SCORNED EX WIFE Queen Of Ashes (Camille and Stefan)

Chapter 66

Camille's point of view

| stood by the floor-to-

ceiling windows in Victoria's penthouse office, watching the city lights flicker to life as dusk settled over

Manhattan. Rain tapped against the glass, a gentle percussion accompanying the victory drumming throug On

six massive screens behind Victoria's desk, Rose's destruction played out in real-

time. Every major news channel, every entertainment show, every social media feed, all consumed with the

spectacular downfall of fashion's rising star.

"More champagne?" Victoria asked, appearing at my side with the bottle of Dom Pérignon we'd opened when the

first reports broke this morning. Her smile, rare and genuine, made her look younger. "Please," | said, holding out

my crystal flute.

Victoria clinked her glass against mine. "To justice," she said, voice warm with satisfaction. "Long overdue." "To

justice," | echoed, turning back to the spectacle on the screens.

A reporter stood outside Rose's apartment building, rain dampening her hair as she struggled to maintain her

professional demeanor despite the obvious joy in delivering the news.

"Fashion designer Rose Lewis remained inside her penthouse apartment all day as more allegations surfaced

about affairs with married men, stolen designs, and

questionable financial ties to figures under investigation for money laundering, Sources close to Lewis say she is

‘devastated’ by what her legal team is calling a "coordinated character assassination.""

| couldn't help but laugh. "Devastated. | wonder if that's how she describedto Stefan when they were

planning my replacement."

Victoria squeezed my shoulder. "This is only the beginning. By tomorrow, every major retailer will have canceled

their orders. By next week, her investors will pull out completely. By next month, Rose Lewis will The satisfaction

| felt should have been pure and sweet. This was what we'd worked toward for nearly two years, the systematic

destruction of the woman who had stolen my husband, my life, my identity. The w So why did victory taste so

complex? Why did the champagne feel both sweet and slightly bitter?

On the renter screen, footage played of Rose leaving her building through a service entrance, head high, crimson

dress a slash of defiance against the gray day. Even in her downfall, she performed the role of wronged innocent

perfectly.

"Look at her," | said, unable to keep the bitterness from my voice. "Still playing to the cameras. Still manipulating

perceptions."

Victoria moved to her desk, pressing a button that muted the screens. "That performance won't save her. Not

this

time

| turned away from the windows, studying the woman who had rescued me, rebuilt me, guidedthrough the

transformation from broken victim to powerful avenger.

"How did you find them all?" | asked, settling into a leather chair facing her desk. "Jonathan Hayes, Lord Hartley,

Anton Bessonoy's assistant.. they all disappeared from her life years ago."

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Victoria's smile tumed almost predatory. "Money opens mamy doors, but information is the true currency of

revenge. For nearly one years, I've had investigators tracking down everyone Hose ever used, betraye "And the

banking records? The evidence of money Laundering?"

"More challenging, but nothing is truly hidden from those who know where to look." Victoria studiedover her

glass. "You're troubled. Why? This is what we've worked toward "

I sighed, frustrated by my own complicated emotions. "I should feel only happiness seeing her suffer. Only

satisfaction watching her world crumble. But there's something else... something | can't quite name." Victoria

leaned forward, her expression turning serious. "Don't confuse justice with vengeance, Camille. What we've done

isn't about making you feel better. It's about balance. About consequences for actions. "I know," | said, standing

to

pace. “But part ofexpected to feel... more. Sprofound sense of closure or healing."

"Healing doesn't cfrom what happens to others," Victoria said quietly. "It comes from what happens within

you, Rose's destruction is simply the external manifestation

of justice. Your healing is a separate journey."

Her words settled over me, wisdom | hadn't expected from a woman whose focus had always been strategic

rather than emotional. Perhaps there were depths to Victoria Kane | still hadn't fully discovered.

My phone buzzed. Alexander's nappeared on the screen, sending an unexpected flutter through my chest.

"The lioness watches her prey fall. Satisfaction or emptiness? Perhaps both. Call when you're rea How did he

always know my mind so precisely? | slipped the phone back into my pocket without responding, not ready to

examine what Alexander Pierce represented in my life,

Victoria watchedwith that penetrating gaze. "Alexander?"

1 nodded, not bothering to deny it.

"He remains a complication," she observed, her tone neutral but her eyes sharp. "A variable we didn't account

for in our planning"

"He's not a threat to what we've accomplished," | said, more defensively than intended.

Perhaps not. But his interest in you goes beyond business. He wants something from you, Camille. Something he

hasn't yet revealed."

Victoria pressed another button, switching the largest screen to a financial news

channel. The analyst was

cussing the impact of Rose's scandal on the fashion industry, specifically how several designers’ stock prices had

jumped as retailers looked to fill the gap left by her toxic brand.

"We should consider acquiring her manufacturer in Milan, Victoria said. "With their contracts canceled, they'll be

desperate. We could get their facilities and workforce for pennies on the dollar."

The suggestion was perfect Victoria, seeing opportunity in destruction. Yet something inrésisted.

"Let someone else have it," | said, surprising both of us. "We've taken enough."

