Chapter 81

Camille's phone buzzed on her nightstand, pulling her from a dreamless sleep. The screen glowed with Alexander's name. Not a text message, but an actual call at, she squinted, 5:36 AM.

"Hello?" Her voice was rough with sleep.

"Look out your window." Alexander's voice held an energy that made her sit up straight.

"It's not even dawn," she protested, but was already moving to the floor-to-ceiling glass that showcased the Manhattan skyline.

"East. Toward the water,"

Camille pressed her forehead against the cool glass, eyes searching the horizon where night was reluctantly giving way to morning. "What am I looking for?"

"Wait for it."

As if on cue, the first ray of sunlight broke across the water, igniting the glass towers of the financial district in gold and fire. But it wasn't just the buildings that caught the light. An enormous structure floated in the harbor, a ship unlike any Camille had seen before. Its vast deck gleamed with what appeared to be thousands of mirrored panels catching the sunrise.

"Is that...."

"RISING EX WIFE. My company's first fully solar-powered cargo vessel." Pride shimmered in Alexander's voice. "She dropped anchor twenty minutes ago after her maiden voyage from Rotterdam. Zero emissions.Zero fossil fuels."

Camille stared at the vessel, understanding immediately what this meant for their Phoenix Grid project. "You didn't tell me it was ready."

"Some surprises are worth keeping." A pause. "Get dressed. I'm sending a heficopter to the roof in thirty minutes. Bring shoes you don't mind getting wet."

Before she could respond, the line went dead.

Victoria would disapprove, Camille thought as she showered quickly. This kind of impulsivity wasn't in the careful script they'd crafted for Camille Kane's public persona. But as warm water cascaded over her shoulders, Camille realized she didn't care what Victoria would think. For the first time in two years,she wanted to make a choice simply because it felt right.

The helicopter touched down exactly thirty minutes later. Alexander waited inside, dressed in worn jeans and a light sweater, looking nothing like the billionaire CEO the world knew. The silver rose pendant she'd returned to her at their dinner hung around her neck, a small weight against her collarbone.

"You're going to upend the entire shipping industry with this,"Camille said as they lifted off, gesturing toward the gleaming vessel growing larger as they approached.

"We're going to upend it," Alexander corrected. "RISING EX WIFE is just the beginning. With the Phoenix Grid providing charging stations in every major port, we'll make dirty shipping obsolete within a decade."

The confidence in his voice stirred something in Camille, not the cold, calculated determination that had driven her revenge, but something warmer, more vital. This was creation, not destruction. Building, not tearing down.

They landed on the massive ship's helipad, where a small group of engineers waited to greet them. As Alexander made introductions, Camille noticed something unusual about the team, their easy camaraderie with him, the absence of the typical deference shown to billionaire CEOs, the way they rolled their eyes at his technical questions.

"You worked on this personally," she realized aloud.

Alexander's cheeks flushed slightly. "I have a degree in engineering most people don't know about. This project was too important to delegate entirely."

One of the engineers, a woman with steel-gray hair and weathered hands, snorted. "He means he drove us crazy for three years, sleeping in the lab and redoing our calculations at 3 AM."

They toured the vessel from bow to stern. Alexander explained how the flexible solar panels that covered the deck could capture energy even in cloudy conditions, how the hydrogen fueI cells stored power for nighttime sailing, how the Al navigation system optimized routes based on weather patterns to maximize efficiency.

"It's revolutionary," Camille said as they stood at the ship's bow, the Manhattan skyline spread before them."But the cost must be astronomical. How will shipping companies afford to convert their fleets?"

Alexander's eyes sparkled with something that looked like mischief. "They won't have to.... we'll do it for them."

"What do you mean?"

"I've created a separate foundation with five billion in initial funding. We'll convert existing cargo ships to solar at no cost to the companies, in exchange for a small percentage of their increased profits for five years.After that, the technology belongs to them completely."

Camille stared at him. "That's... that's not how business usually works."

"Maybe it should be." Alexander turned to face her fully. "Some innovations are too important to be held hostage by traditional profit models. Climate change won't wait for quarterly earnings reports."

Something shifted in Camille's chest, a recognition of the man standing before her. Not the calculated helper who had assisted her revenge, not the powerful CEO, but someone who had taken his own pain and transformed it into something that would heal rather than hurt.

"You're not who I thought you were," she said softly.

