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SCORNED EX WIFE Queen Of Ashes (Camille and Stefan)

Chapter 38
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Chapter 38

Camille's point of view

| sat in my private office at Kane Industries, watching; six screens track different aspects of my plan to destroy

Rodriguez Shipping. Each monitor told part of the story, stock prices, trading volumes, news alerts, media

sentiment, competitor reactions, and internal communications we'd managed to intercept. One year of

meticulous preparation leading to this pivotal moment. The leather of my executive chair creaked so "Ready?"

Victoria asked from the doorway, her tailored charcoal suit as impeccable as always. Her eyes gleamed with the

predatory anticipation I'd cto recognize over our months working together. "Everything's in position." |

pulled up the final numbers, watching as our algorithms predicted the coming cascade. "Our traders are standing

by in London, New York and Singapore. The evidence of Rodriguez three seconds."

She moved to stand behind my chair, studying the screens with the careful attention of a general reviewing

battle plans. Her subtle perfume, always jasmine with notes of sandalwood, filled the air between us. "Three

different whistleblowers will contact financial reporters about questionable accounting practices at precisely

staggered intervals. The evidence has already been planted in their internal systems, backdate written exposés.

"If they somehow weather the safety scandal, the financial improprieties will finish them."

My hands stayed steady as | typed final commands into the trading system, muscle memory from countless

simulations we'd run. Inside, emotions warred, satisfaction, pain, a strange kind of grief for the compa hand had

been gone for months now, but sometimes | still felt its phantom weight.

"First article just dropped," Victoria noted as alerts started flashing across the primary monitor. "Wall Street

Journal. 'Major Safety Concerns Plague Rodriguez Shipping Fleet: Internal Documents Reveal Years | allowed

myself a small, controlled smile as other notifications followed in rapid succession. Reuters. Bloomberg. Financial

Times. CNBC breaking news. Each one sharing damaging details we'd carefully leake "Trading volspiking,"

my head trader

reported through the speaker, his voice betraying the excitement he was trying to contain. "Up four hundred

percent above normal. Major institutional investors starting to sell. BlackRock just dumped twelve per On my

main screen, Rodriguez Shipping's stock chart turned bright red, the downward trajectory steepening with each

passing second. Down five percent. Then twelve. Then wenty. A freefall gaining speed with frequency trading

programs reacting to the negative press.

My phone buzzed a message from our source inside the company: Total chaos here. Stefan locked in emergency

board meeting. Conference room screens showing stock collapse. His father just arrived looking “Tfor phase

two,” Victoria said quietly, a manicured all tapping the edge

of my desk in perfect rhythm with the declining stock ticker.

I nodded, sending the encrypted signal to our trading team positioned around the globe. Kane Industries would

Follow on NovᴇlEnglish.nᴇt

start quietly buying shares through a complex network of shell companies, but only after driving th More alerts

filled my screens in a

cascade of digital destruction. Industry analysts questioning the company's future viability. Suppliers nervously

reviewing contracts. Customers making backup plans with Credit agencies placing Rodriguez Ship "Thirty percent

drop," Victoria noted with undisguised satisfaction, her reflection in my monitor showing the slight smile she

reserved for victories. "The margin calls will start soon. Their creditors won't wait." She was right. Rodriguez

Shipping had leveraged their asses heavily for the

Asian expansion Stefan had championed against his father's wishes. As the stock price fell, their loan covenants

would trigger, forcing immediate repayment. A cascade of financial disaster we'd carefully engine My phone

buzzed again: *Stefan's father just walked out

of the board meeting. Never seen him so angry. Screaming about family legacy destroyed. Three generations of

work ruined. Stefan looks shell-

shocked. CFO in tears.*

I should have felt only triumph. This was what I'd planned, systematic destruction of everything Stefan valued.

But memories kept intruding unbidden. His father's pride when givinga tour of their flagship ves replaceable.

A notification from our banking contacts appeared: *Rodriguez seeking emergency credit line. Multiple rejections

already.

"Ms. Kane?" My assistant's voice through the intercom, professional

as always despite the financial bloodbath playing out on our screens. "Mr. Rodriguez Senior is attempting to

contact you directly. He's called three times in the last five minutes." Victoria's eyes narrowed slightly.

"Desperation sets in quickly."

