Ch. 6..10: SCORNED EX WIFE Chapter 6-10
Chapter 6
CAMILLE'S POINT OF VIEW
I woke to silk sheets and sunlight. For a moment, I thought I was back in my childhood bedroom, before everything fell apart. But the ceiling above me was unfamiliar, hand-painted cherubs floating in a cloudless sky, framed by gilded molding that probably cost more than my entire wedding.
Pain shot through my ribs as I tried to sit up, memories flooding back. The parking garage. Rose's hired thugs. The mysterious woman with silver hair.
"Careful." A voice from the doorway made me turn. "Three bruised ribs and a mild concussion. The doctor said you need rest."
She stood there like something from a fashion magazine, tailored black pants suit, pearls that definitely weren't fake, silver hair swept into an elegant twist. But it was her eyes that held me. Sharp. Calculating. Hauntingly familiar.
"Where am I?" My voice was rough. "Who are you?"
"You're safe." She moved into the room with fluid grace, settling into a chair beside my bed. "As for who I am... my name is Victoria Kane."
The name hit like a physical shock. Everyone knew Victoria Kane, the ruthless CEO who'd built Kane Industries from nothing, the woman Forbes called 'The Queen of Wall Street.' She was worth billions, moved markets with a phone call, and was rumored to be more powerful than most governments.
"Why..." I swallowed hard. "Why am I here?"
Something flickered in her eyes, pain, maybe, or memory. "Because Three years ago, I saw a photo in a society magazine. A young woman at some charity gala, wearing a dress that didn't quite fit, smiling bravely while her 'perfect' sister held court."
The gala. One of Rose's many triumphs, orchestrated to highlight the difference between us.
"The photo caught my attention," Victoria continued, "but it was your eyes that made me look closer. They were... familiar."
She reached for her phone, pulling up an image that made my breath catch. A young woman, maybe my age, with my face. My eyes. My smile.
"Your daughter?" The resemblance was uncanny.
"Sophia." Victoria's voice softened. "She would have been thirty-two this year."
Would have been. The words hung heavy in the air.
"What happened?"
"Car accident. Ten years ago." Her fingers traced the photo. "Though 'accident' is
a polite fiction. Her fiancé's family didn't approve of the match. Brake lines are so easily tampered with."
Ice slid down my spine. "Did they..."
"Face consequences?" A smile that could cut glass. "Eventually. But that's not why you're here."
She set down her phone, fixing me with that penetrating gaze. "After I saw your photo, I had you investigated. Learned about your family dynamics. Your marriage. Your sister's... activities."
"You've been watching me?" It should have felt creepy, but somehow it didn't. "Why?"
"Because I recognized something in you. Something I saw in Sophia. Raw potential, wrapped in other people's expectations. A diamond they tried to pass off as glass."
My heart pounded. "I don't understand."
"Don't you?" She leaned forward. "I watched you try to fit their mold. Watched you shut away parts of yourself to please them. Watched them clip your wings while convincing you it was for your own good."
Tears burned my eyes. "Like the college acceptance."
"Which Rose sabotaged. Yes, I know about that too. Just like I know about the diary she forged, the jobs she made sure you didn't get, the friends she slowly turned against you."
"You know everything." My voice cracked. "And you just... watched?"
"I waited." She stood, moving to the window. "Waited to see if you'd break or bloom. Waited for the moment you finally saw through their perfect lies."
The confrontation with Rose flashed through my mind. "And now?"
"Now?" She turned back to me, sunlight casting her in silhouette. "Now I'm offering you a choice. You can walk away from all of this. I'll set you up somewhere new, comfortable, far from them. Or..."
"Or?"
"Or I can teach you to be what they always feared you might become. Powerful. Independent. Free."
She moved back to my bedside, and suddenly I saw what made her so formidable. It wasn't just the money or the influence. It was the absolute certainty that the world would bend to her will.
"Your sister spent twenty years teaching you about manipulation," she continued. "Let me teach you about power. Real power, not the petty games she plays."
"Why?" I had to know. "Because I look like your daughter?"
