His Bride, Her Revenge-Chapter 76: The Battle for the Throne

The live feed was cut to black.

Cambria lunged for the keyboard, trying to trace the IP, but the signal scrambled mid-stream. Beside her, Maddox was already calling their tech team. Knox paced behind them like a predator ready to maul something or someone.

"Elara’s smart," Cambria said, forcing calm. "She’ll leave us a clue."

"If she’s still alive," Knox muttered.

Cambria’s glare was sharp enough to cut glass. "Don’t. Not now."

The betrayal by Julian still echoed in her bones. But seeing Elara, the one person who had stood by her from day one helpless, bleeding, and kidnapped, shattered something primal inside her.

"I’m going to find her," Cambria said. "With or without either of you."

"You’re not going alone," Maddox snapped. "Whoever’s behind this has resources. Eyes on us. Maybe even inside this penthouse. You think Julian pulled this off by himself? Evelyn’s gone, but the plan she left behind is still in motion."

Cambria closed her eyes, remembering the voice on the feed: distorted, yes, but something about the cadence made it felt familiar. Too deliberate to be random.

She opened a secure app Elara had built for emergencies and scrolled through old encrypted logs. One entry stood out, marked with a flame emoji.

"Elara tagged this six months ago," Cambria murmured. "A meeting Julian had in London. She flagged it as off-books. Said he came back different. I ignored it."

Maddox looked over her shoulder. "Coordinates?"

"Yes." She stood, grabbed her coat. "He owns a private estate outside the city. He never mentioned it because it’s in Evelyn’s name. But I’ve seen the deed. It was buried under layers of shell companies."

Knox held out a key fob. "I’ll drive."

"Not you," Cambria said. "You stay here. Lock down our people. If this goes sideways, I need you in position."

He nodded, jaw tight. "Don’t get killed. I’m too pretty to run a media empire alone."

Cambria managed the ghost of a smile. Then she turned to Maddox. "Are you coming with me?"

He didn’t answer at first.

"Even after the footage?" she asked quietly.

He stepped close. "You think I can watch you walk into a trap and not follow? I’ve made mistakes, Cambria. But letting you go won’t be one of them."

The drive was silent, two ghosts in a bulletproof SUV, heading toward the shadow of a dead woman’s legacy. The estate was tucked deep in the woods north of the city, hidden by a winding path and tall iron gates. Cameras dotted the tree line, barely visible unless you were looking.

They were looking.

"This place is a fortress," Maddox muttered. "Julian knew we’d come. He wanted this."

Cambria loaded a sleek handgun from the glove box. "Let him go."

The gate creaked open as they approached. No guards. No alarm.

Too easy.

They exchanged a look. Maddox drew his weapon. Cambria adjusted the bulletproof vest under her coat.

Inside, the manor was dark. Opulent. The floor reeked of old money and betrayal. Cambria moved first, sweeping the foyer with a flashlight. Maddox covered her flank.

A soft, rhythmic thumping echoed from down the hall.

Cambria paused.

"Elara," she whispered.

They followed the sound into a cellar stairwell.

The door was ajar. Light flickered at the bottom.

Cambria went first.

She expected cages. Restraints. Cameras.

She didn’t expect a dinner table.

Julian sat at the head, wine glass in hand, dressed in a black suit. Elara was tied to a chair beside him, pale but alive. Gagged.

Julian smiled. "Cambria. I was beginning to think you’d send someone else."

Cambria leveled the gun at his heart. "Untie her."

He raised one hand slowly. "Let’s not be hasty. I’d like to explain myself first."

"I don’t want your justification," Cambria hissed. "I want my friend."

"Too bad," Julian said, his voice hardening. "You always wanted what you couldn’t have. Maddox. Power. Revenge. And now justice. But here’s the twist, darling. I was always better than you."

She didn’t flinch. "Then why are you the one holding hostages?"

"Because this is the only way you’ll listen." He stood slowly, eyes gleaming with madness. "I gave you everything. My loyalty. My time. My silence. And you used me."

"You sold us out," Maddox growled.

"I leveled the playing field," Julian shot back. "Evelyn saw the truth. She saw what you two were becoming. Tyrants cloaked in silk and trauma. She gave me a way to reset the game."

Cambria’s finger tightened on the trigger. "And what’s your endgame, Julian? Kill us and inherit a burning empire?"

"No," he said softly. "I want you to see it fall. Piece by piece. I want you to live long enough to watch the world turn on you like you turned on me."

He pressed a button under the table.

A screen flickered behind him showing VMedia’s offices in chaos. Security breached. Servers are fried. Dozens of fake stories unleashed into the public.

"Evelyn’s final program," Julian said. "A virus she commissioned. Triggers if I don’t reset it every 24 hours. It will collapse everything unless I stop it."

Cambria fired.

The bullet grazed his shoulder.

Julian screamed, collapsing to his knees.

Maddox moved quickly, kicking the table away, disarming the detonator from Julian’s hand. Cambria cut Elara loose as she spat out her gag.

"You idiot," Elara rasped. "He’s bluffing. I found the virus code. It’s a decoy. The real program is on a loop self-destructs in 48 hours unless we decide otherwise."

Cambria blinked. "You knew?"

"I suspected. I just needed to be here when it activated."

Maddox knelt beside Julian, who was bleeding, gasping. "No resets. No escape."

Julian looked up at Cambria, blood staining his lips. "You win. Again."

She stared down at him, expression unreadable.

"No," she said. "We win. And you lose yourself."

By morning, Julian was in custody. Elara was recovering. And the world had a new headline:

THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK.

Cambria sat in her office, hair still damp from the rain, face bare of makeup. She stared at the city skyline, battered but unbroken.

Maddox walked in, two mugs of coffee in hand. He set one in front of her.

"I’m proud of you," he said.

"I’m tired," she replied.

"You can be both."

She sipped the coffee, then turned to him. "What now?"

He took her hand. "Now, we rebuild. But this time, together."

She leaned her head on his shoulder.

And outside, the sun broke through the storm.