Victoria's eyebrows rose slightly. “That's... unexpected. | thought you

wanted complete dismantling of everything she built."

"I did. I do." | struggled to articulate my shifting emotions. But there's something about picking through the

remains that feels... beneath us."

A small smile played at Victoria's lips. "Us. Not me, Us. You've truly beca Kane."

The observation should have pleased me. For months, becoming Victoria Kane's daughter had been my focus,

my purpose, my new identity. Yet something about it now felt constricting, as if the perfect vengea Who was 1,

when not defined by revenge? What would drive me, when Rose and Stefan had been thoroughly destroyed?

What filled the void when hatred no longer consumed every thought? Victoria joinedby the windows again,

her reflection appearing beside mine in the darkened glass.

"You're evolving," she said, her voice gentler than usual. “That's natural. For months, every decision has been

filtered through the lens of justice for what they did to you. Now that justice is being served, you're "What comes

next?" | asked, the question directed partly at her, partly at myself.

"That depends entirely on you." Victoria turned to facedirectly. "When | found you half-

dead on that garage, 1 offered you a choice, disappear into a new life somewhere far away, or rise from the

ashes transformed. You chose transformation. Now you face another choice." "Which is?"

"Whether Camille Kane exists only as an instrument of revenge, or as someone with a future beyond it."

Her words struck deep, touching uncertainties I'd been avoiding since our plan began yielding results. Since the

single-

minded focus on destruction began making room for other possibilities.

"I don't know who | am without this," | admitted, gesturing toward the screens. "Without the goal of making them

pay."

Victoria studied me, her gaze thoughtful rather than calculating. "Perhaps that's the next chapter of your journey.

Discovering Camille Kane beyond revenge. Beyond the past Beyond even my careful molding." The suggestion

surprised me. Victoria had always been directive, strategic, clear about who | should

become. This open-

ended possibility, this freedom to define myself beyond our shared

purpose, was unexpected.

"You would support that?" | asked carefully. "Even if it meant choices you didn't plan for?"

Something flickered in Victoria's eyes, an emotion | couldn't identify. "I saved you, Camille. Rebuilt you. Gave you

the tools to achieve justice. But | never intended to own you"

She moved back to her desk,

picking up a thick folder | hadn't noticed earlier. "Which bringsto something I've been considering"

| followed her, curiosity momentarily displacing my existential questions. Victoria handedthe folder, its

weight substantial.

"What is this?"

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"Open it," she said simply,

Inside were legal documents. | flipped through them, understanding dawning slowly.

"You're givingcontrolling interest in Kane Industries’ Tech division," | said, looking up in shock. "Thirty percent

ownership. Board chairmanship. Final approval on all acquisitions."

Victoria nodded. "Consider it your graduation present. You've learned everything | can teach you about business,

strategy, and power. Now it's tfor you to build something of your own." | stared at the documents, their

implications staggering. This wasn't just a gift, it was independence. Authority Identity beyond being Victoria

Kane's creation or Rose Lewis's destruction. "Why now?

"Because revenge is ending," Victoria said simply. "And your life needs to be beginning. Rose Lewis built her

career stealing from others. | want you to build yours creating, something uniquely yours." Emotion tightened my

throat, unexpected gratitude mixing with something like awe. For all her calculated coldness, Victoria Kane had

givenmore than tools for revenge. She had givena future. "Thank you," | said, the words inadequate for

the gift she was offering.

Victoria waved away my gratitude. "Don't thank me. Showwhat you'll build. Showwho Camille Kane

becomes when not defined by her past."

My phone buzzed again. Another message from Alexander: Dinner tomorrow? Something to celebrate your

victory, and perhaps discuss what comes after.*

This time, | found myself smiling as | typed: "Yes. 8pm. You choose the place.*

Victoria noticed, of course. "Alexander Pierce represents a choice too," she observed. "One | hope you'll make

with your eyes fully open."

"Meaning?"

"Meaning he has his own agenda, as everyone does. Including me." Victoria's honesty was refreshing and slightly

alarming. "Just be certain you understand what you're choosing before you choose it."

On the screens, a new headline scrolled: "DESIGNER ROSE LEWIS: FORMER EMPLOYEES ALLEGE TOXIC

WORKPLACE ENVIRONMENT." The destruction continued its inexorable march, gathering mom

"I believe I'll

understand my choices better now," I said, looking at the documents in my hands. "Now that | have something

to look forward to, not just something to avenge"

Victoria raised her champagne glass. “To the future, then. And to the woman you're becoming

"To the future," | echoed, clinking my glass against hers.

As night settled over Manhattan, the city lights blazed against the darkness. | studied my reflection in the

window, Camille Kane looking back at me, Victoria's creation but increasingly my own as well. The surgi | was

transforming internally too. Becoming someone

neither Camille Lewis nor Victoria's carefully crafted heir, but someone new. Someone undefined by either past

trauma or present revenge.

My phone buzzed one final time. Alexander again: *Looking forward to tomorrow. The phoenix rises not just from

asties, but toward something greater.*

For the first tsince the Rose's men had nearly claimed my life, | found myself genuinely curious about what

that "something greater" might be.