SCORNED EX WIFE Queen Of Ashes (Camille and Stefan) novel Chapter 164

Chapter 164

The drive to the lake house was a battle against time and 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.

"Tell me what 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 I 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 told me once 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.