNED EX WIFE Queen Of Ashes (Camille and Stefan)

Chapter 143

Rose ran across the motel parking lot, her mind racing faster than her feet. The worn soles of her expensive shoes slapped against cracked asphalt as panic clawed at her chest. Herod was going to tell the FBI She reached her car, not her car, really, but one of

Herod's cars. Her hands shook ashe fumbled with the keys. The recorder. The damned recorder he'd shown her. How long had he been recording their conversations? What exactly had she said? Rose stopped, the key halfway to the lock.

She couldn't run. Not yet. Not while Herod sat in that motel room with a phone pressed to his ear, her name on his lips, and evidence of her crimes in his pocket.

In the distance, sirens wailed. Still far away, but coming closer.

Rose looked back at Room 17, its faded blue door visible from where she stood. Behind that door sat the man who

could destroy everything she'd built. Everything she'd sacrificed for.

If he talked, it was over.

If he lived, she was finished.

Rose reached into her bag, her fingers wrapping around the cold metal of the gun she'd bought from one of Anton Bessonov's men. She'd never fired it. Had never planned to. It was just insurance, protection a rough types she had to deal with for their plan.

Now it was her only option.

The weight of the weapon felt strange in her hand as she pulled

it from her bag. She'd watched enough movies to know how to hold it, how to aim. But the reality of it, the solid heaviness of death in her palm, made her stomach turn.

Rose didn't allow herself to hesitate. Hesitation was for weak people. For people like Camille, always looking for someone else to make decisions for her. Rose wasn't weak. She'd proven that time and again. The sirens grew louder. Minutes, maybe seconds before they arrived.

She walked back toward Room 17, each step steady despite the storm inside her mind. All those years fighting to escape the foster

system. All those years pretending to be the perfect adopted daughter. All those

years watching Camille get everything Rose deserved.

She wouldn't let Herod take it all away. Not now. Not when she was so close to winning.

Outside Room 17, Rose paused, listening. Through the thin door, she could hear Herod's voice, the words unclear but the tone unmistakable. He was telling them. Giving them details. Betraying her. Rose raised the gun, aimed at the door, and pulled the trigger.

The explosion of sound shocked her. The gun jumped in her hand, the recoil stronger than she expected. A hole appeared in the cheap wooden door.

Inside, Herod's voice stopped.

Not enough. She couldn't be sure. She fired again.

And again. Three holes now punctured the door, forming a rough triangle.

Silence from inside the room.

Rose stepped closer, pressed her ear to the door. Nothing. Not even movement.

Had she hit him? Was he dead? Wounded?

She had to know. Had to be sure.

Rose turned the doorknob slowly. The door

Herod lay

chest, staining his white shirt with expanding circles of red. His eyes were

Successfully unlocked!

should we betrayed me," she said,

words came between shallow

find you, I'll be gone. And if they come after me, I'll tell them you were obsessed with me. That you forced me to help you. That I was afraid

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Chapter 143

that unnerved her. Even dying,

again. "Everyone always does fmvery convers He tried to reach for the phone that had skittered across the floor. Rose steppe hand, grinding it under

the recorder?" she

briefly, then opened again. The

keeping the gun aimed at his head while her free hand searched his pockets. Nothing.

at the corner of

Rose again.

me where it is, or 13 make your last moments very

had grown more labored. Each word seemed to cost him tremendous

aiming the gun directly at

someone... who'll know... what to do..." Herod's voice faded to a

Rose's

pointed at his face, he wouldn't give her what she

finger tightened on

sirens screamed into the parking lot outside, red and blue lights flashing through

for a clean shot anymore. She

bullet striking the floor beside Herod's head. Not a kill shot, but enough to make her point. This isn't over," she

the bathroom window.

but Rose was smaller. She forced it open and squeezed through, dropping into the narrow alley behind the motel. Her car was out front, now blocked by FBI vehicles. She'd have to find another wa Behind her, shouts came from the motel room. They'd found Herod. Soon they'd

ran through the alley, away from the motel, away from

from the man she'd shot but not killed. Her mind raced with possibilities,

each step.

without the recorder, without proof, it would be his word against hers. And Rose had always

She'd

plan went wrong. In case they needed

as she reached a

was running. Couldn't draw attention to herself. She smoothed her

went back into

her

to?" the driver asked as she slid into

Rose said. "I've got a long journey

the taxi pulled away, Rose

opposite direction. More units responding to the

back against the seat, forcing her

her mind to focus. This wasn't over. She could still win. She just needed to

to destroy

Herod lived? If he

in her bag, her finger tracing its deadly shape