Chapter 170
Chapter 170
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The first explosion rocked the cabin, sending dust raining from the tunnel ceiling. Alexander and Stefan pressed forward, fighting against the urge to retreat. Behind them, the passage began to collapse.
“Move!” Alexander shouted as they burst through the exit into the stormy night.
Rain hit their faces like tiny needles. The boathouse stood twenty yards ahead, its weathered blue paint visible in the lightning
flashes. Two armed men guarded the entrance, their attention fixed on the main cabin as it began to burn.
Alexander signaled to his team, spreading them into position around the clearing. Stefan crouched behind a fallen tree, his heart
hammering against his ribs. From inside the boathouse came the sound of raised voices.
“The boat won’t start!” a man yelled.
“Fix it!” Rose’s voice, sharp with panic. “We need to leave now!”
Alexander caught Stefan’s eye, mouthing the words: _Three. Two. One.
The team surged forward. The guards spun, raising their weapons, but Alexander’s men fired first, non–lethal rounds that
dropped both men to the wet ground.
“Breach!” Alexander ordered.
The boathouse door splintered inward. Inside, the scene unfolded in chaotic snapshots:
Rose standing on a small dock.
A speedboat bobbing in the water.
Three more guards, weapons ready.
And Camille, her wrists bound, her face bruised, but her eyes fierce with defiance.
“Down!” Alexander shouted as gunfire erupted.
Stefan dove behind a stack of old barrels, the smell of long–ago fish bait stinging his nostrils. Alexander and his team returned
fire, the space filling with the deafening crack of weapons and shouts of pain.
Through the chaos, Stefan saw Rose dragging Camille toward the boat. Camille fought back, making herself as difficult to move
as possible, but she was weakened from captivity.
Without thinking, Stefan launched himself from behind the barrels.
He stayed low, using the firefight as cover. Neither Alexander nor Rose noticed him skirting the edge of the dock, moving closer to where Rose struggled with Camille.
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“Stop fighting me!” Rose hissed, yanking Camille’s arm. “This is your fault! It’s always your fault!”
Camille twisted, trying to break free. “It’s over, Rose. It’s been over for a long time.”
Rose’s face contorted with rage. She raised her hand to strike Camille just as Stefan reached them.
“Let her go!” Stefan grabbed Rose’s arm.
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Rose whirled, shock flashing across her face before hardening into hate. “You!” She kicked at him, connecting with his stomach.
“You chose her too!”
Stefan stumbled backward but kept his grip on her arm. “Rose, stop. There’s nowhere to go.
Behind them, the gunfire slowed, then stopped. Alexander’s team had subdued Rose’s men. Only the storm’s rage filled the
sudden silence.
Rose glanced around wildly, seeing her escape route vanishing before her eyes. She reached into her pocket with her free hand,
pulling out a small pistol.
“Get back,” she snarled, pointing it at Stefan, then swinging it toward Camille. “I’ll kill her! I swear I will!”
“Rose….” Stefan began.
“Shut up!” She was unraveling now, her voice climbing higher. “I should have killed her properly the first time. I should have watched my men kill her myself.”
Alexander appeared at the edge of the dock, weapon raised. “Put it down, Rose. It’s finished.”
Rose laughed, the sound brittle and broken. “It’s not finished until I say it is.” She pressed the gun harder against Camille’s temple. “Drop your weapons, or I paint this dock with her brains.”
For a moment, no one moved. Rain poured down, soaking them all. In the distance, the main cabin blazed despite the downpour, flames reaching high into the stormy sky.
Alexander slowly lowered his weapon.
“Smart man,” Rose smirked. “Now back up. All of you.”
Alexander took one step backward, never taking his eyes off Rose. His face showed nothing, but Stefan recognized the tension in his body, a predator preparing to strike.
“You too, Stefan,” Rose ordered. “Move away from us.”
Stefan stood his ground. “Let Camille go
first.”
“Why?” Rose demanded. “So you can have her back? So you can play happy families again?” She shook her head. “I deserved everything she had. Everything.”
“I never took anything from you, Rose,” Camille said quietly. “You always had a place. A home. A family that loved you more than
Chapter 170
me.”
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“Loved me?” Rose spat. “They needed me to be perfect! To be everything you couldn’t be!” Her grip on the gun trembled slightly. “Why can’t you be more like Rose, Camille? Rose gets better friends. Rose is more social. Rose doesn’t embarrass us.”
Stefan saw Alexander inching to the side, using the distraction to get a better angle.
“I understand, Rose,” Stefan said, keeping her attention. “I know what it’s like to want someone else’s life.”
Rose’s eyes narrowed. “You don’t understand anything.”
