SCORNED EX WIFE Queen Of Ashes (Camille and Stefan) novel Chapter 228

Chapter 228

James stepped closer to Victoria, the sharp blade catching what little light came through the broken windows. The metal looked cold and cruel in his steady hand.

"No," Camille whispered, her voice barely audible. "Please, no."

Victoria closed her eyes, trying to prepare herself for what was coming. She had faced many difficult moments in her life - losing her husband, building her business from nothing, defending herself against enemies who wanted to destroy her. But nothing had prepared her for this.

The first touch of the blade against her arm made her gasp. It was just a light pressure at first, not cutting, just letting her feel how sharp it was.

"My father spent his last years in a small, dark cell," James said quietly. "He told me in his letters how the other prisoners would threaten him, how the guards would look the other way when someone wanted to hurt him."

The blade pressed harder against Victoria's skin. She bit her lip to keep from crying out.

"Stop it!" Camille shouted, pulling against the zip ties so hard that blood started to show on her wrists. "He's gone, James! Your father is gone! Hurting her won't bring him back!"

James ignored Camille completely. His focus was entirely on Victoria now, watching her face as fear and pain mixed together.

"Do you know what it feels like to be helpless?" he asked Victoria. "To know that no one is coming to save you?"

The blade moved across her arm, making a thin red line. Victoria couldn't hold back her scream this time. The sound echoed off the concrete walls, making it seem louder and more desperate.

"Victoria!" Camille's voice broke as she watched blood appear on her mother's arm. "Please, James, I'm begging you. Take me instead. Do whatever you want to me, but leave her alone."

"Take you instead?" James turned to look at Camille, and his expression was cold and empty. "You don't understand. This isn't about choosing one of you over the other. This is about making both of you suffer the way my family suffered."

He turned back to Victoria and made another cut, deeper this time. Victoria's whole body shook with pain, but she tried not to give him the satisfaction of screaming again.

"Tell me," James said, his voice soft but dangerous, "what would you do to save your daughter? What would you sacrifice?"

Victoria looked at Camille through her tears. Her daughter was pulling so hard against the zip ties that the plastic was cutting into her skin, leaving bloody marks on her wrists.

"Anything," Victoria whispered. "I would do anything."

"Even confess to crimes you didn't commit?"

"Yes."

"Even destroy your own business?"

"Yes."

"Even die?"

Victoria didn't hesitate. "Yes."

James smiled, but it wasn't a happy expression. It was the smile of someone who had gotten exactly the answer he expected.

"My father would have said the same thing about me," he said. "But when the time came to choose between his family and his business, he chose wrong."

The blade moved to Victoria's other arm. This time, the cut was so deep that blood immediately started running down to her fingers.

"Stop!" Camille screamed so loudly that her voice cracked. "You're killing her!"

"Not yet," James said calmly. "But I could. That's the point. Right now, I have complete control over whether Victoria Kane lives or dies. Just like the justice system had complete control over my father."

Victoria felt dizzy from the pain and blood loss. The warehouse seemed to be spinning around her, and James's voice sounded like it was coming from very far away.

"James," she said weakly, "if you're going to kill me, just do it. Don't torture me in front of my daughter."

"But that's exactly what I'm going to do," James replied. "Because that's what you did to my father. You tortured him by taking away everything he cared about while his family watched."

He made another cut, this one across Victoria's shoulder. The pain was so intense that she couldn't breathe for a moment.

Camille was crying now, tears streaming down her face as she watched her mother being hurt. "Please," she begged. "Please, I'll give you anything you want. Money, information, whatever you need. Just stop hurting her."

"What I want," James said, "is for you to understand that power means nothing when someone else holds the knife."

He moved the blade to Victoria's neck, not cutting yet, just letting her feel the cold metal against her skin.

"One quick cut here, and it's over," he said. "All of Victoria Kane's success, all of her wealth, all of her influence - gone in seconds."

"Don't," Camille whispered. "Please don't."

Victoria could feel her heartbeat against the blade. Each pulse pushed her skin slightly against the sharp edge.

"I'm not afraid," she said, looking directly at James. "If you're going to do it, then do it. But let Camille go first. She never hurt your father. She was not my child when all of this happened."

"She's your child now," James said. "She's part of your empire. She benefits from what you built on my father's grave."

"She's innocent."