SCORNED EX WIFE Queen Of Ashes (Camille and Stefan)

Chapter 180

Rain tapped against the windows of Camille's office as she reviewed quarterly reports. The sky had darkened early, turning afternoon to evening without her noticing. She rubbed her tired eyes, realizing she'd been staring at the same page for ten minutes.

Her assistant's voice came through the intercom. "Ms. Kane? There's someone here to see you. She doesn't have an appointment."

Camille frowned. "Who is it?"

"A Mrs. Pierce. She says it's personal."

Camille's hand froze. Pierce. Alexander's family name. But he rarely spoke of his parents, and when he did, his voice turned cold in a way that reminded her of Victoria at her most distant.

"Send her in," Camille said, smoothing her skirt as she stood.

The woman who entered moved with quiet grace, her shoulders pulled back despite the obvious tension in her face. She was tall and slim, with silver-streaked dark hair pulled into a neat bun. Her clothes were expensive but understated. But it was her eyes that caught Camille's attention. They were Alexander's eyes exactly, the same deep blue that could shift from warmth to ice in seconds.

"Ms. Kane," the woman said, her voice soft but steady. "Thank you for seeing me without notice. I'm Eleanor Pierce."

Camille gestured to the chair across from her desk. "Please, sit down."

Eleanor perched on the edge of the seat, clutching her handbag like a shield. "I imagine this is quite surprising. Alexander doesn't know I'm here."

"He's never mentioned you would visit," Camille agreed, studying the woman's face. The resemblance was unmistakable now.

"He wouldn't," Eleanor said, pain flashing across her features. "My son hasn't spoken to me or his father in almost seven years. Not even when we begged him to after James died."

The rawness in Eleanor's voice made Camille pause. Alexander had told her fragments of his history, about the car accident, his brother walking away unscathed while Alexander spent months in the hospital. About his family choosing sides. About his brother's death four years ago and his parents' desperate attempts to reconnect that he'd ruthlessly rebuffed.

"Mrs. Pierce, why have you come to me now? After all this time?"

Eleanor's fingers whitened around her bag. "Because I'm running out of hope." Her voice cracked. "Four years of silence. Four years of trying to reach him with no response."

The admission hung in the air between them.

sorry," Camille

catch a glimpse of him." Her composure fractured. "Do you

he needed us most, we failed him.

letting the woman

the golden child. When the accident happened, we couldn't believe James would have been driving recklessly. We couldn't face that he'd

took James's side," Camille said

Eleanor said, eyes overflowing. "While he was fighting to walk again, fighting through surgeries and pain no young man should endure.

eyes burning. The raw anguish in Eleanor's voice

to reach him," Eleanor continued after composing herself. "We went to his apartment the day after the

"I've written him every month for four years. Birthdays. Christmas. Just ordinary days when I remembered something about him." Her voice trembled. "They all came back marked 'Return to

asked. "After

him smile again," Eleanor said simply. She extracted a magazine clipping, a photo of Alexander and Camille at a charity event, his head thrown back in genuine laughter. "I haven't seen him laugh like this

it you want from me?"

burned with intensity. "I need to tell my son, to his face, that

about his father?"

"Four years ago, Edward drove to Alexander's building every day for three weeks. Just

month, when Edward saw your engagement announcement, he collapsed. Had a minor stroke. The doctor said it was stress, but I know it was grief. The realization that Alexander had built a new

But Alexander deserves the truth. He deserves to hear us say he was

Eleanor a moment. The rain was letting up,

James died," she asked, "did Alexander

day after the funeral. Edward was in

courier the next day. It came back unopened. We tried his company, we tried through mutual friends, Alexander had made it clear he wanted nothing to

surgery. He looked at us with such emptiness. He said, 'You've chosen.

him now? If I somehow convinced him to see

sorry. That I was wrong. That I've lived with that wrong choice every day." Eleanor's voice strengthened with conviction. "That a mother is supposed to protect her child, and I failed at the most

of us. That I understand if he can never forgive us, but I needed him to

"And his father?"

every news article. He follows all of Alexander's companies, buys stock in each one." She gave a broken laugh. "He has this absurd idea that somehow, if Alexander ever

Alexander could forgive, could rebuild after betrayal. The way you did

"You've

everything about you we could." Her face softened. "And what we learned gave us hope. You've overcome betrayal. You've reconciled with those who hurt you. You understand the possibility of redemption." Camille thought of her own journey, of Victoria who had taught her the power