"No." Her hand touched mine, surprisingly warm. "Because you look like I did, forty years ago. Before I learned that the world doesn't give you what you deserve, it gives you what you have the strength to take."
I stared at our joined hands, seeing the perfect manicure that probably cost more than my monthly salary. "And if I say yes?"
"Then I adopt you. Publicly, legally, completely. You become Camille Kane, heir to everything I've built." Her smile turned sharp. "Imagine your sister's face when she realizes the investor she's been desperately courting is her 'weak' little sister."
The thought sent a thrill through me. "She'd lose her mind."
"That's just the beginning. I'll teach you everything I know. Business. Strategy. Power. In five years, you won't just survive their games, you'll rewrite the rules."
"And what do you get out of this?"
Victoria's eyes met mine, and for a moment I saw raw honesty. "A chance to finish what Sophia started. A chance to see someone bloom instead of break. And..." A pause. "A chance to have a daughter again."
I thought about my life, the careful box they'd put me in, the dreams they'd stolen, the lies they'd fed me. Thought about Rose's smug smile and Stefan's betrayal and my parents' willing blindness.
"When do we start?"
Victoria's smile was like sunrise, brilliant and inevitable. "We already have." She reached for a folder on the bedside table. "First, we need to establish your disappearance. Make them think their thugs succeeded."
"Let them think I'm..." Understanding dawned. "Let them think they broke me."
"For now." She opened the folder, revealing documents, passports, bank statements. "While you heal, while you learn, while you become who you were meant to be."
I sat up straighter, ignoring the pain in my ribs. "And then?"
"And then?" Victoria Kane, my new mother, smiled like a queen bestowing kingdoms. "Then we show them exactly what happens when you try to cage a wolf in sheep's clothing."
Looking at her, I finally understood what real power looked like. Not Rose's petty manipulations or Stefan's inherited privilege. This was something else. Something primal. Something they'd tried to crush in me.
But they'd failed.
And now they'd pay.
"When can I sign the papers?" I asked.
Victoria's laugh was rich with promise. "That's my girl."
For the first time in fourteen years, those words felt true.
Chapter 7
ROSE'S POINT OF VIEW
My phone buzzed while I was getting my nails done. Normally, I'd ignore it, Tuesday afternoons are my me-
time, after all. But something made me look. Maybe it was intuition. Maybe it was fate. Maybe it was just that delicious feeling I'd had all morning, like something wonderful was about to happen.
The headline made me smear the perfect French manicure Julie had just finished on my right hand.
"LOCAL WOMAN FEARED DEAD AFTER CAR FOUND IN RIVER"
My hands shook as I clicked the link, not caring about the ruined nail polish. There it was, in clean black and white: Camille Elizabeth Lewis, age 25, presumed dead after her car was discovered in the Morton R "Oh my God," I whispered, but inside, fireworks were going off. Champagne corks were popping. Every cell in my body wanted to jump up and dance.
"Everything okay, Miss Lewis?" Julie asked, concerned about my trembling hands.
I forced my face into the appropriate expression of shock and grief. "My sister... there's been an accident. I... I need 10 go
The drive home was torture, having to keep my face properly devastated while my heart soared like a bird finally freed from its cage. I barely made it through my front door before the laughter bubbled up, wild a
She'd
actually done it. My pathetic, clingy little sister had finally done something right. She'd disappeared
exactly like I'd arranged, right down to the car in the river. Those gays I hired through three different cutouts had followed my instructions perfectly.
I poured myself a glass of the Cristal I'd been saving for a special occasion. This definitely qualified. Taking my phone and the champagne,
I curled up in my favorite window seat, the one with the perfect view of the garden Camille used to love so much
The articles were everywhere now. Local news, social media, even some regional
outlets picking up the story. I scrolled through them like love letters, each one sweeter than the last. The photos they'd chosen were perfect, Camille always photographed terribly, looking washed- out and uncertain next to my carefully curated glamour. Even in death, she was my
shadow.
"To you, little sister," I whispered, raising my glass to the empty room. "Thanks for finally getting out of my way.
