Chapter 80

Rose huddled in the corner booth of Café Obscura, a dingy establishment where celebrities went to be forgotten, not spotted. The hood of her oversized sweatshirt cast shadows across her face as she clutched a chipped mug of lukewarm coffee. Gone were the designer clothes and perfect makeup that had been her armor for so long.

Three weeks had passed since Camille's dramatic resurrection at the Phoenix Gala. Three weeks of hiding from reporters, dodging process servers, and watching her carefully constructed world crumble into dust. Each day brought new humiliations as her business partners abandoned her, her accounts were frozen, and her reputation dissolved in a flurry of scandalous headlines.

The bell above the café door jingled. Rose didn't look up, having learned not to make eye contact with anyone. But then a shadow fell across her table, and she sensed someone sliding into the seat opposite her.

"Ms. Lewis, I presume?" A deep voice with ahint of old money in its practiced casualness.

Rose's head snapped up, fear flooding her veins.Had they found her? Was it police? Press? The man before her was neither.

He was perhaps thirty-one, with the kind of handsome features that aged well-strong jawline,piercing gray eyes, salt-and-pepper hair cropped short. His clothes were expensive but understated.Nothing flashy, nothing that screamed wealth. But Rose had spent her life studying people with money.This man had it, and lots of it.

"Who are you?" she whispered, already calculating the distance to the exit.

"Someone with a mutual problem." He didn't offer his hand. Instead, he placed a small manila envelope on the table between them. "My name is Herod Preston."

Rose didn't touch the envelope. "How did you find me?"

A smile touched his lips but didn't reach his eyes."Finding people is a specialty of mine. Especially people who've fallen from grace."

The waitress approached, and Herod ordered black coffee without looking at the menu. After she shuffled away, Rose leaned forward.

"What do you want with me? I have nothing left to offeranyone."

"That's where you're wrong, Ms. Lewis." Herod tapped the envelope with one manicured finger. "You have something incredibly valuable: a burning hatred for Victoria Kane and her new pet project."

Rose's breath caught in her throat. Her fingers curled into fists beneath the table. With trembling hands,she pulled the envelope toward her and peeked inside. Photographs. The first showed a younger Victoria Kane standing beside a beautiful young woman with golden hair. The next showed the same young woman with a handsome man in his thirties,his arm around her waist.

"My brother," Herod explained, his voice suddenly tight. "Charles Preston."

Rose looked up sharply. "Preston... as in Preston Shipping Lines?"

Herod nodded once. "The very same. Once the third largest shipping empire in the world." His jaw tightened. "Before Victoria Kane decided to destroy us."

The waitress returned with his coffee. He didn't touch it.

"I don't understand," Rose said, though a cold feeling of recognition was spreading through her chest.

"Ten years ago, my brother was engaged to Sophia Kane," Herod began, his voice low and controlled.

"Victoria's daughter. Our families weren't exactly thrilled. Old rivalries, competing interests. My father particularly opposed the match."

Rose studied the photograph again. The couple looked happy, their smiles genuine. "What happened?"

Pain flashed across Herod's face, quickly masked."There was an accident. Sophia's car went off the road on a rainy night. She diedinstantly."

Rose remembered Victoria's words at the gala: *My daughter was taken from me through treachery and lies. I know the pain of loss better than most.*

"Victoria blamed your family?"

Herod's laugh was hollow. "Victoria didn't just blame us, she crucified us. Within a year of Sophia's death,Kane Industries had leveraged us out of every major shipping lane. Within two years, our stock was worthless. Within three, my father had drunk himself to death, and my brother..." His voice faltered."Charles couldn't live with the guilt and grief. He took his own life on the anniversary of Sophia's death."

Rose tried to swallow but found her mouth dry. "Why are you telling me this?"

Herod leaned forward, his eyes suddenly alive with intensity. "Because history is repeating itself. Victoria Kane has found herself a new daughter to replace the one she lost. And once again, she's using that daughter as a weapon to destroy anyone who stands in her way."

The truth of his words struck Rose like a physical blow. "Camille," she whispered.

