Rain pounded against the windows of Kane Industries as Camille reviewed the quarterly reports for the Phoenix Grid project. The soft glow of her deskmp created a bubble of light in the darkening office. Mos the quiet, she could focus on creation rather than destruction.


    Her phone buzzed with a text from Alexander: *Still working? The world won''t change in a single night.*


    A smile


    tugged at her lips. She typed back: *Says the man who probably hasn''t left hisb


    yet.*


    Three dots appeared, then: *Guilty. Dinner tomorrow?*


    Before she could respond, a sharp knock echoed through her office. Camille nced up, expecting her assistant with the financial projections she''d requested.


    Instead, Rose stood in the doorway.


    Time seemed to slow as their eyes locked. Rose looked different-thinner,


    harder. Dark circles shadowed her eyes. Her designer


    clothes had been reced by a in ck sweater and jeans. But the hatred


    zing in her gaze remained unchanged.


    "Security didn''t mention you wereing," Camille


    said, her voice steady despite the sudden hammering of her heart.


    Rose''s lips curled into a bitter smile. "Money still opens doors, sister


    dear. Even when most of it''s gone."


    She stepped into the office uninvited, her movements jerky with barely contained rage. Rain dripped from her coat onto the polished floor. The door swung shut behind her with a soft click that sounded unnervingly final.


    "What do you want, Rose?" Camille asked, rising from her chair. She wouldn''t give Rose the advantage of looking down at her.


    "What do I want?" Roseughed, the


    sound brittle and sharp as breaking ss. "That''s riching from


    you. I want back everything you stole from me."


    "I didn''t steal anything from you. I took back what was mine."


    Rose''s face contorted. "Nothing was ever yours! You were just holding it for


    me until I was ready to take it."


    The raw honesty of the statement hung between them. No more pretense, no more masks. Just the ugly truth that had always lurked beneath their rtionship.


    "So you admit it," Camille said quietly. "You never saw


    me as your sister. Just someone whose life you could steal when it suited you."


    "You had everything handed to you," Rose spat, taking another step forward. "The perfect parents. The perfect house. The perfect life. I had to w my way out of the foster system, waiting for someone.... anyo Rainshed against the windows, punctuating her words with angry bursts.


    "And it was so easy," Rose continued, her voice dropping to a near


    whisper. "So pathetically easy to make them see


    you as less. To make them question you. To make them choose me over and over again."


    Camille absorbed the cruelty of these words, feeling them strike against an old


    wound that had finally begun to heal. The old Camille would have crumbled, would have begged for understanding. But that woman was gone.


    "Did youe here just to tell me what I already know?" Camille asked, keeping her voice level. "Or did you have something else in mind?"


    Rose''s hand slipped into her pocket. "I came to promise you something."


    The movement set off rms in Camille''s mind. She tensed, ready to call security or defend herself if necessary.


    But Rose didn''t pull out a weapon. Instead, she withdrew a small silver object and ced it on the desk between them. A worn photograph of Camille''s childhood bedroom, torn in half.


    "Remember this ce?" Rose asked, her voice eerily calm.


    Camille didn''t touch


    it. The photo brought back unwanted memories, the room she''d decorated with such care, the space that had been hers before Rose had gradually taken it over with her opinions and presence. "You''ve kept that all this time?" Camille asked, keeping her expression neutral.


    Rose''s smile widened. "I keep all my trophies. And now I''ve


    won. You''ve just started a war that I intend to finish."


    "Is that what this is? A threat?" Camille asked.


    "Is that what this is? A threat?"


    "A promise," Rose corrected, leaning forward with her palms t on the desk. "You took everything from me, Camille. My reputation. My business. Stefan." She spat his name like a curse. "You even took our par


    Camille shook her


    head, refusing to be baited. "You tried to have me killed, Rose."


    "A mistake," Rose said dismissively. "I only wanted to scare you


    into leaving. Those idiots went too far."


    "And you''re making another mistake now.


    Rose straightened, studying Camille with narrowed eyes. "You think you''ve won. That''s your mistake. You''ve taken


    everything that mattered to me, so now I have nothing


    left to lose." She tapped the Preston pin. "But you? You''ve built a whole new life. New mother. Newpany. New boyfriend." Her lips curved into a cruel smile. “So many new things to take from you."


    The threat hung in the air between them, raw


    and vicious. For a moment, Camille felt the old fear stirring, the helpless panic of being outmaneuvered by Rose once again. But she pushed it aside, refusing to give it power.


    "I''m not that woman anymore, Rose," Camille said quietly. "The one who


    trusted you. The one who


    believed your lies. The one who could be manipted and used. I buried her."


