His Bride, Her Revenge-Chapter 80: The Curse of Power

Cambria’s heart thundered. She stared at the man cloaked in shadow, the man who had haunted her thoughts for a decade. Lucien Vale. Her father. Her curse.

He stepped forward, slow and deliberate, as though time bowed before his presence. Nothing about him had changed not the cold steel in his eyes, nor the way he commanded the air around him. He was a storm-made flesh.

"I asked you a question," he said, voice smooth and dangerous. "Are you ready to choose a side?"

Cambria’s lips parted, but no sound came out. Her thoughts spiraled, colliding with memories long buried.

Lucien Vale had been declared dead when she was sixteen. A plane crash, they’d said. No survivors. But even back then, something had felt...off. Her mother’s silence. Evelyn’s sudden ascension. The sealed files. The disappearance of everything Cambria had once called truth.

And now, here he was not just alive, but watching, waiting.

"How?" she finally rasped. "How are you alive?"

Lucien walked toward the liquor cabinet in the corner like he owned the place which, technically, he did. He poured himself a glass of bourbon, his movements unhurried.

"The better question," he said, swirling the amber liquid, "is why."

Cambria didn’t move. Every instinct in her screamed to run or to kill.

Lucien took a sip and smiled. "Evelyn thought she had power. But she was playing a game ten layers beneath the real one. I let her believe she’d won when I vanished."

"You let her murder you?" Cambria’s voice was sharp. "You let me believe you were dead!"

"I needed her to think I was," he said simply. "You, too."

Her fingers curled into fists. "Why?"

"Because you weren’t ready."

"I was sixteen. I lost everything."

Lucien turned, eyes narrowing. "No. You gained everything. You became what I always intended ruthless, clever, unpredictable. You burned and rose again, just like a Vale should."

She took a step toward him, voice low. "Don’t you dare take credit for my pain?"

Lucien chuckled, deep and unbothered. "Pain is the currency of power, Cambria. And you’ve paid the price. But now, it’s time to collect."

She shook her head. "You think I’ll just fall in line now that you’ve decided to come out of hiding?"

"I don’t think," he said, setting the glass down. "I know. Because whether you want to admit it or not, you’ve already chosen a side. You just don’t realize which one."

"What does that mean?"

"It means Evelyn wasn’t the enemy. She was a distraction. The real war starts now. And you’re going to lead it."

Cambria stared at him, her voice shaking. "You expect me to lead some phantom war after everything you’ve done?"

Lucien stepped closer, his voice dropping. "I expect you to understand the truth. The Vale name doesn’t die with shadows and lies. It conquers. It rebuilds. It controls."

She met his gaze. "You’re insane."

"Insane?" he echoed. "Or visionary?"

Silence stretched between them.

Then Cambria turned sharply, marching toward the door. "No. I’ve played too many games. Been a pawn for too long. I won’t do this again not for you, not for anyone."

Lucien’s voice followed her like a curse. "You will. Because whether you like it or not, Cambria... you are me."

She slammed the door behind her.

Later That Night

Cambria stood on the rooftop of her tower, the city glowing beneath her like a grid of dying stars. The wind tore at her hair. The words on the mirror, the hidden video, Maddox’s betrayal, and now Lucien’s return all churned inside her like a storm with no eye.

She wasn’t sure what terrified her more that Lucien was alive...

Or that a part of her still wanted to understand him.

"Cambria."

She turned. Maddox.

He stood a few paces away, hands at his sides, eyes heavy with regret.

"Don’t," she said.

"I didn’t know he was alive."

"You knew about Prague," she spat. "You knew Evelyn wasn’t acting alone. And you lied."

He flinched. "I thought I was protecting you."

"You were protecting yourself."

He walked closer. "I’ve made mistakes. I’ve followed orders I shouldn’t have. But I never stopped loving you."

She stared at him. "Love doesn’t survive betrayal."

He moved toward her again. "Then let me prove that it can survive the truth."

