SCORNED EX WIFE Queen Of Ashes (Camille and Stefan) novel Chapter 177

Chapter 177

Camille's car pulled up to the small restaurant in Greenwich Village, far from the gleaming towers of Midtown where she now spent her days. The place looked unchanged from when she'd last visited, before the divorce, before Victoria, before she became someone else entirely.

"Are you sure you don't want me to come in?" Alexander asked from the driver's seat.

Camille shook her head. "This is something I need to do alone."

"Call if you need me," he said, squeezing her hand. "I'll be twenty minutes away."

She nodded, gathering her courage before stepping onto the sidewalk. Through the restaurant window, she could already see them—Margaret and Richard Lewis. Her parents. Waiting at a corner table, her mother nervously rearranging silverware, her father checking his watch.

This marked the first time they would meet without Victoria's watchful presence since their cautious reunion months ago. No buffers. No mediators. Just three people trying to rebuild what years of hurt and betrayal had shattered.

The bell above the door jingled as Camille entered. Her mother looked up, face lighting with a smile that couldn't hide the anxiety beneath. They stood as she approached, awkwardly hovering between formality and intimacy.

"Camille," her father said, the first to recover. "You look well."

She allowed a brief hug, still uncomfortable with physical contact from the people who had once doubted her most. "Thank you for suggesting this place," she said. "It's been a long time."

"You used to love their chocolate almond cake," Margaret said, her voice softer than Camille remembered. "You would beg to come here on your birthday."

"Did I?" Camille asked, genuinely trying to recall. So many memories had been pushed down, buried beneath pain and reinvention.

They settled into their seats, ordering drinks to bridge the awkward silence. Three people who shared blood but had become strangers, searching for common ground.

"We saw the press conference," Richard said finally. "You were quite impressive."

Camille smiled faintly. "Victoria trained me well."

"It wasn't just training," Margaret interjected. "That poise was always in you. Even as a child."

The waiter brought their drinks. Camille wrapped her fingers around her water glass, needing something solid to hold.

"I've been thinking about your childhood lately," Margaret continued, her eyes showing a new vulnerability. "Looking through old albums. Remembering."

"What have you remembered?" Camille asked, unable to keep the edge from her voice. What their memories contained and what hers held might be very different.

Margaret reached into her bag and pulled out a small envelope. She slid it across the table. "I found these last week. I thought you might want them."

Camille hesitated before opening it. Inside were three photographs she'd never seen before. The first showed a girl of about six sitting on a dock, fishing rod in hand, gap-toothed grin wide beneath a sun hat too large for her small head.

"Cedar Lake," Camille murmured.

"Your first fish," Richard said, smiling at the memory. "A tiny sunfish. You insisted we release it because it 'had a family waiting.'"

The second photo showed the same girl a few years older, standing beside a science fair project. WATER ECOSYSTEMS proclaimed the header in careful block letters.

"You won first place," Margaret said. "The judge said he'd never seen such advanced work from a fourth grader."

The third photo stopped Camille's breath. In it, she sat at a piano, her small fingers positioned carefully on the keys, her face a study in concentration.

"My piano lessons," she whispered. "I'd forgotten."

"You were so determined," Margaret said, her eyes misty. "You practiced that Chopin piece until your fingers hurt. Said you wanted it to be perfect."

"What happened to the piano?" Camille asked, the memory taking shape as she spoke. "It was a baby grand. Mahogany."

Richard and Margaret exchanged glances.

"We gave it away," Richard admitted. "After you stopped playing."

"After Rose came," Camille said, the pieces connecting. "She hated my playing. Said it gave her headaches."

An uncomfortable silence fell. Rose's name still carried the weight of all they'd lost, all they'd failed to see.

"We didn't understand then," Margaret said finally. "We thought we were helping two sisters bond. We didn't see what she was doing."

Camille studied her mother's face, searching for the truth. "Why didn't you believe me? When I told you about her and Stefan?"