    "And rose from the ashes as Camille Kane," Rose mocked. "How poetic. But you''re still the same underneath. Still desperate to


    be loved. Still afraid of being alone. I''ve


    always seen right through you, sister. Always will."


    Camille walked around the desk, closing the distance between them. Rose instinctively stepped back, a flicker of uncertainty crossing her face.


    "You never saw me at all," Camille said. "That was your mistake. You were so busy nning how to use me that you never bothered to know me. If you had, you''d


    realize that threatening me now is pointless."


    "Is it?" Rose challenged, though her voice had lost some of its edge.


    "I''ve already faced the worst you could do to


    me," Camille said. "You took my husband, my family, and tried to take my life. I rebuilt everything from nothing. What could you possibly do that would frighten me now?"


    A sh of something, frustration, maybe even a hint of respect crossed Rose''s face before hardening again


    into hate.


    "You''ll find out," she promised. "When everything you''ve builtes crashing down


    around you, when everyone you care about


    turns away, when you''re left with nothing but


    ashes, then you''ll understand what you''ve done."


    "Is that what this is about for you?" Camille asked, genuine curiosity in her voice. "Making me understand?"


    "It''s about justice," Rose snapped.


    "Justice," Camille repeated, letting out a soft, disbelievingugh. "You tried to murder me, Rose. After systematically destroying every rtionship in my life. What exactly do you think you deserve justice for?" Rose''s face flushed with angry color. "For being exposed. For being humiliated. For having everything taken from me."


    "Everything you took from me first," Camille pointed out.


    "It wasn''t yours to begin with!" Rose shouted, herposure finally cracking. "None of it was! Not Stefan, not our parents'' love, not your perfect life! You were just a ceholder until I came along!"


    The raw pain in her voice caught Camille off guard. Beneath the rage and threatsy a well of hurt so deep it seemed bottomless, the wounded child from the


    foster system who believed she had to steal love because she''d never receive it freely.


    For a brief moment, Camille felt something dangerously close to pity. Then she remembered the men in the parking garage. The sh of their


    knives. The darkness closing in as she bled onto the concrete.


    "Get out, Rose," she said softly. "Go back to


    Hell hole and plot whatever revenge you think will heal you. But know this-


    I''m not afraid of you anymore. Neither is Victoria. And if youe after either of us, you''ll find we''re much harder


    to destroy than you think."


    Rose stared at her, chest heaving with emotion. For a second,


    Camille thought she might lunge


    forward, might try to harm her physically. Instead, she snatched the torn photo from the desk and backed toward the door.


    "This isn''t over," Rose said, her voice tight with fury. "Not by a long shot. I''m going


    to take everything from you, Camille. Yourpany. Your


    new mother. Your boyfriend. I''ll make watch as I tear it all down piece by piece."


    you


    "You already tried to kill me once," Camille reminded her


    with a calmness she didn''t entirely feel. “What makes you think a second attempt


    will go any better?"


    Rose''s hand


    gripped the doorknob. "Because this time, I won''t make the mistake of thinking your death is enough. This time, I want


    you alive to see it all burn."


    With those words, she yanked open the door and disappeared


    into the hallway, leaving nothing but the lingering scent of rain and the echo of her


    footsteps.


    Camille sank into her chair, the confrontation reying in her mind. She should call security, make sure Rose had actually left the building. She should call Victoria, warn her about Rose''s unexpected visit and c Instead, she found herself staring at the empty space where Rose had stood, struck by the realization that despite all the pain and destruction between them, she felt nothing but emptiness when looking at her Just a hollow recognition that


    they were both products of the same broken system, Rose fighting to take what she believed she deserved, Camille fighting to protect what was hers. Two sides of the same tarnished coin.


    Her phone buzzed again. Alexander: *No response? Did you fall asleep at your desk again?


    *


    Camille looked at the message, thinking of connections formed through kindness rather


    than pain. Of futures built on creation rather than destruction. Of the person she was bing rather than the one she''d been forced to be.


    Rose''s threat lingered in the air, ominous and heavy with promise. But for the first time since


    this


    began, Camille felt certain that whatever storm wasing, she wouldn''t face it alone.


    She typed back to Alexander: *Wide awake. And yes to dinner tomorrow. We have


    something important to discuss.*


    Then she picked up her


    office phone and dialed Victoria''s private line. As the phone rang, Camille gazed out at the rain–


    The battle with Rose wasn''t


    over. Perhaps it never would be. But Camille no longer


    needed it to be over to move forward.


    She had rebuilt her life once from ashes. If necessary, she could do it again.


    But this time, she wouldn''t be fighting alone.