SCORNED EX WIFE Queen Of Ashes (Camille and Stefan)

Chapter 76

The lobby of Kane Industries gleamed with

polished marble and sleek glass. Camille stepped out of the elevator on the top floor, her heels clicking against

the floor as she walked toward her office. Three days had passed since the Phoenix Gala, and her

Now the world knew who she really was. The media couldn't get enough of the story: the supposedly dead wife

who had returned as a powerful executive, the systematic destruction of her ex- husband's company and her

sister's reputation. Spainted her as a victim-

turned-

hero, others as a manipulative schemer. Camille didn't care which version they believed.

She pushed open the glass door to

her office and stopped short. A massive arrangement of white roses sat on her desk, their scent filling the room.

A knot formed in her stomach. She knew who they were from before she even read the card. "Ms. Kane," her

assistant Rebecca said from behind her, "I'm sorry. He sent them before | arrived this morning. Security checked

them thoroughly."

Camille nodded, finding her voice. "It's fine, Rebecca. Could you please take them away? Donate them to the

hospital across the street."

Rebecca quickly removed the flowers while Camille settled at her desk, turning her attention to the documents

awaiting her signature. She had just begun reviewing the first contract when Rebecca's voice c"Ms. Kane,

Stefan Rodriguez is in the lobby requesting to see you. Security wants to know if they should turn him away."

Camille's pen stilled above the paper. She had expected this, of course. It was only a matter of tbefore he

would try to reach out. Still, her heart hammered uncomfortably against her ribs.

"Tell them to send him up," she said after a moment. "And Rebecca, please stay close by. If | need you, I'll call."

"Of course, Ms. Kane."

Five minutes later, Stefan stood in her doorway. He looked awful, shadows beneath his eyes, his normally perfect

suit slightly rumpled, his face drawn with exhaustion. There was a twhen seeing him like this would have

torn at her heart, when she would have done anything to comfort him.

Now she just felt... nothing.

"Cin and close the door," she said, gesturing to the chair across from her desk. She remained standing,

unwilling to cede even that small advantage.

Stefan stepped inside, his eyes never leaving her face. "Camille," he breathed, his

voice cracking on her name. "I still can't believe it's really you."

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"It isn't," she replied coolly. "Not the woman you knew, anyway."

He flinched at her tone, then moved closer, stopping when she held up a hand. "Please, Camille. | just want to

talk. I've been going crazy since the gala. | can't sleep, | can't eat...." "What do you want, Stefan?" Camille cut

him off, her voice steady despite the storm inside her. "Why are you

here?"

Chapter 76

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needed to see you." He ran a hand through his hair, leaving it slightly disheveled in a way that once would have

made her heart skip. "To explain..."

"Explain what? How you cheated onwith my sister? How you lied to my face for months? How you were

willing to throw away our marriage for someone who never even truly cared about you?" The words

"I was a fool," Stefan said, his eyes filling with tears. "I was blind and stupid and selfish. Rose... she manipulated

me, fedlies about you, about us....."

"Stop." Camille raised her hand again. "Don't blRose for your choices. You weren't hypnotized. You weren't

drugged. You lookedin the eye and lied tofor months. That was all you."

Stefan seemed to collapse within himself, sinking into the chair. "You're right. I'm not trying to escape

responsibility. What | did was unforgivable."

"And yet here you are, seeking forgiveness." Camille finally sat down, keeping her desk between them like a

shield.

"Not just forgiveness." Stefan leaned forward, his eyes suddenly burning with intensity. "A second chance.

Camille, | never stopped loving you. Even with Rose, even after | thought you were gone... there was always

something missing. It was you. It's always been you."

A bitter laugh escaped her throat. "Are you serious? You think after everything you've done, everything that's

happened, we could just... what? Get back together? Resour marriage like none of this ever oc "Not right

away, of course," Stefan rushed to say. "I know it would take time, years maybe. But we could start over. | could

prove to you that I've

changed, that | understand what I threw

away." He reached across the desk, trying to take her hand, but she moved it away. "Camille, please. The

company, the money, none of that matters. I'd give up everything just for the chance to make things righ

Camille studied him, this man she had once loved beyond reason. She could see the desperation in his eyes, the

genuine misery. There was a twhen his pain would have been her pain, when she would ha That twas

gone.

"Do you know what | remember most about our marriage, Stefan?" she asked quietly. "Not the happy moments.

Not the trips or the gifts or the fancy dinners. | remember sitting alone on our anniversary, waiting | remember

the way you would look throughsometimes, like | wasn't even there."

"I was a terrible husband," Stefan admitted, his voice breaking. "But people change. I've changed."

