SCORNED EX WIFE Queen Of Ashes (Camille and Stefan)

Chapter 159

The phone buzzed on the hospital nightstand. Just once. A single text message.

Camille glanced at it, expecting another update from Alexander, who had stepped out to take a call from the security team. Victoria was asleep, her breathing finally even after a difficult morning of treatments. The room was quiet except for the steady beep of monitors and the soft hiss of the oxygen machine.

Camille reached for the phone, grateful for the distraction from her worried thoughts. The screen lit up.

Unknown number.

She opened the message and froze.

*You took everything from me twice. Now I'll take everyone from you.*

The words burned into her eyes. No signature. None needed. Camille knew exactly who had sent it.

Rose.

Her hand shook as she stared at the message. The phone suddenly felt hot, dangerous, as if it might explode in her palm. She wanted to throw it across the room, to smash it against the wall, to destroy the link between her and the sister who would not stop hunting her.

Instead, she took a deep breath and pressed the screenshot button. Evidence. The FBI would need it.

Victoria stirred in the hospital bed, her eyes opening slowly. "Camille? What's wrong?"

Camille tried to smooth her expression, to hide the fear that must be written across her face. But Victoria had always seen through her masks.

"Show me," Victoria said, her voice stronger than her frail body suggested.

Camille hesitated, then turned the phone screen toward Victoria. No point hiding it. Not from the woman who had taught her to face threats head-on.

Victoria read the message, her face hardening. "She's desperate," she said finally. "Cornered. The FBI is closing in, and she knows it."

"That makes her more dangerous, not less," Camille replied, her voice tight with fear she couldn't quite hide. "She's threatening everyone I love."

"Which is why we have security," Victoria reminded her. "And why the FBI is hunting her day and night."

Camille stood, suddenly unable to sit still. She paced the small hospital room, the phone clutched in her hand like a grenade with the pin half-pulled. "She found a way to contact me despite everything. Who knows what else she can do?"

The door opened, and Alexander stepped in. One look at Camille's face told him something was wrong.

"What happened?" he asked, closing the door firmly behind him.

Wordlessly, Camille handed him the phone. His expression darkened as he read the message.

"When did this come in?"

"Just now," Camille said. "Can you trace it?"

"I'll have my team try, but if Rose is being careful, she'll have used a burner phone." Alexander was already typing on his own phone, alerting his security personnel. "We need to move you both to a more secure location."

"I'm not leaving the hospital," Victoria said firmly from her bed. "My treatment protocol requires specific equipment that can't be moved."

lock down this floor," Alexander decided. "No one in or out without

feel heavy and slow. Rose had found a way to

parents," Camille said suddenly. "She'll

their security team this morning, before this message came in. Standard precaution with the

have felt relieved, but the fear only grew, taking root in her heart like a poisonous weed. "What about you?" she asked Alexander, her voice

the room and took her hands in his. "I can

Rose," Camille insisted. "You don't understand how

think I have a pretty good idea after the bombing," Alexander said gently. "But I'm not going anywhere. We face

eyes sharp despite her weakened state. "Call Agent Chen," she instructed. "She needs to know about

her pacing, unable to stand still with the energy of fear

Victoria said, her tone leaving no room for argument.

standing, her body tense as

she's caught," Victoria agreed.

Not

end," Camille whispered, the realization settling over her

obsession. Even

heard her. She was staring at the phone still in Alexander's hand, at the message glowing on

Rose had seduced? A life Rose had

"everyone" from her. Not something. Everyone. The people she loved. The people

Alexander. Her parents. Anyone who mattered to

air too thin. Camille struggled to breathe, her chest

voice cut through the fog of

meeting Victoria's steady

firmly. "She wants you paralyzed. Reactive. Don't

lose you," Camille whispered, the words torn from someplace

"We're prepared now. We're ready

rejoined them. "Agent Chen is sending a team to trace the message. They'll be

then?"

Camille. "No one enters this floor without biometric verification and direct approval from me. All staff are

about my parents?" Camille

agents to

a safe house as we

trying to take comfort in these concrete measures. But the knot of fear in her stomach remained,

all tense. Alexander moved to answer it, his hand inside his jacket where Camille knew he

Alexander's head of security, stepped in. "Sir, we've completed the first sweep of the floor. All clear. Additional teams are arriving now

Alexander said. "Any

The tech team says the message was routed through multiple servers. They're still

calm of the two men both reassuring and somehow terrifying. They were preparing for war.

window, looking out at the city below. Somewhere out there, Rose was watching. Waiting. Planning her next move.

coming to stand beside her. "They always

don't know Rose," Camille replied, her voice hollow. "She's patient. Careful.

"And the reality is that the entire country is looking for her. Every law enforcement agency. Every airport. Every

Camille insisted. "Not when

what does she

suffer. To take away everyone I love and watch me

"We protect each other. We stay together. We deny her