His Bride, Her Revenge-Chapter 82: The Dance of Shadows

The silence between them cracked like ice over deep water.

Lucien Vale stood tall, arms behind his back, the ghost of a grin playing across his lips as he regarded his daughter. His presence, alive, breathing, all too real, sent Cambria’s heart into a spiral of chaos. She couldn’t tell if it was anger, grief, or the sheer weight of betrayal that clutched her chest so tightly she forgot how to breathe.

"Say something," Lucien said softly, stepping into the light.

Cambria rose slowly from the armchair, her fingers brushing the edge of the folder still open on the desk. "You’re dead," she whispered. "You died in my arms."

Lucien chuckled a low, resonant sound that made her stomach churn. "No, Cambria. I disappeared. You just weren’t meant to know the difference."

"Why?" The question left her like a prayer lost in a hurricane. "Why lie? Why let me believe you were gone while Evelyn tore everything we had apart?"

"Because Evelyn wasn’t the problem," he replied. "She was a distraction."

Cambria’s fists clenched. "A distraction? She manipulated me. She killed "

"She did what she was told," Lucien interrupted. "And so did I. Everything you think you know is wrong. Everything you believe? Built on sand."

She shook her head. "I don’t believe you."

"Don’t believe me," he said, stepping closer. "Believe the truth. Look around you, Cambria. You’re surrounded by ghosts. Evelyn. Maddox. Even Knox. All of them played their part in my design."

She stared at him, horrified. "You were behind everything?"

Lucien’s smile widened. "I was behind the beginning. But the rest... Well, that’s where you come in. You played your part beautifully, Cambria. Every vengeance. Every calculated move. You built the empire I always envisioned."

Her voice broke. "I didn’t build this for you."

"No," Lucien admitted. "You built it despite me. And that’s why it worked."

Cambria stepped back, hand reaching for the pistol hidden beneath the desk drawer. Her fingers touched cold steel, a flicker of control. "And Project Pandora? Is that yours too?"

Lucien’s eyes lit with something dark. "My greatest creation."

"What is it?"

He tilted his head. "It’s not what it is, Cambria. It’s what it unleashes."

Suddenly, the walls flickered. The study lights dimmed. A siren blared from her war room three floors below.

Lucien turned toward the sound, unbothered. "Ah. Right on schedule."

Cambria grabbed the pistol and aimed it at his chest. "What did you do?"

Lucien didn’t flinch. "I released the truth".

Brienne slammed her hands against the interface screen. "We’ve been breached again deeper this time."

"By who?" one of the tech analysts asked.

"Not who," she murmured. "What."

On the central screen, encrypted files began flooding in thousands of documents, videos, and audio logs dumped into the mainframe. Files tagged with code names Cambria had never seen before: Serpent Doctrine, Eden Protocol, Blackwatch. Then

PROJECT PANDORA – ACTIVE

Brienne’s breath caught. "No... no, no, no..."

She tapped furiously at the keys, trying to isolate the breach, but every attempt was countered instantly. "It’s not just a breach. It’s a takeover."

The screens turned black. Then one by one, they lit again, each playing a different scene.

A massacre in Belarus.

A fire in Cairo.

An explosion in Prague.

A prison experiment in Guatemala.

Each file was time-stamped with dates that matched Cambria’s key life events: her mother’s death, her exile, Evelyn’s rise, and the Blackwood scandal.

Each tragedy was orchestrated.

Engineered.

Cambria stumbled into the war room, Lucien following behind her with unshaken calm.

"What is this?" she demanded.

Lucien nodded at the screens. "Proof. That the world you thought you understood was always burning."

Brienne turned to Cambria. "He’s linked Pandora to your biometric data. If you try to shut it down, it could trigger global intel dumps. Governments, cartels, private syndicates, everyone will be exposed. There will be war."

Cambria rounded on Lucien. "Why? What’s the point of this madness?"

"To clean the slate," he replied. "Empires rot from the inside. You’ve seen it. You’ve suffered from it. The only way forward is to burn it all."

"You sound like Evelyn," Cambria spat.

Lucien’s expression darkened. "Don’t insult me. Evelyn was a child playing queen. I’m the king. And now it’s your move, daughter."

Knox

Miles away, Knox stood at the top floor of a crumbling tower in District Seven, watching the city through night-vision drones. His comm crackled.