My phone rang, Stefan, right on cue. I took a deep breath, arranged my voice into something appropriately broken. "Baby?" I let my voice crack. "Did you... did you see?"
"Rose, I'm so sorry." He sounded genuinely upset, the fool'I'm on my way over. You shouldn't be
alone right
Perfert. Absolutely perfect. "I just can't believe she's gone,I said, adding a little sob for effect. "My baby sister.." "We'll get through this together," he promised. ended the call and stulled at my reflection in the win mourning period had passed. Six months maybe. Elght at the most Than me for comfort, and I'd finally have everything I'd
spent four years carefully arranging.
The house would need to be dark when he arrived. Grief-
stricken. I went around drawing curtains, ating the perfect stage set for my performance. The grieving sister, devastated by loss, turning to her sister's
widow for support... it was almost poetic.
My phone buzzed again, Mommy this time. I let it ring twice before answering.
"Rose?" Her voice was thick with tears. "Please tell me it's not true."
"Mommy..." I forced a sob. "They found her car... in the river..."
"No, no, no..." The raw pain in her voice sent a thrill through me. This was what I'd wanted all these years, to be the only daughter, the only focus of their attention. No more splitting their
love with my pale imitation of a sister. "The police think..." I paused for effect. "They think she might have done
it on purpose. She's been so strange lately, so distant..."
The seeds I'd planted over the past months were blooming beautifully. The subtle hints about Camille's depression, the careful suggestions that she wasn't coping well with life. Everyone would believe it. They' the signs.
"I should have helped her more," Mom wailed. "Should have been there..."
"We all should have," I soothed, while inside I was dancing "But you know Camille, she never wanted to burden anyone."
After I got off the phone, I kicked off my heels and spun around my living room, champagne sloshing over the rim of my glass. Free! Finally, gloriously free! No more perfect little Camille with her sad eyes and qu I caught sight of a photo on the mantel, me and Camille at her wedding, her maid of honor dress carefully chosen to make her look frumpy next to my designer gown. I picked it up, studying her face. She'd neve "You should thank me," I told her image. "I've given you the perfect exit. Everyone will remember you as the tragic, beautiful soul who couldn't bear the world's cruelty Better than letting them see what a failure y
Were."
The doorbell rang, Stefan, right on time. I set down the photo and checked my makeup in the hall mirror. The waterproof mascara was artfully smudged, my eyes red from the champagne. Perfect.
"Remember," I whispered to my reflection, "you're devastated. Broken. Lost without your beloved sister."
I opened the door to find Stefan looking wrecked, his blue eyes red-
rimmed. Such a sensitive soul. It was one of the things that had drawn me to him, that and his family's money, of course.
"Oh, Stefan!" I threw myself into his arms, letting him hold me while I shook
with what he would think were sobs.
"I've got you," he murmured into my hair. "We'll get through this together."
Over his shoulder, I smiled. Yes, we would. Just not the way he imagined.
I let him lead me to the couchi, arrange me carefully among the cushions. He went to get me water, sweet, predictable Stefan, while I checked my phone again. #RIPCamille was trending locally. The news cove Perfect. Simply perfect.
“I just keep thinking,” I said when Stefan returned, “about all the things left unsaid. All the time we'll never have..."
He sat beside me, pulling me close, and I nestled into him like I belonged there. In a way, I did. Everything was falling into place exactly as I'd planned
Camille was gone, Stefan was here, and soon, so soon, I'd have everything I'd ever wanted. The fortune, the status, the perfect life, all mine, with no pale shadow of a sister to dim my spotlight.
"To new beginnings," I whispered into Stefan's shirt, too soft for him to hear.
Outside, it started to rain, nature's own tribute to my triumph. I closed my eyes and smiled, letting Stefan mistake my expression for grief.
Goodbye, little sister. Thanks for finally doing something right.
Chapter 8
CAMILLE'S POINT OF VIEW
The nightmare grabbed me by the throat, dragging me under before I could fight back.