"Neither are you." His gaze was steady. "Camille Lewis had compassion that saved a stranger on a dark road. Camille Kane has the power to reshape industries. I'm interested in the woman who combines both."

The morning sun had fully risen now, bathing them in light that felt almost too bright, too revealing.Camille turned away, overwhelmed by the intensity in his eyes.

"Come on,",Alexander said, sensing her discomfort. "There's one more thing I want to show you."

He led her to asmall cabin tucked away from the bridge. Inside, a simple desk held a oomputer and a framed photograph. Camile recognized Alexander, several years younger, standing beside a petite woman with kind eyes.

"This was Ruth Chen," he said, touching the frame gently. "The engineer who developed the original flexible solar technology we're using. She died of cancer three years ago, before she could see her work implemented. Her last request was that we name the first vessel after her favorite childhood book."

"RISING EX WIFE BY ANNYPEN" Camille murmured.

"A ship that sails to the edge of the world and beyond." Alexander's voice was quief. "Ruth believed innovation should serve humanity, not just shareholders. The week before she died, she made me promise that when this ship finally sailed, I'd remember why we were building it, not for profit or prestige, but because it was right."

Camille felt tears pricking her eyes, unexpected and unwelcome. She blinked them away.that why you were so determined to help me? Because it was right?"

Alexander considered this, then shook his head. "No. I helped you because | owed you a debt. But somewhere along the way, it became about more than that."

"What did it become about?" Camille's heart hammered in her chest.

Instead of answering directly, Alexander opened a drawer and removed a worn leather journal. "Ruth kept this during the development process. Her technical notes, but also her philosophy." He handed it to Camille."Page seventy-three."

Camille carefully opened the journal to the marked page, where a single paragraph had been highlighted:

*True power isn't in what we take from others, but in what we create. Destruction is easy, a match can burn down a forest in hours that took centuries to grow. But creation? Creation is the real magic. It requires faith that what doesn't yet exist can be brought into being through persistence and vision."

Camille's hand trembled slightly as she closed the journal."Why are you showing me this?"

"Because you stand at a crossroads." Alexander's voice was gentle but firm. "Your revenge is complete.

Rose and Stefan are destroyed. Your parents are cut from your life. Victoria has given you everything she promised. But now comes the harder part."

"What's that?"

"Deciding who you want to be when you're not defined by what was done to you." He took the journal and returned it to the drawer. "Ruth taught me that our greatest power lies not in defeating enemies, but in creating something they could never imagine."

Camille walked to the cabin's small window, watching seagulls wheel above the water. "Victoria would say you're trying to manipulate me."

"Victoria transformed your pain into a weapon. I'm suggesting you transform it into something else."

"Like what?"

Alexander moved to stand beside her, close but not touching. "The Phoenix Foundation you announced at the gala, it could be more than just a symbolic gesture. You could build something that helps women rebuild after betrayal, that creates real protection and opportunity."

"With your help, I assume?" Camille couldn't keep the edge from her voice.

"With or without me. That's your choice." Alexander's eyes held hers. "But I'd like it to be with me."

The directness of his statement caught her off guard."Why?"

"Because I've spent five years watching you from a distance, first with gratitude, then with concern,then with admiration. Because I've never met anyone who could walk through fire and emerge stronger. Because when I'm with you, I remember that business and power are means, not ends."

He stepped closer, still not touching her. "And because when you look at me, you see Alexander, not the Pierce fortune or the company legacy. Just as I see Camille, not the woman who saved me or the avenger Victoria created."

The cabin suddenly felt too small, too intimate. Camille moved past him to the door."I need to think."

"I know." Alexander didn't try to stop her. "Take all the time you need."

Back on the deck, Camille breathed deeply, trying to steady herself. New York gleamed in the morning light,its towers reaching toward the sky like ambitions made concrete and glass.

The helicopter pilot approached, asking if she was ready to return to the city. Camille hesitated, looking back toward the cabin where Alexander remained.

"Ms. Kane?" the pilot prompted.

"Not yet," she said, surprising herself. "I have something to discuss with Mr. Pierce first."

As she walked back toward the cabin, Camille felt the weight of the silver rose pendant against her skin,a small reminder of who she had been before pain and betrayal, before revenge and rebirth. Not a blueprint to follow, but a foundation to build upon.

She paused at the cabin door, her hand on the handle, aware that whatever choice she made now would shape not just her relationship with Alexander, buut the woman she would become after the flames of revenge had cooled.

Camille took a deep breath and opened the door.