SCORNED EX WIFE Queen Of Ashes (Camille and Stefan)

Chapter 199

Camille stood in Alexander's home office, holding the quarterly reports she'd come to collect. The afternoon sun streamed through the tall windows, casting long shadows across the mahogany desk where her husband spent most of his evenings. She'd offered to grab the Pierce Enterprises files while he attended his board meeting, wanting to help prepare for their joint presentation tomorrow.

The office felt different when Alexander wasn't here. Quieter. Almost cold. She noticed details she'd never seen before, the way his books were arranged by height rather than subject, the single family photo turned face-down on the shelf, the small silver key that had fallen behind his laptop.

Curious, she picked up the key. It was old, ornate, nothing like the modern electronic locks throughout their penthouse. She turned it over in her palm, wondering what it might open.

Her eyes swept the room and stopped at the antique wooden cabinet in the corner. She'd always assumed it held old business files or legal documents. But now she noticed the small keyhole just below the brass handle.

She shouldn't. She knew she shouldn't. But something deep in her chest pulled her forward, some instinct she couldn't name.

The key slid in perfectly.

Inside the cabinet, behind stacks of legitimate files, her fingers found something unexpected. A metal safe, small enough to hide but large enough to hold secrets.

The safe door stood slightly open, as if Alexander had been in a hurry during his last visit. Camille's heart began beating faster as she pulled it open completely.

The first thing she saw made her breath catch. Photographs. Dozens of them. All of Victoria.

Victoria leaving Kane Industries. Victoria at restaurants. Victoria at the hospital during her cancer treatments. Victoria at their wedding, smiling as she watched her daughter dance. Victoria at family dinners, at business meetings, at quiet moments when she thought no one was watching.

The photos were professional quality, taken with a long lens from hidden positions. All were date-stamped from their wedding day and after. Recent photos. Photos taken while Alexander was building their life together.

Camille's hands shook as she flipped through them. Each photo felt like a punch to her stomach. Why did Alexander have surveillance photos of Victoria? Why had he been watching her during their marriage?

Beneath the photos lay a thick folder marked "Kane Industries - Security Protocols." Her fingers felt numb as she opened it. Inside were detailed blueprints of Kane Industries' building, including restricted areas she'd never seen. Emergency exit plans. Security camera locations. Server room layouts.

Information only someone with high-level access could obtain. Information that could be used to destroy the company from within.

At the bottom of the safe lay a leather journal, its pages yellow with age. The name embossed on the cover made her blood turn to ice: Richard Pierce.

With trembling hands, she opened to a random page and began reading:

*Victoria Kane is destroying everything I built. She planted those safety violations. She bribed the inspectors. She's turning my own board against me with lies about financial misconduct. My company is finished, and she's the one holding the knife.*

Camille flipped to another entry:

*The banks are calling in our loans. Victoria's influence reaches everywhere. She wants Meridian Technologies dead, and she's willing to destroy innocent lives to get it. My employees, their families - none of it matters to her. She's a monster wearing a business suit.*

The final entry was dated the day before Richard Pierce's death:

my father built. If I can't save the company, I'll make sure the world knows what Victoria Kane really is. Someone has to stop her. Someone has to make

sank in. Richard Pierce. Alexander's uncle. The man who'd died by suicide

Victoria had destroyed his uncle.

had married her

one more item. A single sheet of

Gain

2: Access Kane

destruction

Public exposure

Complete financial

*For Uncle Richard. Justice will be served. Started

journal still clutched in her hands. The engagement party. That was when everything changed. When Alexander learned the

it. The way he'd looked at her, touched her, held her during those early months -

you" since that night. All of

she'd married, the man she'd fallen in love with, the man who'd held her while she cried about Rose's betrayal - he was

worse. So much

eyes, known it in her bones. But then someone had poisoned that love with lies about Victoria. Someone had turned the

ver

of that had been genuine love. But their engagement, their wedding, their marriage - it had all been built on

in the hallway. Alexander was home

shot through her as she realized what she'd done. The safe door was open, papers scattered across the desk, evidence of her

found it. She slammed the safe shut and locked the cabinet, shoving the key back behind his

reports in her hands, looking out

beautiful." His voice was warm, loving, exactly the same as always. "Sorry I'm early. The meeting ended

to face him,

stranger. How had she never seen it? The calculation behind his smites? The

sometimes went cold

he

thought she wasn't watching?

problem," she managed. "I just grabbed

oom and kissed her

before. It felt

gesture he'd done

the best," he murmured. "I don't know what

would have made her heart flutter now made her want to vomit. She knew exactly what he'd do without her. He'd find another way to get to Victoria. Another tool to use for his

her about his meeting, asked about her

played her part too. She smiled at his jokes, asked questions about his projects, let him hold her hand across the table. Inside, she felt like