SCORNED EX WIFE Queen Of Ashes (Camille and Stefan) novel Chapter 168

Chapter 168

Stefan paced the length of the makeshift command center, running his hands through his hair for the hundredth time. The room buzzed with activity, Alexander's security team, FBI agents, police liaisons, all working frantically to find Camille. Twenty-six hours had passed since her abduction. Twenty-six hours of dead ends and false leads.

"This isn't working," Stefan muttered, stopping at the map where pins marked locations they'd already searched. "We're missing something. Rose wouldn't just take her anywhere."

Alexander looked up from a table covered with files, dark circles under his eyes. "Every property connected to Rose or her aliases has been searched. Twice."

"It's not about property records," Stefan said, something nagging at the back of his mind. "It's about meaning. Rose does everything with purpose. She'd want somewhere that... that connects to their past."

He closed his eyes, trying to focus. Images flashed through his mind: Camille showing him old family photos, telling stories of her childhood. Stories from before Rose came into their lives.

"Wait," Stefan said suddenly, the memory sharpening. "The Lewis summer cabin. Cedar Lake."

The room fell silent.

"What cabin?" Alexander asked, standing up straight.

Stefan grabbed his phone, dialing with shaking fingers. "Mr. and Mrs. Lewis might know. They had a vacation property when Camille was young."

Within twenty minutes, Richard and Margaret Lewis rushed into the command center, their faces lined with worry. Margaret clutched a photo album to her chest like a shield.

"Cedar Lake," Richard confirmed, his voice rough with emotion. "We had a cabin there for years. Sold it to the Hendersons when Rose turned sixteen. She never quite fit in there, it was Camille's special place first."

Margaret opened the album with trembling hands, revealing photos of a young Camille standing proudly on a wooden dock, fishing rod in hand. "We taught her to swim in that lake. Richard would sit on the dock for hours with her, fishing."

"And the cabin itself?" Alexander pressed, leaning forward intensely.

"Two bedrooms, stone fireplace," Margaret said, flipping to another photo that showed the cabin's rustic interior. "Camille carved her initials in the mantel when she was eight. I was so angry at the time." Her voice broke. "Now I'd give anything to see those marks again."

Richard pointed to the fireplace in the photo. "That stone was brought from a local quarry. The builder told us it would 'last through anything.' Outlast us all, he said."

"Rose was obsessed with the place," Margaret added, her eyes distant with memory. "After we sold it, she kept asking to go back. Said it was the only place she felt like a real part of the family."

Alexander snapped his fingers at his head of security. "Check property records for Cedar Lake. Focus on recent transactions involving the Henderson family."

"We checked all Lewis family properties," an FBI agent said, frowning.

"Not if it changed hands recently," Stefan countered. "Rose plans for everything. She could have purchased it from whoever owns it now."

Hands flew over keyboards. Minutes ticked by. Stefan resumed his pacing, while Margaret continued turning pages in the photo album, tears silently tracking down her face.

"Were there any distinctive features?" Alexander asked. "Anything that would help us identify it if Rose has modified it?"

Richard nodded slowly. "There was a boathouse, painted blue. And a cluster of three pine trees right at the water's edge. Lightning struck one, split it right down the middle, but it kept growing. Camille called it the 'twin tree.'"

"Got something," called a woman at a computer terminal. "Cedar Lake property, previously owned by the Henderson family, sold one month ago to Phoenix Rising LLC." She looked up, her expression grim. "Registered agent is R. Thornton."

"Thornton," Margaret gasped. "That was Rose's last name in the foster system, before we adopted her."

"One month ago," Alexander repeated, his voice tight. "She's been planning this for weeks."

The analyst continued, "Cash transaction. Sale price well above market value, suggesting urgency."

Alexander leaned over the screen. "Send me those coordinates. What's the satellite view show?"

The image appeared on the main display screen: a cabin nestled in dense woods, a narrow dirt road leading to it, a small dock extending into the lake behind it. And at the water's edge, the unmistakable silhouette of three tall pines, one with a distinctive split trunk.

"That's it," Richard said, his voice thick with emotion. "That's our cabin."

Victoria, who had been sitting quietly in the corner, conserving her strength during her cancer recovery, leaned forward. "What's the satellite thermal imaging show?"

Alexander's security chief stepped forward. "Heat signatures show at least three people inside. One hasn't moved from this room in hours."

A cold weight settled in Stefan's stomach. "Camille."

"And this figure here moves between rooms. Likely Rose." The security chief pointed to another blip on the thermal imaging. "Third signature stays mostly by the entrance. Probably a guard."

Alexander turned to his team, his face set in hard lines. "I want schematics, approach routes, extraction plans. We move tonight."