"Pandora is live," said the voice on the other end.

Knox smiled. "Then it begins."

He turned to the woman beside him Sophia Drake, dressed in black, her eyes icy.

"She’ll come after us now," Sophia said. "She won’t stop."

"She can try," Knox replied. "But we hold the last piece."

He held up a pendant Cambria’s mother’s. A hollow locket.

Inside, a microchip.

Sophia frowned. "You’re sure she doesn’t know?"

Knox looked out over the city. "She’s always known. She just hasn’t admitted it yet."

Brienne pulled Cambria aside. "There’s something else."

"What now?"

"I decrypted another layer of Evelyn’s flash drive. It’s not about Maddox. It’s not about Lucien either. It’s about you."

Cambria’s eyes narrowed. "What are you talking about?"

Brienne handed her a tablet. A single video clip played.

Cambria, age seventeen. Sitting in a medical lab. Crying.

Evelyn’s voice: "The serum is irreversible. If she survives the next 72 hours, her neural mapping will be permanently altered."

Lucien: "She’s strong. She has to be."

Cambria’s hands trembled. "What is this?"

Brienne swallowed. "You were part of an experiment. You were Project Pandora’s prototype."

"No," Cambria whispered.

Lucien stepped forward. "You were dying, Cambria. I did what I had to do to save you."

"You used me," she said, her voice breaking. "You made me a monster."

"I made you a survivor," Lucien growled. "And you proved me right. You destroyed Evelyn, outplayed Knox, and took back everything they stole. You are more than anyone could have imagined."

"I didn’t want to be more. I just wanted to be me."

Lucien’s voice softened, unnerving her more. "You still can be. But you have to choose now. The world will never forgive what we’ve done. But it might just need it."

The screens around them began displaying live news reports. Chaos was already erupting. Data leaks. Riots. Arrests.

Brienne stared at them. "The world is unraveling."

Cambria stepped toward her father.

"You made one mistake," she said.

Lucien raised a brow. "Only one?"

"You underestimated me."

She turned and typed a series of commands into the war room’s central system. A biometric scan was initiated.

"Cambria, no!" Brienne shouted. "If you do this, you might unleash everything!"

"I know," she said calmly.

Lucien’s eyes narrowed. "You wouldn’t."

"I have to," Cambria whispered.

She pressed her palm to the scanner.

The screen blinked.

Override accepted. The system reset in 60 seconds.

Lucien moved. Fast.

But not faster than Maddox.

Out of nowhere, Maddox tackled Lucien to the ground, fists flying. "Get away from her!"

Lucien’s elbow snapped up, striking Maddox hard.

Cambria screamed, trying to stop them.

Brienne shouted, "We’re down to 30 seconds!"

Lucien wrestled Maddox back and rose, blood dripping from his nose. "You’re a fool, Maddox. Always were."

Maddox spit blood. "Better than a devil."

Lucien turned to Cambria. "If you press that second key, you’ll erase everything. No second chances."

Cambria stared at him, finger hovering over the final confirmation.

The war room shook.

A distant explosion thundered through the building.

Smoke.

Screams.

Cambria turned to the screen.

A message blinked into view.

UNKNOWN USER: ACCESS GRANTED. PROJECT PANDORA SEIZED.

And then

TRANSMISSION: FROM KNOX.

His face filled the screen, calm and smug.

"Hello, darling," he said. "You thought this was your story. But it’s always been mine."

Behind him, Sophia appeared. Holding the microchip.

"The key was never yours," Knox whispered. "It was your mother’s."

Cambria froze.

Knox smiled wider.

"And now... you’ve lost everything."

The screen went black.

Then a final message appeared:

PANDORA ACTIVE. GLOBAL RELEASE IN: 10:00 MINUTES

Brienne gasped. "We’ve lost control."

Cambria turned slowly to Lucien.

And Lucien...

Was smiling again.

Cambria stepped into the middle of the chaos, her voice calm despite the storm. "Everyone out. Now."

Brienne hesitated. "Cam "

"Now."

They fled.

Lucien remained.

And so did Maddox.

"You want a war?" Cambria said softly, her eyes never leaving the countdown.

Lucien’s smile widened. "It’s already begun."

And Cambria, voice steel, whispered:

"Then I’ll burn the whole kingdom down."