SCORNED EX WIFE Queen Of Ashes (Camille and Stefan)

Chapter 164

The drive to the lake house was a battle against tand his own racing

thoughts. Alexander made calls continuously, to his security teams, to his tech specialists, to anyone who might

help locate Camille. He ordered satellite imagery of the area where she was taken. Traffic camera footage. Cell

tower data. Anything that might give them a lead.

Victoria was waiting on the deck when he arrived, her face pale but composed. Despite her illness, despite her

recent treatments, she stood straight-backed and commanding. The sight gave Alexander a flicker of hope. If

anyone could match Rose's determination, it was Victoria Kane.

"The FBI will be here in thirty minutes," he reported. "Stefan Rodriguez shortly after. I've got my own teams

setting up tracking operations."

Victoria nodded, gesturing for him to follow her inside. The living room had been transformed in record time.

Computer screens lined one wall. Maps covered another. Victoria's assistant directed a constant flow of staff

setting up equipment.

"Tellwhat you know about the note," Victoria said, moving to a chair at the head of the hastily arranged

conference table.

Alexander placed the evidence bag containing Rose's message before her. "The FBI is analyzing it for

fingerprints, DNA, any trace evidence. But Rose isn't stupid. She wouldn't leave anything that could lead us to

her."

Victoria read the note, her expression darkening. "Forty-eight hours."

"We'll find her before then," Alexander insisted, trying to believe his own words.

"Yes, we will." Victoria looked up at him, steel in her gaze. "Because we know Rose better than she knows herself.

She's driven by emotions, hatred, jealousy, obsession. Those make her powerful, but they also make her

predictable."

Before Alexander could respond, the door opened. Stefan entered, his face drawn with worry. Behind him came

Agent Chen and three other FBI agents, carrying equipment and files.

"The team is setting up a perimeter around the property," Chen informed them. "No one gets within a mile

without us knowing."

Victoria acknowledged this with a nod, then turned her attention to Stefan. "You know Rose better than any of

us. Where would she take Camille?"

Stefan moved to the maps on the wall, studying them intently. "She'd want somewhere isolated. Somewhere she

controls completely. And somewhere meaningful to her narrative."

"What narrative?" Alexander asked.

"That Camille stole her life," Stefan explained. "Rose believes everything Camille has should have been hers, the

family, the status, me, everything. In her mind, Camille is the thief, not her."

Victoria's eyes narrowed. "So she'd take Camille somewhere connected to that belief. Somewhere that

represents what was ‘stolen’ from her."

"Exactly." Stefan turned to face them. "And I think | know where."

He pointed to a location on the map, a rural area north of the city. "The Lewis family had a hunting cabin here.

Camille and Rose spent summers there as teenagers. Rose always said it was where she felt most like part of the

family, before things changed between them."

"Why would she take Camille there?" Agent Chen asked. "We'd check family properties immediately."

"Because it's not in the Lewis family anymore," Stefan explained. "They sold it years ago to a developer. The land

was cleared, the cabin torn down. There's nothing there now according to official records."

A spark of understanding lit in Alexander's eyes. "But?"

"But Rose toldonce that she bought it back through a shell company. Said she couldn't bear for strangers to

destroy her 'only real home." She used a different name, different paperwork. There would be no way to connect

it to her."

Victoria was already on the phone, instructing her assistant to find records of all property transactions in that

area for the past five years. Alexander studied the location on the map, calculating distances, approach routes,

possible extraction plans.

"We need satellite imagery of that area," he told Agent Chen. "Current images, not whatever is in the public

databases."

Chen nodded, already contacting her team. "If there's a structure there, we'll find

it."

As the room erupted into focused activity, Alexander stepped outside onto the deck, needing a moment to

breathe. The lake stretched before him, peaceful and oblivious to the nightmare unfolding. Somewhere out there,

Camille was in Rose's hands. Afraid. Possibly hurt. Definitely in danger.

The thought nearly brought him to his knees.

Stefan joined him, his face reflecting similar torment. "We'll find her," he said quietly. "Rose wants an audience

for her revenge. She won't rush this."

"Forty-eight hours," Alexander reminded him, the deadline burning in his mind. "Rose is theatrical," Stefan

insisted. "She wants to draw this out, make Camille suffer. The deadline is just to pressure us, make us

desperate."

Alexander turned to look at him. "And is it working? Are we desperate?"

Stefan met his gaze steadily. "Yes. But that doesn't mean we're wrong about the cabin. Rose is obsessed with

symbols, with proving points. Taking Camille back to where they were once family, before everything fettapart,

that fits her twisted logic."

Victoria's voice called them back inside. Her assistant had found something.

"Property records show the old Lewis cabin land was purchased by a company called Phoenix Rises LLC Six

months years ago," she reported. "Building permits were filed one months later."

The irony of the company name, Phoenix, the symbol Camille had chosen for her foundation, was not lost on any

of them.

"That's her," Stefan confirmed. "Rose would love the symbolism of using Camille's own phoenix against her."

Agent Chen approached with a tablet. "Satellite imagery from this morning shows a structure in those woods.

Looks like a modern cabin, much larger than the original would have been. And there's something else." She

swiped to another image. "This was taken thirty minutes ago. There's a black van parked at the cabin. Wasn't

there in the morning image."

Alexander's heart raced. "That's them."

"We need a tactical plan," Chen said. "The property is isolated, at least a mile

from any other structures. Heavily wooded. Limited access roads."

"And Rose will have security," Stefan added. "People like the ones who took Camille. Professional. Dangerous."

Victoria's voice cut through the tension. "Alexander, what do you need?"

He thought for a moment, tactical options flooding his mind. "Thermal imaging.

We need to know how many people are in that cabin. Where they're positioned. Where Camille is being held."

"Done," Chen said, already making the call.

"I want my own team on this," Alexander continued. "People | trust absolutely. Working alongside the FBI."

Victoria nodded. "Whatever you need. Whatever it costs. Just bring her home."

The room fell silent for a moment as the weight of what they faced settled over them. Forty-seven hours

remained in Rose's deadline. Forty-seven hours to plan a rescue, to extract Camille from a fortress designed

specifically to hold her. Stefan broke the silence. "There's something else you should know about Rose.

Something that might help."

All eyes turned to him.

"She'll want to break Camille completely before she kills her. Want to see the light

go out in her eyes, the hope fade. That's what this is really about for Rose, seeing Camille utterly defeated."

"How does that help us?" Alexander asked, struggling to contain his rage at the thought.

"Because it means she won't rush," Stefan explained. "She'll take her time, draw it out. And that gives us the one

thing we need most right now."

"Time," Victoria finished for him.

"Yes." Stefan turned back to the map. "She'll want to savor her victory. Want Camille to suffer. As terrible as that

is, it works in our favor."

Alexander felt sick at the thought of what Camille might be enduring, but Stefan was right. Rose's sadism might

be the one thing that would keep Camille alive long enough for them to find her.

"We move at dawn," he decided. "Full tactical approach. We'll need the cover of darkness, and we'll need the

next twelve hours to prepare properly."

Victoria nodded her approval. "Make it happen."

As the room transformed into a hive of strategic planning, Alexander stepped away once more. He removed a

small velvet box from his pocket, the necklace ring he had been carrying for months, waiting for the right

moment to offer it to Camille. He had planned to give it her when this was all over, when Rose was caught, when

they could finally live without looking over their shoulders.

Now he wondered if that moment would ever come.

"I'm coming for you," he whispered, clutching the necklace tightly in his palm.

"Hold on, Camille. Just hold on."