His Bride, Her Revenge-Chapter 78: The Rise of Vengeance

Cambria froze. Her lungs locked, her mind a riot of alarms and disbelief.

Maddox stood before her, shirt unbuttoned, a single word TRAITOR painted across his chest in thick, black ink. The letters bled into the fabric like a wound.

A scream echoed again.

Elara.

Cambria’s paralysis shattered. She shoved past Maddox, barefoot on the cold marble, her robe fluttering behind her like wings of wrath.

"Elara!" she shouted, voice rising above the penthouse’s silence.

She followed the sound into the east hallway. Elara’s room. The door was ajar, one hinge creaking like a breath caught mid-sob.

Cambria pushed it open.

The room was in ruins.

Pillows torn. Drawers overturned. Books scattered like fallen soldiers. In the center, Elara stood, hands trembling, pointing at the wall.

Cambria followed her gaze.

Words, again.

EVERY EMPIRE FALLS. EVEN YOURS.

Painted in black, bold strokes on Elara’s mirror.

Cambria pulled Elara close, holding her tightly. She felt the girl’s heart pounding like a trapped bird’s. "Are you hurt?"

Elara shook her head. "I was sleeping. I heard something. Then I woke up and saw this."

"Where’s the security detail?" Cambria snapped.

Elara sobbed. "They’re gone. The hallway was empty."

Maddox appeared behind them, breathless, hair tousled like he’d been fighting shadows.

"I checked the entrance. No signs of forced entry," he said. "Someone’s camera wiped the feed."

"Again?" Cambria’s voice cracked. "Every time we’re close to the truth, someone covers their tracks like a ghost."

She looked at the mirror again. That message. It wasn’t just a threat.

It was a declaration.

Someone wasn’t afraid of her anymore.

Three hours later, the penthouse was filled with people. Knox had vanished again. Maddox barked orders to his personal security, but Cambria had taken full control. She had Elara escorted to a safer location under surveillance and had a cyber forensics team flown in.

A woman named Brienne, one of Cambria’s trusted analysts from her time overseas, had arrived within minutes, already scanning the flash drive again for data that might’ve been missed.

"I found something," Brienne said quietly, handing Cambria a tablet. "This file was deeply buried, encrypted three layers down. Evelyn didn’t want anyone to see this unless they really looked."

Cambria tapped the screen.

A video played.

A hidden recording.

The scene: an office. Dimly lit. Evelyn Stone sat at a desk. Across from her sat... Maddox.

Cambria’s breath hitched.

The audio came on.

"You said you’d make sure she stayed gone," Evelyn was saying.

Maddox’s voice was tired. "She came back stronger. She’s not the girl you buried."

"She’s dangerous," Evelyn hissed. "She knows what happened in Prague. If she talks "

Maddox’s jaw clenched. "Then I’ll handle it. My way."

The screen went black.

Cambria’s world tilted.

Prague. The one word Maddox had never dared say aloud.

She turned, tablet trembling in her hand. "You lied to me."

Maddox stood near the balcony, hands in his pockets. "I was trying to protect you."

"By working with Evelyn? By conspiring behind my back to what? Control me? Use me?"

He stepped forward, but she backed away.

"You think I don’t know what Evelyn did in Prague?" she said, eyes shining. "You think I wouldn’t eventually piece it together?"

Maddox’s voice was low. "It wasn’t what you think."

"No?" Her voice broke. "Because what I think is that the man I loved helped the woman who destroyed me cover up the one night that changed everything."

"Cambria "

"No!"

Silence fell.

Brienne looked away.

Cambria’s chest heaved. "I let you in again. And you’re still lying to me."

Maddox’s jaw worked. "It wasn’t black and white. I didn’t have a choice."

"You always had a choice."

And she left him standing there, alone with the truth.

Cambria retreated to the war room below the penthouse her hidden command center built during the early days of her return. Walls lined with screens. Maps. Data streams.

Only one person followed.

Brienne.

"You can’t trust anyone, can you?" she said quietly.

Cambria sank into the leather chair, her robe replaced by a dark suit. Her armor. "I don’t even trust myself anymore."

"You know what that video means."

"I know Maddox lied to me."

"And Knox is still out there," Brienne said. "Evelyn’s empire may have crumbled, but someone’s rebuilding the ruins. And fast."

Cambria looked up.

"Then we burn it all down before they get the chance."

That evening, Cambria called a secret press conference. The room buzzed with reporters, influencers, and digital media wolves who sensed blood in the water.

She stood at the podium, hair tied back, eyes blazing.

"I’ve spent years rebuilding my legacy," she began. "But tonight, I tear it open."

Gasps fluttered like butterflies through the crowd.

"Evelyn Stone is dead. But the lies she built her empire on still linger. I was one of them. And I am no longer silent."

Flashbulbs.

"I was used to it. Manipulated. Betrayed. But not broken."

She paused, then dropped the bomb.

"There is a hidden syndicate in this city, one that profits off silence, secrets, and blood. It ends now."

Chaos exploded in the room.

Behind the curtain, Brienne monitored the reactions of digital chatter and online spikes.

Then her screen froze.

A breach.

One name flashed on the firewall.

Lucien Vale.

Cambria’s father.

Brienne swore. She tapped into the encrypted message that had forced its way into their system.

One line:

I’m not dead. And you’re not ready.

Brienne’s heart stopped.

She rushed to Cambria’s side and whispered in her ear.

Cambria’s entire body is still.

She turned back to the crowd with a calm smile.

"This press conference is over."

Later That Night...

Cambria sat alone in her father’s old study. She hadn’t entered the room since the night of his supposed death. The scent of cigars and ash still lingered.

On the desk, a folder. It hadn’t been there before.

Inside photos. Of her. Of Maddox. Of Evelyn. Of Prague.

On the back of the last photo, a handwritten note:

"You thought the game started with Evelyn. But she was just a pawn. I’m the king." L.V.

The door creaked behind her.

Cambria turned.

And froze.

Standing in the shadows was the one man she had buried in her past, the one man whose ghost had haunted every move she made.

Lucien Vale.

Alive.

Smiling.

"Hello, daughter. Ready to choose a side?"