The news of Evelyn Stone’s death spread through Manhattan like wildfire. Screens flashed her na in bold letters, her glamorous face frozen in deathly stillness, plastered across every outlet. Cambria watched from the penthouse window, her reflection pale in the glass, the city’s chaos muted beneath the sound of her own racing thoughts.
The ssage still burned on her phone screen: You don’t know who to trust. Look closer or lose everything.
That single sentence unraveled everything.
"She’s dead," Maddox said behind her. His voice was low, rough. "But I can’t decide if that brings us closer to peace... or if we’ve just woken sothing worse."
Cambria turned the flash drive still in her hand. "Evelyn knew too much. Too many secrets died with her."
Knox stood by the bar, a drink untouched in his hand. His jaw tightened as he watched the live coverage. "Or maybe she took the easy way out before we could expose her."
"No," Cambria said, shaking her head. "It’s too clean. It’s too convenient. The timing, the ssage soone wants to keep us guessing."
Maddox walked toward her, the lines of exhaustion etched into his face. "We need to control the narrative before it controls us. Evelyn’s death can either bury us, or it can set us free."
Cambria’s fingers curled tightly around the edge of the marble counter. "We do it on my terms. We bring the truth out, piece by piece, but we don’t stop asking questions. Not until I know who sent that ssage."
Knox set his glass down with a loud clunk. "You think there’s soone else? Soone watching us?"
"I know it," she said. "We’re being played, all over again. And I’m done being soone’s pawn."
Maddox moved closer, placing a hand over hers. "Then let’s play smarter. Together."
But the word "together" felt like a loaded promise. Cambria wanted to believe it, to believe him, but the part of her heart that had been ripped apart years ago still bled beneath the surface.
That night, Cambria sat alone in the dia room of her empire Vale dia watching silent footage from security caras Evelyn had once tried to erase. The files from the flash drive were extensive, and even Knox’s team hadn’t sorted through them all.
One video file caught her attention. Dated two days before Evelyn’s death.
She clicked play.
The footage was grainy but unmistakable: Evelyn, standing in her penthouse, arguing with soone just off-screen. The voice was male. Sharp. Angry.
"You promised she’d never co back," he hissed.
Evelyn’s voice was bitter. "I didn’t expect her to beco this. Cambria Vale isn’t the sa girl we buried."
"You’ve let this get out of control."
"I tried to end it," Evelyn snapped. "But she’s smarter than I thought. If Maddox sides with her, we lose everything."
There was a pause. Then the man’s voice, lower, colder: "Then make sure he doesn’t."
Cambria froze the screen. Her heart pounded in her ears.
The man was never seen on cara. But his voice... It was hauntingly familiar.
She hit replay, this ti with headphones, isolating the audio and adjusting pitch. She’d spent years mastering the tools of power, and tonight, those tools were hers alone.
The cleaned-up voice ca through.
Knox.
No. She pulled the headphones off, heart in her throat. It couldn’t be.
She stood and paced, dragging her fingers through her hair. It wasn’t definitive. But the possibility twisted sothing sharp inside her.
By morning, the penthouse was eerily quiet.
Maddox found her in the study, eyes sunken from lack of sleep, the flash drive beside her, and her phone face-down.
"We need to talk," he said.
She didn’t answer.
He stepped closer. "There’s sothing you need to know about Knox."
Cambria’s eyes snapped to him. "I already know."
Maddox looked startled. "What?"
"I found a video. Evelyn arguing with soone about , about you. I enhanced the audio. It sounded like him."
Maddox rubbed a hand down his face. "I was afraid of that. He’s been working with outside interests. Investors who want my company and your downfall."
Cambria stood slowly, the heartbreak simring behind her eyes now transford into fury. "Then why is he still under this roof?"
"Because I needed to be sure before confronting him. Because once we do, there’s no turning back."
Footsteps echoed behind them.
Knox.
He stood in the doorway, casual, hands in his pockets, as if he’d heard nothing. "Talking about ?"
Cambria faced him, her voice like a blade. "Did you kill Evelyn?"
Knox smiled slowly, dangerously. "Wouldn’t that be convenient for you?"
Maddox stepped forward. "Don’t play gas."
Knox stepped inside the room, the door shutting behind him with a heavy thud. "You’re both so dramatic. Evelyn was reckless. I warned her. But I’m not the one with blood on my hands."
"Then who is?" Cambria demanded.
Knox shrugged. "I don’t know. But I know who’s next."
Silence fell like a guillotine.
Cambria’s breath hitched. "What did you say?"
"You poked the wrong beast, Cambria. In this ga, you’re playing Vengeance, secrets it doesn’t end in victory. It ends in ashes."
He stepped closer to her, a whisper now. "You want to know who to trust? Look in the mirror."
Then he turned and left.
That night, Cambria stood on the balcony alone. The wind tore through her silk robe, but she didn’t feel the cold. Her mind was a cyclone of questions.
She wanted to believe Maddox.
She wanted to kill the part of herself that still doubted.
But Knox’s words rattled in her head. This doesn’t end in victory. It ends in ashes.
Her phone buzzed again. Another ssage from the unknown number.
You’re running out of ti. He knows. Run.
As she stared at the screen, her heart thundering in her chest, a shadow fell over her balcony the sound of the front door slamming open below.
Then a scream.
Elara’s voice.
Cambria ran.
She burst into the hallway, nearly colliding with Maddox, his shirt stained red.
Not blood.
Ink.
She looked down.
A single word was scrawled across his chest in thick black paint:
"TRAITOR."
And in Elara’s voice, from sowhere deep in the penthouse, ca a scream that shattered the night
"Cambria, RUN!"
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