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“I do.” Stefan took a careful step forward. “I spent years pretending to be someone I wasn’t. The perfect husband. The perfect businessman. I know what it’s like to live a lie.”
Rose’s gun hand wavered slightly.
Behind her, a security guard Rose thought was unconscious stirred, reaching for his fallen weapon.
Everything happened at once.
The guard fired wildly.
Alexander lunged forward.
Rose spun toward the new threat.
And Stefan threw himself at Camille, pushing her down as bullets tore through the air where she had stood.
Pain exploded in Stefan’s shoulder. Hot, searing pain that stole his breath and sent him crashing to his knees. He heard shouting, gunfire, the splash of water. His vision blurred.
Through the haze of pain, he saw Alexander grappling with Rose. They struggled at the edge of the dock, Rose scratching and biting like a cornered animal. The gun flew from her hand, skittering across the wet wood and into the water.
“You ruined everything!” Rose screamed, slamming her fist into Alexander’s jaw..
Alexander barely flinched. He locked his arms around Rose, pinning her own to her sides. “It’s over,” he said, his voice cold as
stone.
Rose went limp so suddenly that Alexander nearly lost his grip. Then, with a cry of pure rage, she twisted violently, breaking free. She stumbled backward, too far.
For one suspended moment, Rose teetered at the edge of the dock, her eyes wide with surprise. Then she fell, hitting the water with a splash that was swallowed by the storm.
Alexander moved to dive after her, but his security team was faster. Two men jumped into the churning lake as Rose surfaced, gasping and fighting.
Stefan felt hands on his face, gentle but urgent. Camille knelt before him, her bound wrists extended awkwardly.
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“Stefan? Look at me,” she commanded. Her voice seemed to come from far away. “Stay with me.‘
Stefan tried to focus on her face, but darkness crept in at the edges of his vision. “You’re safe,” he mumbled. “That’s what
matters.”
“Don’t you dare,” Camille said fiercely. “Don’t you dare check out now.”
Alexander appeared behind her, cutting through her restraints with a pocket knife. The moment her hands were free, Camille
pressed them against Stefan’s wound.
The pain flared, shocking him back to full awareness. He groaned.
“Good,” Camille said. “Feel that. Stay angry. Stay here.”
Alexander knelt beside them, shrugging off his jacket and pressing it against the wound. “Medic’s on the way,” he told Camille.
“Two minutes out.”
Behind them, Rose’s shouts filled the boathouse as the security team dragged her from the water and restrained her. She
thrashed and screamed, wild–eyed with fury and defeat.
“Look at me,” Camille said to Stefan, ignoring Rose’s cries. “Just at me.”
Stefan fixed his gaze on her face. Despite everything, the bruises, the exhaustion, the ordeal of her captivity, she looked stronger than he’d ever seen her. Not the woman he’d married and betrayed, but someone forged in fire, tempered by pain.
“I’m sorry,” he whispered. “For everything.”
A sad smile touched her lips. “I know.”
“I didn’t deserve you.” Blood stained his lips now, making it harder to speak. “I never did.”
“Hush,” Camille said, pressing harder on his wound. Pain sparked through him again, keeping him conscious. “Save your strength.”
Rose’s voice rose in pitch, her words becoming incoherent. The sound of a helicopter approached, its rotors beating against the
storm.
“Stay with him,” Alexander told Camille, standing. “I’ll handle her.”
Stefan watched through dimming vision as Alexander strode toward Rose. The two security men holding her stepped back, still keeping a firm grip on her arms.
Alexander leaned in close, saying something to Rose that Stefan couldn’t hear. Whatever it was made Rose go still, the fight draining from her body. Her shoulders slumped. Her head bowed.
“Stefan, focus,” Camille said, drawing his attention back. “The medics are almost here. Just hold on.”
Stefan reached up with his good arm, his fingers brushing her cheek. “You found your strength,” he murmured. “The strength I was too blind to see.”
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Camille caught his hand, pressing it against her face. “Yes,” she said simply. “I did.”
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The boathouse filled with new activity as medical personnel rushed in. Someone gently moved Camille aside, replacing her hands
with professional pressure on Stefan’s wound.
Through the crowd of people now surrounding him, Stefan caught a last glimpse of Rose being led away, her head still bowed, the
fight gone out of her. The sister who had tried to destroy Camille, now destroyed herself.
As darkness finally claimed him, Stefan’s last thought was of the wooden fishing lure in his pocket, the symbol of a childhood
Camille had once cherished. A childhood before Rose. Before him. Before all the pain they’d caused her.
He hoped she would find that innocence again someday.
And he hoped, whatever came next for him, that he had begun to make amends.