Cambria hesitated. Her heart screamed to stay angry, to stay armored. But part of her, a quieter, broken part, still remembered the man who held her in Prague when she thought her world was ending.

She stepped back. "No more lies."

"None," he promised.

"Then tell me what really happened that night. Everything."

And Maddox did.

Flashback to Prague, Ten Years Ago

A storm had swallowed the city that night. Cambria, seventeen and terrified, had been locked in a penthouse under Evelyn’s orders, her father already presumed dead.

Maddox had been assigned to guard her. But his orders were more than that if Cambria tried to escape, he was to stop her. If she found out what really happened to her father, he was to eliminate the threat even if that threat was her.

But Maddox couldn’t do it.

Not after he’d seen her fight, bleed, survive.

Not after he’d fallen in love with her.

So he’d helped her escape. Covered her tracks. Lied to Evelyn. And when Evelyn found out, he took the fall which led to years of servitude under her thumb, blackmail chaining him at every turn.

"I thought if I could keep you away from the truth," Maddox finished, voice raw, "then you’d be safe. But I was wrong. I underestimated you. Just like he did."

Cambria stared at him. "You were supposed to protect me."

"I did," he whispered. "But I failed."

She turned away. "Lucien wants me to choose. To lead something I don’t understand."

"Then don’t do it alone," Maddox said. "Let me stand beside you. This time... without secrets."

Cambria didn’t speak. But the wind shifted around them, and with it, something fragile inside her cracked open.

Elsewhere

Knox watched the security feed from a dark control room buried beneath the city.

He saw Cambria on the rooftop.

He saw Lucien in the study.

He saw Maddox... confess.

Knox leaned back in the leather chair, fingers steepled.

"The curse of power," he murmured to himself, "isn’t bearing it. It’s needing it."

Behind him, a door slid open.

A figure stepped in cloaked, anonymous.

Knox didn’t turn. "Is it ready?"

The figure nodded.

"Good," Knox said. "Then it’s time we reminded Lucien Vale who the real kingmaker is."

War Room, Midnight

Cambria stood at the center of a new strategy map, Brienne beside her.

"We’ve confirmed the transmission," Brienne said. "Lucien’s back. And he’s not alone. Half of Evelyn’s old allies are already moving. Some are pledging to him. Others..."

"Waiting to see who wins," Cambria finished.

"And Knox?"

"Off the grid. But I know him." Cambria’s jaw clenched. "He’s not hiding. He’s building."

Brienne hesitated. "And Maddox?"

Cambria looked at the empty space on the board beside her name.

"For now, he’s with us. But trust is earned."

Brienne nodded. "So what now?"

Cambria stared at the board. Her enemies were circling. Her father had returned from the grave. The empire she’d built stood on a precipice.

She tapped a marker onto the map.

"Now," she said, "we draw first blood."

Final Scene Underground Vault

The lights flickered as Lucien descended a spiral staircase into a vault lined with stone and steel. Candles burned low. At the center stood a pedestal.

On it, a black folder marked: Project Pandora.

Lucien opened it. Inside blueprints, files, weapons systems, and codes of ancient origin.

He turned to the hooded woman beside him.

"Activate it," he said.

She hesitated. "If we do this... there’s no turning back."

Lucien smiled, cold and absolute.

"There never was."

She placed her palm against a biometric scanner.

The vault trembled. Lights surged.

Somewhere in the city, something ancient awoke.

And on a rooftop high above it all, Cambria felt the ground shift beneath her feet and knew:

The war had truly begun.

Cambria’s phone buzzed.

A single notification.

Encrypted. No sender.

She opened it.

A photo.

Of herself. freewebnøvel.com

Sleeping.

That night.

In her private quarters.

Captioned in blood-red type:

"I’m closer than you think."

She dropped the phone.

The war room doors burst open.

Brienne ran in, face pale.

"Cambria he’s made his move."

"Who?"

Brienne swallowed.

"Knox."