"Yes. Your sister. The woman you wronged." Herod's gaze was piercing. "The woman who is now systematically dismantling your life piece by piece,just as Victoria once dismantled mine."

For weeks since the gala, Rose had been reeling from the revelation that Camille was not only alive but had been systematically destroying everything Rose had built. The coordinated attacks on her reputation, her business, her relationships, all orchestrated by the sister she thought she'd eliminated.

"The Phoenix Gala," Rose murmured, the humiliation of that night washing over her anew. "Camille standing there, revealing herself to everyone. All this time,she was plotting with Victoria Kane."

"Yes, quite the dramatic resurrection," Herod agreed."Victoria has always had a flair for the theatrical.A fitting phoenix story, wouldn't you say?"

Rose's stomach twisted with nausea. She remembered the men she'd hired to scare Camille, to send a message. They had clearly failed, and Victoria Kane had somehow found Camille afterward.

"I didn't mean for her to die," Rose whispered, more to herself than to Herod. "I just wanted her gone."

"And now she's back to ensure you suffer the same fate.Unless we stop her."

Rose's head snapped up. "We?"

"Victoria Kane destroyed my family because she believed we took something precious from her. Now, she's using your sister to do the same to you."Herod's voice was even, reasonable. "I've spent years rebuilding what Victoria took from the Prestons. I have resources, connections.What I need is someone who knows Camille, her weaknesses,her pressure points."①

"And what exactly are you proposing?" Rose asked,caution warring with desperate hope.

"Victoria has made Camille into a weapon. But even the most carefully crafted weapons have flaws in their design."

"You want to hurt her?" Rose asked, surprised by the protective instinct that flared despite everything.

"I want to separate her from Victoria's influence,"Herod clarified. "Victoria Kane is using your sister as her personal weapon, but she's also Victoria's greatest weakness."

"What are you suggesting?"

"I'm suggesting we join forces." Herod's voice dropped lower. "Victoria destroyed my family because of her daughter. Now she's found a replacement in Camille, and together they've devastated your life. They've both earned our vengeance."

Rose studied him, calculating. "You want to hurt Camille to get to Victoria?"

"I want to destroy them both," Herod said flatly."Victoria took everything from me. And Camille.." He gestured at Rose's disheveled appearance. "Well, I believe you have your own score to settle with your sister."

Rose felt a rush of dark satisfaction at his directness.Finally,someone who understood the depth of her hatred without judgment.

Herod placed a business card on the table beside the photographs. "Think about it. You've lost everything,Ms. Lewis. Your business, your reputation, your fiancé. But you haven't lost your intelligence or your instinct for survival." He buttoned his jacket with practiced ease. "Call that number when you're ready to fight back."

He moved toward the door, then paused,looking back at her with an inscrutable expression.

"One more thing," he said. "Victoria believes my family arranged Sophia's death. That's why she destroyed us." The muscle in his jaw tightened. "She was right."

Before Rose could process this confession, Herod was gone, the bell above the door marking his exit.

Rose sat frozen, the business card clutched in her trembling fingers, the photographs spread before her. Her mind raced with possibilities, with plans,with understanding. For weeks since the Phoenix Gala, she'd been running, hiding, licking her wounds.Now she understood the full scope: Victoria Kane had been the architect behind Camille's transformation, teaching her how to engineer Rose's downfall with surgical precision.

Outside, the evening air was cool against her flushed skin. For the first time in weeks, Rose stood straight, no longer hunching to avoid recognition. A plan was forming in her mind, nebulous but growing clearer by the moment.

Victoria Kane and Camille hadtaken everything from her. But Rose knew Camille better than anyone, her fears, her insecurities, the weak points in her armor.And now, with Herod's resources and insider knowledge about Victoria, they could strike back where it would hurt most.

Rose hailed a taxi, her decision made. She would call Herod Preston. Together, they would devise a plan to bring down both Victoria and Camille.

"You think you've won," Rose whispered to the night air, imagining Camille's face. "But I'm not finished yet.Not even close."

As the taxi pulled away from the curb, Rose's fingers closed around the business card in her pocket. A small smile tugged at her lips, the first genuine one in weeks. The game wasn't over yet. It had only just begun.