SCORNED EX WIFE Queen Of Ashes (Camille and Stefan)

Chapter 192

Chapter 192

The morning rain pounded against the windows of Pierce Enterprises as Alexander reviewed the latest energy forecasts. His fingers trembled slightly as he reached for his coffee, the weight of last night's discoveries still pressing down on his chest like a stone. Across the city, Victoria Kane was discovering that someone had been probing her company's deepest secrets.

His phone buzzed against the mahogany desk. Victoria's name flashed on the screen, sending ice through his veins. He let it ring twice before answering, his voice carefully controlled.

"Victoria. Good morning."

"Alexander." Her tone was sharp, cutting through the phone like a blade. "I need to see you. My office. One hour."

The line went dead. Alexander stared at the phone, his heart hammering against his ribs. Had they traced the cyberattacks back to him? Had someone discovered his connection to "Guardian"?

He stood and walked to his office window, watching the city blur through streams of rain. Twenty stories below, people hurried along sidewalks, unaware that the foundations of two major corporations were about to shift beneath their feet.

*** ***

Kane Industries' headquarters rose like a steel and glass monument to Victoria's empire. Alexander had been here countless times since marrying Camille, but today the building felt different. Hostile. Like walking into enemy territory.

Victoria's assistant led him through familiar halls that now seemed to stretch endlessly. His footsteps echoed on polished marble, each sound marking time toward a confrontation he'd been dreading since he first opened that envelope months ago.

Victoria sat behind her massive desk, her silver hair gleaming under the office lights. Cancer had made her thinner, but her eyes burned with the same intensity that had built her empire. On the desk before her lay several printed reports, their contents hidden from his view.

"Sit," she commanded, not looking up from the documents.

Alexander took the chair across from her, his hands resting calmly on his knees despite the storm raging inside him. Years of business negotiations had taught him to hide his emotions behind a mask of professional composure.

"Someone has been trying to access our financial records," Victoria said, finally raising her eyes to meet his. "Sophisticated attempts. Professional level. The kind that requires inside knowledge of our security protocols."

Alexander's throat felt dry as sand. "I'm sorry to hear that. Has your team identified the source?"

"Not yet." Victoria leaned back in her chair, studying his face with the intensity of a predator examining prey. "But the attempts have been focused on very specific files. Records related to acquisitions from fifteen years ago."

The air in the room seemed to thicken. Alexander forced himself to breathe normally, to maintain eye contact, to show nothing but appropriate concern for his wife's family business.

"That's troubling," he said. "Do you think it could be connected to the Phoenix Grid expansion? Competitors trying to find weaknesses in your past deals?"

Victoria's expression didn't change, but something flickered behind her eyes. Relief? Suspicion? Alexander couldn't tell.

"Perhaps," she said slowly. "Speaking of the expansion, I understand you've been researching our historical energy projects for the joint venture with Pierce Enterprises?"

was. The moment that would determine whether his

hesitation. "My team needs to understand Kane Industries' approach to major infrastructure projects. Learning

face. "And you've been looking specifically

others. Meridian was one of your first major tech

her desk, aligning their edges

approach to due diligence

papers, and for a moment, Alexander saw something raw cross her face-surprise, perhaps, or recognition that he knew more than he

years ago," she said finally. "More competitive.

I understand

moving to the window that overlooked Manhattan. "I'm glad we cleared that up. I was concerned that someone might be trying to dig up old

lied smoothly. "Kane Industries has always conducted

her smile was sharp as a knife's edge. "Exactly. Which is why I'm confident this cybersecurity issue will resolve itself

rose from his chair, recognizing the dismissal. "I'm sure it will. If there's anything

no. This is

Alexander walked toward the door, Victoria's voice stopped

"Alexander."

turned, his hand

hard on

promised, the words tasting like ash in

** **

own office, Alexander locked the door and pulled the blinds shut. His hands shook as he opened his laptop and accessed the encrypted files

file was a copy of an internal Kane Industries memo, dated three weeks before his uncle's suicide. Victoria's signature was clear at the bottom, authorizing an investigation into Richard Pierce's "potential ethical violations" regarding the Whitmore Factory

word. A factory explosion at one of Meridian's facilities had killed three workers and injured dozens more. The official investigation had cleared Meridian of wrongdoing, ruling the explosion an

was due to cost-cutting measures approved by Meridian's board, measures

somehow

ver

Meridian's culpability. False accusations of financial misconduct. Planted stories about his mental

second file contained Richard's personal notes, apparently recovered from his home computer after his death. Page after page of anguished writing, describing the pressure from Kane Industries, the threats to his family, the choice between revealing the truth about the factory accident and protecting his nephew from

pay the price if I proceed,* one entry read. *Victoria Kane has the power to destroy his future, his career, his life. I cannot be responsible for that. But how can I live with

entry, dated the day before his suicide, was barely

I am too weak to fight. Alexander must never know. He must never carry this burden. Better that I die a coward than live knowing I chose his future over justice for the

until the words blurred. His uncle hadn't died because of business failure or financial ruin. He had died because Victoria Kane had threatened Alexander's life to keep him silent about a cover-up that had

weapon used to destroy the

buzzed with a text from Camille: *Dinner at home tonight? I

typed back automatically: *Looking forward to it. Love

Not when it was built on a foundation of lies and blood. Victoria Kane had murdered his uncle as