I was standing in the rain outside a restaurant, my face pregard against cold glass, watching Rose and Stefant inside. They sat at a candlelit table, champagne glasses raised in a toast. Stefan wore the tie I'd gi Their
laughter reached me somehow, cutting through the glass barrier. They were laughing at me.
"Did you see her face?" Rose's voice echoed unnaturally lour "When she found the divorce papers? Like a stupid. puppy being abandoned at the shelter."
Stefan chuckled, pouring more champagne. "And when she realized it was you? God, I almost felt sorry for her."
"Almost," Rose agreed, her smile shark-
like. “But not quite. She made it too easy, Stef. Always so desperate to be loved. So willing to believe the lies."
They clinked glasses again. The sound transformed into breaking glass, shattering windows, car metal crumpling
The scene shifted. I was in my car, rain hammering the windshield, wipers fighting a losing battle against the downpour. My cheeks were wet- tears or rain, I couldn't tell anymore.
Headlights appeared behind me, too bright, too fast. Gaining.
I gripped the steering wheel tighter, foot pressing the accelerator. The headlights grew closer, lighting up my rearview mirror until I was blind.
A bump. Metal against metal. My car swerved.
Then I was flying, the world spinning as my car broke through the bridge railing. That weightless moment of suspension before gravity remembered me.
The water rushed up.
I screamed, the sound ending in a gurgle as icy water filled my lungs. As I sank, I saw them standing on the bridge. Rose Stefan. My parents. All watching impassively as I drowned. Rose waved goodbye, her smile triumphant.
"Should we call someone?" my mother asked, not particularly concerned.
"Why bother?" my father replied. "She was always such a disappointment."
The water closed over my head, and darkness pulled me down, down, down...
I woke gasping, sheets
tangled around my legs like grasping hands. For terrifying seconds, I couldn't remember where I was. The ceiling above me was unfamiliar, painted cherubs, golden trim, luxury I hadn't earned Victoria. The adoption. My new life.
Reality settled back, but the terror remained, clinging to my skin like river mad. I pushed myself upright, ignoring the protest from any healing ribs, Sweat plastered by nightgown to my body, and my heart hamm
ChaMer
The digital clock on the bedside table glowed 1:17 AM. Too early to be awake, too late to hope for peac swung my legs over the side of the bed, needing to move, to prove to myself I wasn't drowning deep. I The marble floor was cold against my bare feet as I padded to the bathroom, flipping on lights as I went. The woman in the mirror was a stranger—
hollow eyes, skin pale as paper, hair wild from thrashing in my sleep.
I splashed cold water on my face, Trying to wash away the nightmare's residue. But when I closed my eyes, I saw them again. Laughing Toasting Celebrating my destruction
A sound escaped me, something between a laugh and a sol The absurdity suddenly hit me -
I was standing in a bathroom worth more than my old car, in a mansion owned by one of the world's wealthiest women, who wanted to adopt me because I looked like her dead daughter.
The laugh bubbled up again, louder this time, edged with brysteria. I pressed my hand against my mouth, trying to hold it in, but it was too late. The dam had broken.
I slid down the bathroom wall until I hit the floor, laughter transforming to sobs that tore through my chest. Every breath hurt my bruised ribs, but I couldn't stop. Years of swallowed tears demanded release.
I cried for the little girl who'd never been enough. For the college dreams crushed by Rose's lies. For three years of marriage to a man who'd never truly seen me. For the weak, trusting fool I'd been, giving char My hands curled into fists, nails digging half-
moons into my palms. The physical pain was almost a relief, something solid to focus on instead of the gaping emptiness inside.
"Enough."
The voice cut through my breakdown like a knife. Victoria stood in the doorway, silver hair loose around her shoulders, wrapped in a black silk robe. Her face gave nothing away, but her eyes were sharp, assess Shame burned through me. She'd offered me strength, power, a chance at revenge, and here I was, dissolving on her bathroom floor at three in the morning. Proving everyone right about weak, emotional Camille.
I tried to stand, to salvage some dignity, but
my legs wouldn't cooperate. "I'm sorry," I managed, voice raw
from crying. "The nightmare..."
"Tell me." Not a request. A command.
