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."

floor," Alexander decided.

heavy and slow.

parents," Camille said suddenly. "She'll

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

heart like a poisonous weed. "What about you?" she

hands in his. "I can take care of

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

pretty good idea after the bombing," Alexander

her weakened state. "Call Agent Chen,"

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

tone leaving no room for

standing, her body tense as a drawn bowstring.

she's caught," Victoria agreed. "Or

simple truth of those words hit Camille like a physical blow. Rose wouldn't stop. Not ever. Not while she

never going to end," Camille whispered, the realization settling

Victoria countered. "Even Rose's obsession. Even her freedom to

at the message glowing on the screen. *You took

Rose had manipulated? A husband Rose had seduced? A life Rose had tried repeatedly to destroy? In Rose's

Not something. Everyone. The people she loved. The people who

Alexander. Her parents. Anyone who

the air too thin. Camille struggled to breathe, her chest tight with

cut through the fog of fear. "Look

meeting

said firmly. "She wants you paralyzed. Reactive.

words torn from someplace

Victoria promised. "We're prepared now. We're

is sending a team to trace the message. They'll be here

then?" Camille

further." Alexander's voice was calm, matter-of-fact, a counterpoint to the storm of emotion raging inside. Camille. "No one enters this floor without biometric verification and direct approval from me. All staff are

my parents?"

FBI agents to supplement their security

moved to a safe house as we

take comfort in these concrete measures. But the

the door made them all tense. Alexander moved to answer it, his hand inside his jacket where

completed the first sweep of the

Alexander said. "Any updates on the

the message was routed through multiple servers. They're still working on

this exchange, the professional calm of the two men both reassuring and somehow terrifying. They were preparing for war. A war Rose had brought

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

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

her voice hollow. "She's patient. Careful. She's been planning this for

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

insisted. "Not when she's this close to

what does she want?" Alexander

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

we don't let her," Alexander said simply. "We protect each other. We stay