His Bride, Her Revenge-Chapter 66: The Queen’s Choice

The moment the heavy door slammed shut behind Julian, the room snapped into motion like a living beast awakened. Dust stirred, lights flickered, and the steady hum of electricity seemed to spike in volume. Time compressed into heartbeats, sharp and uneven.

Cambria moved without hesitation. Her arms wrapped instinctively around her son, pulling him close, his small body warm and fragile against hers. His wide eyes blinked up at her, innocent and unaware of the war raging beyond these walls. She was his shield now. No one else would touch him.

Maddox was already moving, crossing the room in long, determined strides to barricade the heavy door with anything sturdy he could find. His jaw was clenched, his eyes hard, betraying a storm of frustration beneath his cold exterior.

Julian sank to the floor near the far wall, breathing ragged and shallow. A thin trickle of blood seeped from a jagged cut above his eyebrow, staining his temple a deep crimson. His legs trembled as he pressed himself against the cold concrete.

"They have snipers positioned on every rooftop," he gasped, voice raw with exhaustion. "Drones, too. Thermal and infrared. They’re pulling out all the stops. This isn’t just a raid anymore... this is an execution."

Cambria’s heart pounded fiercely as adrenaline sharpened her senses. The safe house, their sanctuary, was no longer secure. Blackwood had found them, and this time, he wasn’t playing chess; he was flipping the board.

Her mind raced, calculating every option, every exit, every choke point. She could feel the weight of history pressing on her, the years of betrayal, loss, and fight distilled into this single moment. There was no room for fear.

Maddox turned away from the door, his voice low but fierce. "We have ten, maybe fifteen minutes before they breach the perimeter."

Cambria’s eyes searched Julian’s face. "Where is the extraction team? Where are our backups?"

Julian coughed harshly, clutching his side. "Intercepted. Blackwood anticipated the call. Our comms have been compromised. We’re blind."

A curse slipped from Maddox’s lips, dark and sharp as a knife. "He’s forcing us to run. Again."

Cambria took a steadying breath. She knelt to the floor beside a cleverly concealed panel beneath the kitchen floorboards, a secret panic compartment she’d dismissed in the past as paranoid. But now, it was their only hope.

Gently, she placed her son inside, pressing a soft kiss to his forehead as tears blurred the edges of her vision. "Stay here," she whispered. "Be brave for Mommy."

He nodded solemnly, too young to understand the full gravity but wise enough to know to trust.

She closed the hatch with a click, sealing him away like a precious secret.

Turning to the two men, she straightened, voice sharp as steel. "We hold them off until Julian’s backup team arrives. We create noise, make it look like we’ve fled, then we vanish like ghosts."

Maddox nodded in grim agreement. "What about Blackwood’s offer? The meeting. The so-called truce?"

Cambria’s gaze darkened, the weight of the choice heavy on her shoulders. "He wants me to choose to give myself up, or lose everything. My son. My empire. My story."

Julian wiped the blood from his face with the back of his hand, eyes fierce with anger. "He’s playing on your guilt. He always has. It’s his favorite weapon."

Maddox stepped forward, voice firm but pleading. "You don’t have to face him alone."

Cambria’s eyes flicked between the two men once shards of her shattered past, now pillars of the war she was waging.

"No," she said, voice absolute. "But I will face him. Alone or not, I choose how this ends."

Outside, night had fully claimed the city. The streets were silent except for the distant wail of sirens and the occasional hum of helicopters circling overhead. Black SUVs rumbled into position, boxing in the block with a ruthless precision only a man like Blackwood could command.

Blackwood’s message had been clear and cruel: Come alone. No tricks. One life for another.

Cambria slipped silently through an underground tunnel exit hidden beneath a cracked drain pipe. The cold bit at her exposed skin, but she didn’t flinch. Dressed in sleek black tactical gear, she moved like a shadow, a predator stalking her prey.

The rendezvous point was the rooftop of the old Vanguard Tower, a forgotten relic of the city’s corporate past, now a place of secrets and power plays.

When Cambria emerged into the open night air, the wind whipped her hair across her face, biting and relentless. Spotlights swept the rooftop in cold blue hues, illuminating the figure waiting at the center like a predator in his den.

Grayson Blackwood. The devil in Armani.

"You’re punctual," he said, voice smooth as silk but sharp as broken glass.

Cambria stepped forward, every inch the queen she had become, poised, unyielding, beautiful, and dangerous. "You threatened my son. I would have come through hell for less."

Blackwood gave a mock bow, his smile a twisted thing devoid of warmth. "And yet you still play the heroine. You haven’t learned."

"Oh, I learned," she said, voice steady with the weight of years. "I learned how to beat you."

He motioned with a languid wave of his hand, and two men dragged a small form forward.

Cambria’s breath caught. It was a decoy. Not her son, but a child dressed like him, the perfect cruel joke.

"Do you really think I’d bring the real heir here?" Blackwood sneered. "Please. I need him for the next phase."

She stepped closer, her voice cold. "You’re insane. You think if you control my son, you control me?"

Blackwood shrugged with casual arrogance. "Control is power. Love is weakness."

"Then you’re weaker than you think," Cambria shot back.

His smile thinned, eyes glinting dangerously. "I’ve made my offer. You surrender your company, your silence, your story. And I let your son live a long, comfortable life. Deny me... and well, you know how that ends."

Cambria’s fingers twitched near the hidden comm in her coat, ready to signal.

Julian’s voice crackled softly in her ear: "Thirty seconds. Distraction ready."

She stared Blackwood down, unblinking. "You’re not a king, Grayson. You’re a scared man hiding behind pawns."

He stepped closer, voice dropping to a venomous whisper. "You think this is bravery? This is suicide."

Cambria smirked, lips curling with fierce resolve. "No. This is your checkmate."

Suddenly, the rooftop exploded into chaos.

Smoke bombs detonated, swirling clouds of gray that clawed at the night sky. Gunfire cracked sharply across the skyline like thunder. Cambria dove for cover as Julian’s team rappelled in from the adjacent building, moving with deadly precision.

Maddox emerged from the shadows, gun drawn, eyes locked on Blackwood. "It’s over."

But Blackwood laughed, a cruel sound that echoed like a death knell.

"Not quite."

He raised his hand and detonated a secondary charge. A brutal explosion ripped through the stairwell, blowing it to pieces and sealing the rooftop in a deadly trap.

Julian tackled Cambria out of the path of flying shrapnel. Maddox returned fire, but Blackwood vanished into the smoke, slipping away through a helicopter cable that zipped him to a nearby rooftop.

Sirens wailed in the distance as reinforcements flooded the streets below.

Cambria gasped, crawling toward the ledge. Blackwood’s helicopter lifted off, cutting through the night air.

Julian handed her a scope. She locked eyes with the man escaping.

"This isn’t over," she whispered, every inch the fire of vengeance burning in her gaze.

Maddox stood behind her, voice low. "Then let’s make sure it ends on our terms."

She lowered the scope and turned to face them both.

"He wants a queen," she said, voice fierce as wildfire. "Then I’ll give him one."

Her eyes blazed, full of fury and purpose.

"But not the one he expects."

Back at the safe house, the boy awoke in the hidden chamber alone.

The lights flickered.

The door creaked open slowly.

A shadow slipped inside.

Not Maddox.

Not Julian.

Not Cambria.

But Evelyn Stone.

Smiling coldly.

Holding a syringe.

"Hello, darling. Let’s get you ready for your father."