"Block the calls," | replied, voice cool despite the turmoil inside. "And inform security that no Rodriguez family

member is to be admitted to the building under any circumstances,"

The financial carnage continued as more investors abandoned what was clearly becoming a sinking ship. News

channels began running special segments on the "Rodriguez Collapse,” featuring experts we'd qu Fresh alerts

flooded my screens. Rodriguez Shipping's board had called an emergency session Rumors of Stefan's possible

removal as CEO spread through financial circles. Trading halts triggered then lifted, "Forty percent drop," Victoria

announced with clear satisfaction, pouring two glasses of the eighteen-

year-

old Macallan she kept in my office for special occasions. "Well done, Camille. Absolutely masterful execution."

Laccepted the glass but didn't drink, watching instead as our source continued to provide real-

tupdates from Inside the Rodriguez headquarters.

More messages appeared: Stefan's office being

cleared out Personal items in boxes. Security escorting him from building, Executive team in complete meltdown.

Legal team preparing for shareholder lawsuits.*

| stared at the words until they blurred together. Remembered Stefan's boyish pride in his family's

company during our first dates. His passionate late-

night talks about modernizing the fleet. The dreams he'd shared late at night about expanding their legacy

across new shipping lanes, new countries, new possibilities. The way his eyes lit up when discussing th All ash

now. All destroyed by my hand, methodically, deliberately, without mercy, just as he'd destroyed me. "Incoming

call from Margaret Lewis," my assistant announced through the intercom, interrupting my th "Decline," | said

sharply, watching Rodriguez stock hit another circuit breaker.

Victoria sipped her whiskey, watchingover the rim of her glass with the calculating gaze that had first drawn

closed the moment Stefan and Rose decided to betray me," | replied, finally tasting the aged whiskey, letting it

burn down my throat. "I'm simply making it official."

"The market closes in ten minutes," Victoria said, glancing at her watch. "Tomorrow we start on their Asia

division. By week's end..."

"By week's end they'll have nothing left," | cut in, watching each percentage

point drop with a hollow satisfaction. "Isn't that the point? Compléte annihilation?

On screen, Rodriguez Shipping's stock hit bottom again. Trading halted for the fourth time. Stefan's legacy ended

not with a bang but with a whimper and a lot of red numbers. The five- year chart showed a perfect cliff

edge, everything before today rendered meaningless.

My phone buzzed one final time. A photo from our source, Stefan being escorted out, box of personal items in his

arms, face pale with shock and disbelief. The golden boy

finally facing consequences. The heir apparent dethroned. The man who had promisedforever now facing his

own sudden ending.

I'd done this. Me. The woman he'd discarded like yesterday's news. The wife he'd betrayed with her own sister.

The inconvenient obstacle

to his true desires.

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So why didn't victory taste sweeter? Why did the whiskey turn bitter on my tongue? Why did the emptiness

inside seem to grow rather than diminish?

Victoria studiedcarefully, her years of experience reading people picking up on my unexpected hesitation."

You're not having second thoughts, are you? After everything we've done to get here?" "Not second thoughts," |

said, setting down my glass. "Just wondering what comes after."

"After?" Victoria raised a perfectly shaped eyebrow. "After this, we continue with the plan. Rose's fashion empire.

Your mother's social standing. One by one, we dismantle everything they value, everything, they Victoria's sigh

held years of experience, both professional and personal. "Just remember why we started this. What they

did to you. What they deserve, How they would have continued using you if you hadn't discovered the Truth"

"I remember everything," | said softly, touching the screen where Stefan's broken expression was captured

forever. "That's the problem."

The final trading bell rang, the sound echoing through my office like a death knell. Rodriguez Shipping's stock

closed down sixty-

two percent, the worst single-day performance in the company's century-

long history. Headlines already proclaimed the death of a shipping dynasty that had survived wars, depressions,

and global crises, but couldn't survive my vengeance.

I'd won. Thoroughly. Completely. Just as planned.

My phone began buzzing incessantly, financial reporters

seeking comment, business associates offering congratulations, vultures seeking, to pick at the Rodriguez

carcass, | silenced it without looking at the names

Tomorrow would bring new targets, new strategies, new victories. But tonight... tonight | would sit alone with my

thoughts, the taste

of ash in my mouth despite the expensive whiskey, and consider what exactly cafter revenge. When all the

destruction was complete, when everyone who had hurtwas brought low, what would | build f

It was a question | hadn't allowed myself to consider until now, focused solely on tearing down rather than

building up. Perhaps it was tto start thinking beyond vengeance, beyond the all- consuming fire that had

driventhese past months.

Perhaps there was something waiting foron the other side of revenge.