Chapter 70
Chapter 70
Camille’s point of view
I stood in Victoria’s darkened office, staring at the files spread across her massive desk. The penthouse windows behind me reflected my silhouette against Manhattan’s nighttime skyline, a solitary figure surrounded by the evidence of a secret alliance I’d never suspected.
Victoria was in Tokyo closing the Moretti Global acquisition, leaving me alone with access to her private servers, supposedly to prepare for my new role heading Kane Industries‘ fashion division. Instead, I’d stumbled across a hidden folder labeled simply “Pierce.”
Now my world was tilting on its axis.
The first document had seemed innocent enough, a standard background report on Alexander Pierce and his business holdings. But the next had stopped my breath in my lungs: detailed accounts of Alexander’s behind–the- scenes manipulation of markets to prevent Rose’s company from securing emergency financing last month.
And it didn’t stop there.
Email exchanges between Alexander’s chief of security and private investigators tracking down Rose’s former lovers in London. Financial records showing how Alexander’s shell companies had purchased controlling interest in Rose’s major retail partners shortly before they canceled her contracts. Even transcripts of calls where Alexander personally convinced fashion editors to run stories about Rose’s stolen designs.
For more than a year, Alexander Pierce had been secretly advancing our revenge plan, removing obstacles, closing escape routes, ensuring that Rose and Stefan’s destruction was absolute and inescapable..
All without ever telling me.
My hands trembled as I picked up the most damning document of all, a detailed memo from Alexander to his chief financial officer, dated three weeks after I’d first appeared publicly as Camille Kane.
“Proceed with liquidation of all Rodriguez Shipping stock,” it read. “Strategically release holdings to drive share price down. Coordinate timing with Kane Industries‘ debt acquisition plan. Maintain maximum deniability.”
I sank into Victoria’s chair, mind spinning with implications. Had Alexander been using me? Had his apparent interest been just another manipulation, another way to advance his own agenda? Or was there something deeper driving his secret campaign against Rose and Stefan?
My fingers hovered over my phone, torn between fury at his deception and a strange, growing warmth at the thought of what his covert assistance might truly mean.
Before I could decide how to respond, the office door swung open.
“I see you found my Alexander file.”
Victoria stood in the doorway, coat still on, clearly just returned from the airport. Her face revealed nothing as she moved into the room, setting her bag on a side table with deliberate calm.
“You’re supposed to be in Los Angeles,” I said, not bothering to hide the evidence spread across her desk.
“The Moretti signing finished early. I took the company jet back.” She poured herself a scotch from the bar cart without offering me one. “So. Now you know.”
“Know what exactly? That Alexander Pierce has been secretly helping destroy Rose and Stefan? That he was the mysterious benefactor closing financial doors and buying up their business connections? That he’s been working
alongside us this entire time without either of you telling me?”
+25 BONUS
Victoria sipped her drink, studying me over the rim of her glass. “All of that, yes. The question is what you plan to do with this information”
I stood, gathering the documents into a neat pile. “I don’t know yet. Depends on why everyone’s been lying to me.”
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