I hesitated, then described the dream in halting sentences. The restaurant. The bridge. The water. Their faces as they watched me drown.
Victoria listened without interruption, without pitying murmurs or comforting platitudes. When I finished, she simply nodded.
"Get up."
I stared at her. "What?"
"Get up," the repeated, extending one hand. "This floor is no place for a Kane."
Her words hit like a splash of cold water. This floor was no place for a Kane. And that's who I was now, or who I was becoming Not weak Camille Lewis, but Camille Kane Heir. Survivor. Avenger.
I took her hand, letting her pull me to my feet. Her grip was surprisingly strong for a woman her age, and dry against my tear damp skin.
"Follow me," she said, turning without checking if I would obey.
fingers.cool
I followed her through darkened hallways, past priceless artwork and antiques that glowed dimly in the shadows. We descended a grand staircase, my bare feet silent on plush carpet, and entered a part of the
Chapter 9
Victoria stopped at a heavy wooden door, unlocking; it with key from her robe pocket. Inside was a home gym. unlike any I'd ever seen, state- of-the-
art equipment, mirrors covering one wall, a boxing ring taking up the center of the room.
She flipped on lights that mimicked daylight, making; me blink at the sudden brightness. Without a word, she crossed to a cabinet and extracted hand wraps and boxing gloves "Put these on."
I took them, bewildered. "Victoria, it's the middle of the night."
"And you're awake, drowning in self-
pity instead of planning your resurrection." Her voice wasn't cruel, just matter-of-
fact. "So put them on."
My hands trembled as I wrapped them, clumsy from Inexperience. Victoria watched, neither helping nor criticizing, until I managed to secure the gloves.
"Hit that." She pointed to a heavy bag hanging in the corner
I approached it uncertainly. "I've never boxed before."
"I'm not teaching you to box. I'm teaching you to channel your rage." She positioned
herself behind the bag, holding it steady. "Now hit it. Hard as you can."
Feeling foolish, I threw a weak punch. The bag barely moved.
"Again. Harder. Think of Rose's face when she saw you at the house that day."
I hit again, putting slightly more force behind it.
"Pathetic. Is that all the anger you have? After what she did to you?" Victoria's voice hardened. "Think of Stefan signing those divorce papers on your anniversary. Think of your mother comforting Rose while you walked away bleeding."
Heat bloomed
in my chest, anger flickering to life. I threw another punch, then another, each one harder than the
last
"Better. Now think of them laughing in that restaurant. Toasting your
destruction. Planning your replacement." The image from my nightmare flashed before me, champagne glasses clinking, Rose wearing my ring, Stefan in the tie I'd given him. Something snapped inside me. My "Yes!" Victoria's approval fueled me. "Again. Think of
the men who attacked you. Think of your parents choosing Ilose over you for fourteen years."
I lost myself in the rhythm of it, fists connecting with leather again and again. Each punch carried away a piece of furt, of betrayal, of worthlessness. I hit until my arms burned and sweat soaked my nightgown, u llut until I had nothing left.
When I finally stopped, chest heaving, Victoria released the bag and handed me a towel without comment. I wiped my face, suddenly exhausted but oddly cleaner somehow, Like I'd purged something toxic from
"This is the last time," Victoria said, unwrapping the gloves from my hands. "The last time you break for them. The last time you cry over people who never deserved your tears."
I met her eyes, seeing not pity but recognition. Understanding. She knew this journey because she'd walked it
herself.
"Tomorrow, we begin." She checked her watch, a discreet
Patek Philippe that probably cost more than
a year's rent at my old apartment. "In exactly four hours, you'll meet with the lawyers to finalize the adoption papers. By noon, you'll be legally Camille Kane. By evening, you'll have begun your education in fina She tossed the gloves into a basket and turned to face me fully, silver hair gleaming under the lights.
"Tonight was necessary, Grief must be acknowledged before it can be transformed. But from sunrise onward, your are no longer their victim. You are my protégé. My heir. My laughter."
