SCORNED EX WIFE Queen Of Ashes (Camille and Stefan) novel Chapter 159

Chapter 159

The phone buzzed on the hospital nightstand. Just once. A single text message.

Camille glanced at it, expecting another update from Alexander, who had stepped out to take a call from the security team. Victoria was asleep, her breathing finally even after a difficult morning of treatments. The room was quiet except for the steady beep of monitors and the soft hiss of the oxygen machine.

Camille reached for the phone, grateful for the distraction from her worried thoughts. The screen lit up.

Unknown number.

She opened the message and froze.

*You took everything from me twice. Now I'll take everyone from you.*

The words burned into her eyes. No signature. None needed. Camille knew exactly who had sent it.

Rose.

Her hand shook as she stared at the message. The phone suddenly felt hot, dangerous, as if it might explode in her palm. She wanted to throw it across the room, to smash it against the wall, to destroy the link between her and the sister who would not stop hunting her.

Instead, she took a deep breath and pressed the screenshot button. Evidence. The FBI would need it.

Victoria stirred in the hospital bed, her eyes opening slowly. "Camille? What's wrong?"

Camille tried to smooth her expression, to hide the fear that must be written across her face. But Victoria had always seen through her masks.

"Show me," Victoria said, her voice stronger than her frail body suggested.

Camille hesitated, then turned the phone screen toward Victoria. No point hiding it. Not from the woman who had taught her to face threats head-on.

Victoria read the message, her face hardening. "She's desperate," she said finally. "Cornered. The FBI is closing in, and she knows it."

"That makes her more dangerous, not less," Camille replied, her voice tight with fear she couldn't quite hide. "She's threatening everyone I love."

"Which is why we have security," Victoria reminded her. "And why the FBI is hunting her day and night."

Camille stood, suddenly unable to sit still. She paced the small hospital room, the phone clutched in her hand like a grenade with the pin half-pulled. "She found a way to contact me despite everything. Who knows what else she can do?"

The door opened, and Alexander stepped in. One look at Camille's face told him something was wrong.

"What happened?" he asked, closing the door firmly behind him.

Wordlessly, Camille handed him the phone. His expression darkened as he read the message.

"When did this come in?"

"Just now," Camille said. "Can you trace it?"

"I'll have my team try, but if Rose is being careful, she'll have used a burner phone." Alexander was already typing on his own phone, alerting his security personnel. "We need to move you both to a more secure location."

"I'm not leaving the hospital," Victoria said firmly from her bed. "My treatment protocol requires specific equipment that can't be moved."

"Then we lock down this floor," Alexander decided. "No one in or out without triple verification."

Camille nodded, but inside, a cold dread was spreading through her chest, creeping into her limbs, making her feel heavy and slow. Rose had found a way to reach her despite all their precautions. What else could she do?

"My parents," Camille said suddenly. "She'll target them too."

"Already handled," Alexander assured her. "I doubled their security team this morning, before this message came in. Standard precaution with the manhunt ongoing."

Camille should have felt relieved, but the fear only grew, taking root in her heart like a poisonous weed. "What about you?" she asked Alexander, her voice barely audible. "She'll come for you too."

Alexander's expression softened. He crossed the room and took her hands in his. "I can take care of myself, Camille. I've been doing it for a long time."

"Not against Rose," Camille insisted. "You don't understand how she thinks. What she's capable of."

"I think I have a pretty good idea after the bombing," Alexander said gently. "But I'm not going anywhere. We face this together."

Victoria watched them, her eyes sharp despite her weakened state. "Call Agent Chen," she instructed. "She needs to know about this message immediately."

Alexander nodded and stepped away to make the call. Camille resumed her pacing, unable to stand still with the energy of fear coursing through her veins.

"Sit down, Camille," Victoria said, her tone leaving no room for argument. "You're making me dizzy."

Camille stopped moving but remained standing, her body tense as a drawn bowstring. "She won't stop, will she?"

"Not until she's caught," Victoria agreed. "Or until she believes she's won."

The simple truth of those words hit Camille like a physical blow. Rose wouldn't stop. Not ever. Not while she breathed. Not while she believed Camille had taken what was rightfully hers.

"This is never going to end," Camille whispered, the realization settling over her like a shroud.

"Everything ends," Victoria countered. "Even Rose's obsession. Even her freedom to hurt you."

But Camille barely heard her. She was staring at the phone still in Alexander's hand, at the message glowing on the screen. *You took everything from me twice. Now I'll take everyone from you.*

What had she taken from Rose? A family that Rose had manipulated? A husband Rose had seduced? A life Rose had tried repeatedly to destroy? In Rose's twisted mind, these were thefts, not consequences of her own actions.

And now Rose would take "everyone" from her. Not something. Everyone. The people she loved. The people who gave her strength.

Victoria. Alexander. Her parents. Anyone who mattered to her.

The room suddenly felt too small, the air too thin. Camille struggled to breathe, her chest tight with panic.