"Have you?" Camille tilted her head. "Or have your circumstances changed? You've lost your company. Your

reputation is in tatters. Rose has shown her true colors. And suddenly, convéniently, you remember y Stefan

flinched as if she'd slapped him. "That's not fair."

"Isn't it? Tellsomething, Stefan. If none of this had happened, if | hadn't 'died," if your business was still

thriving, if Rose was

still the woman you thought she was, would you be here right now, begging for a second chance? Or would you

be planning your wedding with her?

His silence was answer enough.

Camille stood up, smoothing her skirt with steady hands. “Mou don't love me, Stefan. You never did. Not really.

You loved the idea of me, the supportive wife, the pretty accessory, the woman who never challeng Chapter 76

you uncomfortable. That woman doesn't

exist anymore. She died the night | found your divorce papers."

"You're wrong," Stefan said, standing too, his voice gaining strength. "Yes, | was blind and selfish then. But these

past months without you... thinking you were dead... it changed me, Camille. And seeing you ag "Because of

Rose," she corrected.

"Because of both of us," he insisted. "I may not have hired those men, but | created the situation that led to it. |

share the blame. And | have to live with that for the rest of my life."

For a moment, Camille saw something genuine in his eyes, real remorse, real pain. But it wasn't enough. It would

never be enough.

"I believe that you're sorry," she said finally. "And | meant what | said at the gala, | forgive

you. Not for your sake, but for mine. | refuse to carry the weight of hating you anymore." Hope flickered across

his face. "Then..."

"But forgiveness isn't the sas forgetting," she continued. "And it certainly doesn't mean a second chance.

There are sthings that, once broken, can never be fixed." "Camille, please." Stefan moved around the desk,

dropping to his knees beside her

chair. The gesture was so unexpected, so unlike the proud man she had known, that she didn't back away. "I'll do

anything. Anything at all. Just tellwhat | need to do to make things right. | can't lose you aga Looking down

at him, Camille felt a strange mixture of

pity and disgust. "You already lost me, Stefan. A long tago. You just didn't notice until it was too late."

She stood, forcing him to rise as well. "Our story is over. It ended the moment you decided Rose was more

important than our vows. What cafter, my 'death,' my transformation, your company's downfall, n "I don't

accept that," Stefan said, a flash of his old stubbornness showing through. "I know I hurt you. | know | don't

deserve another chance. But | also know what we had was real. And if there's even a tiny part "What we had

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wasn't real," Camille cut him off, her voice gentle but firm. "It was a lie. You were with my sister before me,

during our marriage, and you'd still be with her now if the truth hadn't cout. That's n Her words seemed to

hit him physically, and he staggered back a step. "You can't mean that. You can't believe that everything we

shared was false."

"What | believe doesn't matter anymore." Camille moved toward the door, making it clear the conversation was

ending. "What matters is that I've moved on. I've built a new life, a new identity. And you have no p Stefan didn't

move, his shoulders slumped in defeat. "I won't give up, Camille. Not this

time. I'll prove to you that I've changed, that | can be the man you deserve."

A small, sad smile touched her lips. "That's the thing, Stefan. | no longer need a man to makewhole. | don't

need you, or anyone, to ‘complete’ me. The woman who defined herself by her husband died in th She opened

her office door, where Rebecca was waiting as instructed. "Rebecca will show you out. Please don't send any

more flowers. Don't call. Don't come

here again. Its over, Stefan. Accept that and move on with your life. | already have with mine."

Something in her tone must have finally reached him, because the fight seemed to drain from his body. He

walked

toward the door, then paused beside her.

"| really did love you, Camille," he whispered. “In my own flawed, selfish way. | just wish | had realized what that

meant before it was too late."

Camille met his gaze one last time, seeing the ghost of the man she had once thought would be her forever."

Goodbye, Stefan."

He nodded once, accepting

her dismissal, and followed Rebecca toward the elevator. Camille watched him go, waiting for sflicker of

regret, spull of old feelings.

There was nothing.

Back in her office, she walked to the window overlooking the city. The woman she

had been, Camille Lewis, devoted wife, perfect daughter, loving sister, would have crumbled at Stefan's pleas.

She would have forgiven him instantly, welcomed him back with open arms, grateful for the second But that

woman was gone, burned away

in the fire of betrayal and reborn as someone stronger, someone who valued herself too much to accept scraps

of affection from a man who had discarded her so easily.

Camille Kane turned back

to her desk, to the contracts awaiting her signature, to the empire she

was helping to build. The past was finally, truly behind her. Whatever cnext, whether it was success or

failure, joy or pain, it would be on her terms, not defined by the people who had once claimed to love For the first

tsince the night everything changed, Camille felt truly free.