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."

we lock down this floor," Alexander decided. "No

nodded, but inside, a cold dread was spreading through her chest, creeping into her limbs, making her feel heavy and slow. Rose had found

suddenly. "She'll

assured her. "I doubled their security team this morning, before this message came in. Standard precaution

her heart like a poisonous weed. "What about you?" she asked Alexander, her voice barely

and took her hands in his. "I can take care of myself, Camille. I've been

understand

a pretty good idea after the bombing," Alexander said gently. "But I'm not going

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

call. Camille resumed her pacing, unable to stand still with the energy of

leaving no room for

body tense as

she's caught," Victoria agreed. "Or until she

Not ever. Not while she breathed. Not while

end," Camille whispered, the realization settling over her like

Rose's obsession. Even her

Alexander's hand, at the message

Rose had seduced? A life

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

parents. Anyone who mattered

air too thin. Camille struggled to breathe,

cut through the fog of fear. "Look at

turned, meeting

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

whispered, the words torn from

promised. "We're prepared now. We're ready for

finished his call and rejoined them. "Agent Chen is sending a

until then?"

storm of emotion raging inside. Camille. "No one enters this floor without biometric verification and direct approval from me. All

about my parents?"

Chen is sending FBI agents to supplement their security

moved to a safe house as

nodded, trying to take comfort in these concrete measures. But the knot of fear in

on the door made them all tense. Alexander moved to answer it, his hand inside his jacket where Camille knew he carried a weapon. He

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

"Any updates on the

yet. The tech team says the message was routed through multiple

professional calm of the two men both reassuring and somehow

left, Camille moved to the window, looking out at the city below. Somewhere out there, Rose was watching.

Alexander said, coming to stand beside her. "They always

Rose," Camille replied, her voice hollow. "She's patient. Careful. She's been planning this for

with reality," Alexander countered. "And the reality is that the entire country is looking for her. Every law enforcement agency. Every airport. Every border

when

what does she

her eyes haunted. "To see me suffer. To take away everyone I

Alexander said simply. "We protect each other.