SCORNED EX WIFE Queen Of Ashes (Camille and Stefan)

Chapter 219

The conference room emptied slowly as Victoria, Stefan, and Hannah left to coordinate security preparations for James's impending attack. Their voices faded down the hallway, discussing evacuation routes and emergency protocols, leaving behind only the quiet hum of computer equipment and the weight of everything that had been revealed.

Alexander stood by the windows, staring out at the Manhattan skyline as

darkness settled over the city. His reflection in the glass showed a man hollowed out by the truth, his face gaunt with the realization of how completely he had been manipulated. The lights below twinkled like stars, beautiful and distant, while inside him everything felt broken and sharp.

Camille remained at the conference table, watching Alexander's silhouette against the window. She could see the tension in his shoulders, the way his hands hung at his sides like he didn't know what to do with them anymore. For months, those hands had typed messages to his uncle's killer. For months, those hands had gathered evidence against innocent people.

"Everyone's gone," Camille said quietly.

Alexander didn't turn around. "I know."

The silence stretched between them, filled with months of pain and betrayal and misunderstanding. Alexander's reflection in the window looked like a ghost, transparent and haunting. Camille could see her own reflection too, sitting small and still at the large table where they had once planned their future together.

"I destroyed everything," Alexander said, his voice barely audible. "Our marriage. Your trust. Victoria's health. I nearly got people killed because I believed the lies of a murderer."

Camille stood up slowly, her chair making a soft sound against the floor. "Alexander."

"I surveillance on you, Camille. I recorded our private conversations. I used our wedding day as cover to photograph Victoria." Alexander's voice cracked with each admission. "I turned our love into a weapon against your family."

"Alexander, look at me.'

"

He turned from the window, and Camille saw tears streaming down his face. His eyes were red with exhaustion and grief, his usual composure completely shattered. This wasn't the confident businessman who had swept her off her feet, or the jealous husband who had attacked Stefan in rage. This was someone broken by the weight of his own actions and the truth of how he had been used. "I'm so sorry," Alexander whispered. "I'm so sorry for everything I did to you."

The distance between them felt enormous. Ten feet of conference room floor that might as well have been an ocean. Alexander looked at Camille standing there in her simple black dress, her hair falling softly around her shoulders, and remembered how beautiful she had looked on their wedding day. How happy they had been during those first months of marriage, before James's poison had infected everything.

"Camille, I need to ask you something," Alexander said, his voice shaking. "And I understand if you can't give me an answer."

"What?"

Alexander walked toward her slowly, each step feeling like a confession. When he reached the middle of the room, he stopped and looked into her eyes. The tears on his cheeks caught the fluorescent lights, making them shine like silver tracks down his face.

to Camille's shock, Alexander

room. Alexander looked up at her from where he knelt, his hands pressed against his thighs, his entire body

said, his voice breaking completely. "I know I don't deserve it. I know I destroyed our marriage and violated your trust and nearly killed the woman who saved your life.

pictured Alexander finally understanding what he had done, finally apologizing for the pain he had caused. But seeing him actually kneeling before her,

"Alexander, get up."

he said, staying on his knees. "Please let me say

scaring me." "I'm not asking you to take me back. I'm not asking you to forgive me so we can rebuild our marriage. I know that's impossible now." Alexander's words came out in a rush, like he was afraid he would lose his courage. "I'm asking you to forgive me so you can heal.

"Alexander..."

I loved most in the world." Alexander's voice was raw with pain. "You deserved a husband who trusted you, who protected you, who chose you over everything else. Instead, you got someone who surveilled you and lied to you

but also somehow more real than he had been in months.

want to make things right," Alexander continued. "Not our marriage, I know that's over. But I want to protect you from James. I want to stop the man who used my uncle's death to destroy both our lives. I want to do something good for

him, her dress pooling around her on the floor. Now they were at eye level, both of them on their knees in the empty conference room, surrounded by the evidence of James's fifteen-year campaign

at me," she

stranger who had surveilled her conversations, not the jealous husband who had attacked Stefan. This was the Alexander who had held her when she cried about

wasn't your fault," Camille said, her voice steady despite her tears. Alexander's face crumpled. "Of course it

made choices

1.no

out and touched his face, her fingers gentle against his wet cheeks. "James Whitfield murdered

should have

You should have trusted me when I

independently before acting ol

was firm but not angry. "But Alexander, you were grieving. You were in pain. And someone who is very good at manipulation took advantage of that

unable to believe what he was hearing. "You're defending

were a victim too." Camille's tears fell freely now. "James Whitfield destroyed our marriage as surely as he destroyed

so badly,"

way I did before." Camille's Voice e's voice was honest, painful in its clarity. "But Alexander, you weren't the only one who got fooled. James spent fifteen years planning this. He studied all of us, learned our weaknesses, figured out exactly how to turn us against

something shifting inside him, a weight he had been carrying beginning to lift slightly.

hope there mixed with genuine remorse. This was the hardest question she had ever been asked, and the most important answer she would ever

simply.

eyes and let out a sound that was half sob, half relief. When he opened his eyes again,