SCORNED EX WIFE Queen Of Ashes (Camille and Stefan)

Chapter 228

Chapter 228

James stepped closer to Victoria, the sharp blade catching what little light came through the broken windows. The metal looked cold and cruel in his steady hand. "No," Camille whispered, her voice barely audible. "Please, no."

Victoria closed her eyes, trying to prepare herself for what was coming. She had faced many difficult moments in her life - losing her husband, building her business from nothing, defending herself against enemies who wanted to destroy her. But nothing had prepared her for this.

The first touch of the blade against her arm made her gasp. It was just a light pressure at first, not cutting, just letting her feel how sharp it was.

"My father spent his last years in a small, dark cell," James said quietly. "He told me in his letters how the other prisoners would threaten him, how the guards would look the other way when someone wanted to hurt him."

The blade pressed harder against Victoria's skin. She bit her lip to keep from crying out.

"Stop it!" Camille shouted, pulling against the zip ties so hard that blood started to show on her wrists. "He's gone, James! Your father is gone! Hurting her won't bring him back!"

James ignored Camille completely. His focus was entirely on Victoria now, watching her face as fear and pain mixed together.

"Do you know what it feels like to be helpless?" he asked Victoria. "To know that no one is coming to save you?"

The blade moved across her arm, making a thin red line. Victoria couldn't hold back her scream this time. The sound echoed off the concrete walls, making it seem louder and more desperate.

"Victoria!" Camille's voice broke as she watched blood appear on her mother's arm. "Please, James, I'm begging you. Take me instead. Do whatever you want to me, but leave her alone."

"Take you instead?" James turned to look at Camille, and his expression was cold and empty. "You don't understand. This isn't about choosing one of you over the other. This is about making both of you suffer the way my family suffered."

He turned back to Victoria and made another cut, deeper this time. Victoria's whole body shook with pain, but she tried not to give him the satisfaction of screaming again.

"Tell me," James said, his voice soft but dangerous, "what would you do to save your daughter? What would you sacrifice?"

Victoria looked at Camille through her tears. Her daughter was pulling so hard against the zip ties that the plastic was cutting into her skin, leaving bloody marks on her wrists.

"Anything," Victoria whispered. "I would do anything."

"Even confess to crimes you didn't commit?"

"Yes."

"Even destroy your own business?"

"Yes."

"Even die?"

Victoria didn't hesitate. "Yes."

James smiled, but it wasn't a happy expression. It was the smile of someone who had gotten exactly the answer he expected.

"My father would have said the same thing about me," he said. "But when the time came to choose between his family and his business, he chose wrong."

The blade moved to Victoria's other arm. This time, the cut was so deep that blood immediately started running down to her fingers.

"Stop!" Camille screamed so loudly that her voice cracked. "You're killing her!"

could. That's the point. Right now, I have complete control over whether Victoria Kane lives or dies. Just like the justice system had complete control over

spinning around her, and James's voice sounded like

me, just do it. Don't torture

that's exactly what I'm going to do," James replied. "Because that's what you did to my father. You tortured him by taking away everything he

made another cut, this one across Victoria's shoulder. The pain was so

she begged. "Please, I'll give you anything you want.

to understand that

cutting yet,

it's over," he said. "All of Victoria Kane's suc her wealth, all of her

whispered. "Please

ess, all of

feel her heartbeat against the blade. Each pulse pushed her skin slightly against

to do it, then do it. But let Camille go first. She never hurt your father. She was not my child when

of your empire. She benefits from what you

"She's innocent."

your

Victoria's throat. A tiny drop of blood appeared where the metal touched

"Last words?" he asked.

Victoria looked at Camille,

her face. "I love

I thought I had lost everything. You made me a mother

never be one Whatever happens to me,

keep being

her head. "No, don't talk like that. We're both

of here. We're both

don't think so,"

Her whole body shook with fear and

whispered. "If you're going to

face. "Kill you?" He let out a harsh laugh. "Death would be too kind, Mrs. Kane. Death would end your

Victoria asked, though she was afraid to

with a cloth. "Tonight was just to show you how helpless you

her heart

satisfaction. "I have so much more planned for both of you. Tonight was about pain.

knife next to the other instruments. Victoria could see that there were

killing you would only take a few minutes," James continued, his voice calm and matter-of-fact. "But destroying you completely - that takes

it won't," James agreed. "But it will make

up his laptop and folding his chair. "I have to go now. I have preparations to

"Session?" Victoria asked weakly.

I'm calling our little meetings," James said with a smile that made both women's blood run cold. "Tonight was Session One. Tomorrow will be Session Two. And if you're very unlucky, there might be a Session Three as well." Victoria tried to think of something to say that might change his mind, but the pain from her cuts was making it hard to focus. Blood was

James said, looking around the empty warehouse, "is that no one will hear you scream. No one will

look for us,"

Your car is at the bottom of a lake.

disappeared." James picked up his laptop

search for

door, then