The word 'daughter' hung in the air between us, weighted with expectations and possibilities. I straightened my shoulders, Ignoring the protest from my ribs,
"What if I'm not strong enough?"
Victoria's smile was sharp as a blade. "Strength isn't something you're born with. It's something you build, one painful brick at a time. And you, Camille, have been gathering bricks for years without knowing it." She moved toward the door, pausing with her hand on the light switch. "Each betrayal, each disappointment, each moment they underestimated you -
those are your building materials.
Now we construct something magnificent from them."
I followed her from the gym, back through silent hallways that would soon become familiar. My home. My fortress. My launching pad.
At my bedroom door, Victoria paused. For a
moment, I thought she might embrace me, offer some maternal comfort after the night's emotional storm. Instead, she simply touched my shoulder, a brief pressure that conveyed more than words could have. "Sleep if you can," she said. "If not, start reading the files left on your desk. The first details your sister's recent business ventures. She's seeking investors for a boutique clothing line, apparently."
An investor. Rose, who'd stolen my husband, my family, my dignity, was
now seeking money. The irony was almost poetic
"How long before she knows?" I asked. "That I'm alive. That I'm... yours."
Victoria's smile held all the warm
comfort of a circling shark. "We'll wait until you're ready. Until you can look her in the rye and feel nothing but cold satisfaction. Until your hand doesn't shake when you sign the denying her funding."
I nodded, something new settling into my bones. Something hard and certain.
"Best," Victoria said, turning away.
now is the first day of your ow life."
papers
I entered my room, closing the door softly behind me. The ghtmare's grip had taded, replaced by something sharper, clearer Purpose. Direction For the first time in years, perhaps ever, I knew exactly who I nee Not the good sister. Not the perfect wife. Not the pleasing daughter.
Someone new. Someone dangerous.
Someone who would make them all regret the day they decided Camille Lewis wasn't worth keeping.
the dayt
I caught my reflection in the window glass, disheveled, eyes red- rimmed, but standing straight.
Chapter 10
CAMILLE'S POINT OF VIEW
The black car moved through morning fog, tires humming gainst wet roads. I stared out the window, watching trees blur into gray mist. Victoria sat beside me, her face a mask of calm, but her fingers tapped a n
"Where are we going?" I asked, breaking the silence that had stretched between us since we left the mansion Thirty
minutes ago. The papers making me
officially Camille Kane had been signed at dawn, the ink barely dry. Victoria's eyes stayed fixed on the passing landscape. "To meet someone important."
The car turned onto a narrow road lined with tall iron gates and stone walls. A cemetery. My stomach tightened. "Sophia?" I whispered.
Victoria nodded once, sharp and quick, like admitting pain "Today marks ten years since I lost her."
The cemetery was empty of visitors, kept private by security guards who nodded respectfully as our car passed. Ancient trees created a natural cathedral over graves that dated back centuries. This was no ordi
Our driver stopped at the end of a curving path. "We walk from here," Victoria said, gathering her bag and stepping out without waiting for help.
I followed her along a stone path that wound uphill toward secluded corner overlooking the city. The grass here was greener, the flowers fresher. Clearly tended with special care.
We stopped before a white marble headstone, simple yet elegant. Quality that whispered rather than shouted.
SOPHIA ELIZABETH KANE
BELOVED DAUGHTER
TAKEN TOO SOON
1990-2013
Below those words, a single line of poetry: "Some souls are too bright for this world."
Victoria placed white lilies by the stone, her movements practiced yet tender. I hung back, feeling like an intruder on this private grief.
"Come," she said, not looking at me. "She would want to meet you."
I stepped forward,
uneasy. What do you say to a grave of someone you never knew? Someone whose death made your
new life possible?
Victoria knelt despite her expensive sult, uncaring about grass stains or dirt. "Hello, my darling," she said, touching the carved letters of Sophia's name. "I've brought someone to meet you." just cold.
The wind picked up, sanding, fallen leaves dancing around 1 zipped my jacket higher, shivering from more than
"Tell me about her," I said. "The real story, not the public rsion."
Victoria was
quiet so long I thought she wouldn't answer. When she spoke, her voien