SCORNED EX WIFE Queen Of Ashes (Camille and Stefan)

Rose point of view

| paced my penthouse living room, plone clutched so tightly in my hand that my knuckles turned white. The

news notification still glowed on the screen: "Kane Industries Acquires Moretti Global Logistics in Surp Uncle

Fabio's company. My last financial lifeline. Gone,

The vodka bottle on the bar called to me, promising temporary relief from the suffocating pressure

crushing my chest. Three weeks of systematic destruction had leftraw, exposed, and increasingly desperate.

First my company. Then my reputation. Now my godfather's business

The doorbell rang, its shrill tone slicing through my spiraling thoughts. | ignored it, just as I'd been ignoring most

intrusions from the outside world. Probably another reporter hoping to document my "fall from gra The bell rang

again, followed by pounding that made the door shake.

"Rose! | know you're in there!"

Stefan. | froze, glass halfway to my lips. | hadn't seen him since the embezzlement news broke, since he'd looked

atwith such disgust in my father's office.

The pounding continued. "Open this door, Rose! We need to talk!"

His voice held something I'd never heard before, not just anger, but a dangerous edge that sent shivers down my

spine. Against my better judgment, | moved to the door and pulled it open.

Stefan looked terrible. His normally perfect appearance had deteriorated into something almost unrecognizable,

wrinkled shirt, dark circles under bloodshot eyes, hair uncombed. But it was his expression that tr "Why aren't

you answering my calls?" he demanded, pushing pastinto the apartment.

"Hello to you too," | said, trying for sarcasm but achieving only a thin, brittle tone. "Please, cin."

"This isn't a social visit." He spun to face me. "I just got off the phone with your father."

My stomach dropped. "And?"

"He wanted to warnthat you were being difficult about the joint statement. Said you were refusing to sign

the paperwork canceling our wedding plans."

| crossed my arms defensively. "Why should I? This will all blow over eventually. The media will find someone else

to destroy. We can postpone the wedding, not cancel it Stefan stared atlike I'd grown another head. "Are you

serious? After everything that's happened? After the lies, the affairs, the stolen designs, you still think there's a

future for us?" "Of course there is," | insisted, moving toward him. "People have short memories, Stefan. In six

months, no one will care about these ridiculous scandals."

"Ridiculous scandals?" He backed away from my approach You stole other designers' work. You slept with

married men to advance your career. You embezzled from your own company!" "Those are just business

realities!" Frustration made my voice rise. "Everyone does these things! They only look

BONUS

badd when someone packages them in the most negative light possible!"

Stefan shook his head, disgust plain on his face. "I don't even know who you are anymore. The woman | thought |

was going to marry wouldn't recognize these things as 'bustness realities.” "The woman you thought you were

going to marry never existed!" | snapped, anger suddenly boiling over. "She was a character | played because

that's what men like you want, sperfect, supportive access

"That's not fair...

"Fair?" | laughed, the sound verging on hysterical. "None of this is fair! Someone with unlimited resources has

systematically destroyed everything I've built! My company, my reputation, my financial security, all "Maybe you

do," Stefan said quietly.

The simple statement stoppedcold. "What?"

"Maybe you deserve exactly what's happening," he repeated, voice hardening. "Maybe these ‘ridiculous

scandals" are just your past catching up with you. Maybe this is what justice looks like." "Justice?" The word

tasted bitter on my tongue. "Is that

what you think this is? Someone appointed themselves judge and jury of my life because they decided | needed

punishment?"

"I don't

know what else to call it," Stefan replied. "Every revelation seems perfectly calculated to expose exactly who you

really are. Someone who takes what they want regardless of who gets hurt."

"You're one to talk about hurting people!" The words burst fromas my control finally shattered. "You were

married when we started sleeping together again! You signed divorce papers on your anniversary! Y future!"

Stefan stepped back as if I'd physically struck him. "That's different. | never...

"Never what? Never lied? Never manipulated? Never caused pain?" | advanced on him, years of carefully hidden

resentment suddenly pouring out. "You were so eager to believe the worst about your marriage. it and you

accepted it as truth!"

"Stop it," Stefan warned, his expression darkening. "Don't try to make this about our past. This is about who you

are now. What you've done." "Who | am?" | laughed, the sound sharp and bitter. "I'm exactly who I've always

been! The only difference is that now everyone knows it!"

"That not true," Stefan said quietly. "The Rose | thought | knew wouldn't have stolen designs. Wouldn't have

embezzled money. Wouldn't have..."

"Wouldn't have what?" | challenged, stepping closer until we were inches apart. "Wouldn't have done everything

necessary to get what she wanted? Wouldn't have removed obstacles in her path? Wouldn't have The words

hung in

the air between us, impossible to retract Stefan's face drained of color as he stared at me, horror gradually

replacing anger in his expression.

"What did you just say?" he whispered.

Too

late, | realized what I'd admitted in my fury. My mind raced for explanations, for clarifications, for ways to walk

back the implication in my words.

Chapter 69

"| didn't mean... that cout wrong...." | stammered, cold fear replacing hot anger.

"Her accident," Stefan repeated, backing away from me. "You said her accident cleared the way. Like

you knew it would happen. Like you arranged it."

"No! That's not..."

"Did you have something to do with Camille's death?" His voice was barely audible, but each word struck like

physical blows.

"It wasn't supposed to be death!" The truth burst frombefore I could stop it, the pressure of weeks of

destruction finally breaking my control completely. "He was

just supposed to scare her! To make her understand she needed to leave! To give up the life that should have

been mine!"

Stefan looked atas if seeing a stranger, or worse, as if seeing a monster wearing the face of someone he

thought he knew.

"You" he whispered, horror evident in every syllable. "You arranged the accident that killed her?"

"He went too far," | said desperately, reaching for him. "It wasn't supposed to happen that way! She was just

supposed to be frightened enough to leave New York, leave you, leave the fashion world | belonged Stefan

recoiled from my touch, stumbling backward until he hit the wall. "You had your own sister run off the Toad?"

"She was ordinary!" The words tore from someplace dark and ugly inside me. "She didn't deserve you! Didn't fit

into your world! She was holding you back, making you settle for less than you were meant for!"

"Less than | was meant for," Stefan repeated, his voice hollow. "And who decided what | was meant for? You?"

"We belonged together!" | insisted, desperation makingreckless. "We always did! Everything | his face.

"There is no 'us' There never will be again."

He moved toward the door, each step putting more distance between us.

“Stefan, wait!” Panic overwhelmed me. "You can't just leave! We need to talk about this!"

"There's nothing to talk about," he replied, not looking back "Our engagement is over. Whatever connection we

had died the moment you admitted what you did."

"Please," | begged, all pride abandoned in the face of

complete loss. "I love you! Everything I did... everything. was because | love you!"

Stefan paused at the door, turning to look atone last time. The expression

on his face would haunt my nightmares for years to come, not anger, not hatred, but something worse.

Something like pity mixed with profound disgust.

"Love?" he said quietly. "You don't know the meaning of the word."

The door closed behind him with a soft click that somehow hurt more than any slam would have. | stood frozen in

the middle of my beautiful penthouse as the full impact of what had just happened crashed over | had admitted

my role in Camille's accident.

Thad lost Stefan forever.

And whoever was systematically destroying my life now had the final piece they needed to complete my ruin.