SCORNED EX WIFE Queen Of Ashes (Camille and Stefan)

Chapter 217

James Whitfield stood in his Manhattan office, watching surveillance footage of Alexander talking to Camille, Stefan, Hannah, and Victoria at the event, he saw the look of remorse on Alexander's face. His hands gripped the edge of his desk so tightly his knuckles turned white as he watched Alexander talk to them, and betray everything they had built together.

"Twenty years," James whispered to the empty room. "Twenty years of planning, and this weak-minded fool throws it all away for a woman who destroyed his uncle."

The rage burning in James's chest felt familiar, comfortable even. He had carried this anger for so long it had become part of his identity, as essential to his existence as breathing. But watching Alexander collaborate with the enemy brought that fury to a boiling point that threatened to consume everything in its path.

James turned away from the surveillance screens and walked to the wall where a single photograph hung in an expensive frame. The image showed a man in his fifties wearing a business suit, standing proudly in front of a construction site. The man's smile was genuine, his posture confident, his eyes bright with the satisfaction of honest work completed well.

"I'm sorry, Dad," James said to the photograph. "I'm sorry it's taken me so long to get justice for what they did to you."

The photograph showed Thomas Smith, a contractor who had built half the schools and hospitals in upstate New York before Victoria Kane and Richard Pierce destroyed his life. James touched the glass covering his father's face, remembering the strong hands that had taught him to use tools, the patient voice that had explained how buildings were constructed to last for generations.

Before Victoria Kane turned his father into a criminal.

James closed his eyes and let the memories wash over him, painful as acid but necessary to fuel his determination. Twenty years ago, Thomas Smith Construction had been competing for the largest municipal contract in the state's history - a new hospital complex that would employ hundreds of workers and establish the family business for the next generation.

Thomas Smith had submitted a fraudulent bid based on substandard materials and exploited immigrant workers who couldn't report safety violations. Victoria Kane and Richard Pierce had submitted an honest bid that exposed Thomas Smith's illegal practices when they reported him to the authorities.

When federal investigators discovered Thomas Smith's criminal enterprise, they found evidence of years of fraud, bribery, and safety violations. Workers had been injured on his construction sites because he used defective materials. Families had been cheated out of their savings through inflated contracts. Municipal officials had been bribed to overlook building code violations.

James remembered the day the federal agents came to arrest his father. The rage in Thomas Smith's eyes as they read charges of fraud, bribery, and conspiracy. The way his voice turned cold as he promised revenge against the people who had exposed his crimes.

"They think they've won," Thomas had said as they led him away in handcuffs. "But I'll make them pay for destroying my business. Victoria Kane and Richard Pierce will regret the day they crossed the Smith family."

But Thomas Smith never got his revenge. He died in federal prison three years into his sentence, killed by inmates who discovered he had been skimming money from a children's hospital construction fund.

James had been twenty-two when his father was arrested, a recent college graduate who had known about the family business's illegal activities but had chosen to look the other way. When the conviction became public, when the newspapers detailed Thomas Smith's extensive criminal history, James had changed his surname to Whitfield and disappeared from his old life.

three years building a new identity, creating a respectable background that had no connection to Thomas Smith Construction. By the time James emerged as James Whitfield, businessman and consultant, no one

forgotten what Victoria Kane and Richard Pierce

said to the photograph. "I should have made them pay for exposing your business instead of running away and

been guilty of every charge brought against him. Instead, James had spent years learning how to destroy Victoria Kane and Richard Pierce the way

criminal activity to the proper authorities. His father's downfall hadn't been the result of any conspiracy - it had been

been taken away, for the wealth that had been

family millions of dollars by exposing their illegal construction practices. Richard Pierce had provided testimony that helped convict

by the time James understood the truth, Victoria Kane had moved on to bigger enterprises. She had founded Kane Industries and left the construction business behind. Richard Pierce had started Meridian Technologies and seemed to have forgotten their partnership in destroying innocent people. James had spent years planning his revenge, waiting for the perfect moment to strike. When the factory explosion happened at Meridian Technologies,

complete. Victoria Kane had survived the scandal, even thrived after Richard's death. She had built an empire while James's father rotted in an unmarked grave, forgotten by everyone except the son who had failed

James had decided to

T.n

factory explosion had started. He had manipulated Richard Pierce, fed him information that would turn him against Victoria, encouraged his paranoia and desperation until

the end. When James pushed him to take more extreme action against Victoria Kane, Richard had balked. He had started talking about

been fabricated and the witnesses who had been bought. If Richard confessed to the authorities, James would be exposed as the puppet master behind years of fraud and manipulation. So James had arranged for Richard to die. Not suicide, as the world believed, but murder made to look like a man overwhelmed by guilt taking his own life. A tragic end to a tragic story, with Victoria Kane left to carry the blame

Victoria Kane had survived that too. She had rebuilt her reputation, recovered from the scandal, and continued building her empire

Fifteen years of patient preparation, waiting for the perfect weapon to complete his father's

nephew who could be manipulated into destroying Victoria Kane from within. A man with access to her inner circle, someone she

James had crafted Alexander's

feeding him

with lies

him motivated. The factory

acéusations. But James had

almost worked. Alexander had infiltrated Camille's life, gained

and reputation. James had watched

now. Until Alexander's weakness and