SCORNED EX WIFE Queen Of Ashes (Camille and Stefan)

The evening glow bathed Victoria Kane's sprawling estate in golden light as lanterns illuminated the gardens for the rehearsal dinner. Three months had passed since the trial, and life had settled into a new rhythm for Camille. Tomorrow, she would marry Alexander Pierce and truly begin the next chapter of

her story.

From the edge of the stone terrace, Camille watched the unlikely gathering with quiet wonder, her birth parents chatting with Victoria, Kane Industries executives mingling with Pierce Enterprises innovators. The worlds that had once been separate now blended because of the love between her and Alexander.

"Penny for your thoughts?" Alexander's voice was warm against her ear as his arms encircled her waist.

Camille leaned back against his chest, savoring his strength. "Just taking it all in. Two years ago, I was plotting revenge in Victoria's study. Now..."

"Now you're running Kane Industries and about to become Mrs. Pierce." He kissed her temple, his lips lingering against her skin. "How quickly life changes."

She turned to face him, searching his eyes. "Any second thoughts about tomorrow?"

"About marrying you? Never." His smile reached his eyes, though something flickered behind them, a shadow so brief Camille didn't register its meaning.

Victoria approached them, moving with more strength than she'd shown in weeks. The experimental cancer treatment was working, her latest scans showed another reduction in tumor size. "There you two are. The photographer wants pictures by the fountain before we lose the light."

Camille squeezed Alexander's hand. "We'll be right there."

As Victoria walked away, Alexander's phone buzzed. He pulled it from his pocket, glancing at the screen. A muscle in his jaw tightened, almost imperceptibly.

"Everything okay?" Camille asked casually.

Alexander slid the phone back into his pocket, his smile returning naturally. "Just a supplier issue at Pierce Enterprises. Nothing that can't wait until after the honeymoon." He kissed her hand. "Come on, let's not keep the photographer waiting."

Throughout dinner, Alexander was the perfect fiancé... attentive, charming, raising his glass during toasts with genuine emotion. Yet twice, Camille noticed him check his phone discreetly. Each time, a shadow passed across his face before he returned to the celebration, his smile never wavering.

During Victoria's speech, he squeezed Camille's hand, his eyes never leaving her face as Victoria's voice carried across the garden. "When I found Camille, I thought I was saving her. In truth, she saved me." Victoria raised her glass. "To Camille and Alexander, two phoenixes who found each other in the flames."

Later, as guests danced under the stars, Alexander excused himself. "I need to make a quick call, that supplier issue. I'll be right back."

Camille nodded, distracted by conversation with a board member. When Alexander returned twenty minutes later, she noticed nothing unusual beyond a certain tension in his shoulders that she attributed to wedding nerves.

"Everything handled?" she asked as he rejoined her.

"All taken care of." He kissed her cheek. "Nothing for you to worry about."

The evening continued with dessert and dancing. If Alexander seemed occasionally distracted, no one noticed but him.

*** ****

Long after the guests departed, Camille and Alexander walked through the moonlit gardens. Victoria had insisted they spend the night before their wedding in separate wings of the estate, following tradition.

"I can't believe we're actually here," Camille said softly. "After everything." Alexander stopped beneath an ancient oak tree, taking both her hands in his. "I need you to know something, Camille." His voice had a serious edge that made her look up. "No matter what happens, no matter what we learn about each other or our families, my love for you is constant."noveldrama

She tilted her head, puzzled by his intensity. "Where is this coming from?"

"Just pre-wedding reflection." He smiled, but his eyes held something deeper. "The past year has taught me that family, whether born or chosen comes with complications. Histories we don't control. But what we build together is our choice."

"Alexander..."

He pressed a finger to her lips. "Tomorrow we begin our life together. That's all that matters."

** ****

Later that night, long after he'd kissed Camille goodnight and retired to the guest wing, Alexander slipped out of the house. The drive to Red Hook took forty minutes, giving him time to wrestle with the anonymous message that had arrived during dinner: *The woman who will be your mother-in-law tomorrow destroyed your true family before you even met her. Ask Victoria about Richard Pierce. Storage unit 237 has everything you need to know.*

The storage facility loomed against the night sky, a massive block of concrete and steel. Unit 237. The key had been attached to the message, left in his jacket pocket somehow, a calculated attempt to derail his happiness on the eve of his wedding.

Inside the unit, boxes of evidence surrounded him. Financial statements. Photographs. News clippings. All bearing two names: Kane Industries and Mediterian Enterprises.

A yellowed newspaper headline screamed: MEDITERIAN ENTERPRISES DECLARES BANKRUPTCY, FOUNDER COMMITS SUICIDE.

Alexander sat heavily on a wooden chair, his uncle Richard's silver pocket watch cold in his palm. The truth unfolded before him in merciless detail, how Victoria Kane had systematically destroyed MEDITERIAN Enterprises because of her ruthless business practices. How his uncle, who had taken him in when his parents disowned him, had lost everything because of his silent partnership with James Preston.

The connection was undeniable, written in black and white across countless documents. The woman who had become Camille's mother, his future mother-in- law, had set the events in motion that ultimately destroyed his family.

This revelation was elegant in its cruelty: unveiling a truth that could tear them apart on the eve of their happiness. Someone clearly wanted to destroy what he and Camille had built, using the past as a weapon.

Alexander opened the watch, staring at the inscription inside: *Some bridges, once burned, illuminate the path forward.* Words his uncle had spoken to him often during their time together.

He sat alone in the cold storage unit for hours, facing an impossible choice between the past he couldn't change and the future he desperately wanted. The woman he loved had no part in Victoria's actions, yet their lives were now inextricably linked to that history.

By dawn, Alexander had made his decision. He pocketed the watch, locked the storage unit, and drove back to the estate where Camille slept, unaware of the knife thrust between them by an unknown hand.

Whoever had orchestrated this had calculated that this revelation would destroy their relationship. That Alexander would be unable to marry into the family of the woman who had caused his uncle's suicide. That once again, Camille would lose someone she loved on her wedding day.

But they had underestimated one crucial thing: Alexander Pierce was not a man who would let the ghosts of the past determine his future. And the lesson he had learned from his uncle's death wasn't about revenge, but about survival.

As he drove through the early morning mist, Alexander made a promise to himself. He would marry Camille today as planned. He would build the life they dreamed of together. And someday, when the time was right, he would address this truth about Victoria and his uncle.

But not today. Today was about beginnings, not endings. No shadowy messenger from the past would claim another victim.

The wedding flowers glistened with morning dew as Alexander returned to the estate, slipping quietly into his room before anyone noticed his absence. In a few hours, he would stand before their assembled guests and take Camille as his wife, carrying the secret of his midnight discovery like a stone in his heart.

Some truths could wait. Some bridges, once identified, could be crossed together

when they were both ready for the journey.

The pocket watch rested heavy in his jacket, a reminder that the past would

always be with them. But as his uncle had taught him, sometimes survival meant looking forward, not back.

This mysterious message and its revelations would remain his burden alone - at least for now.