Chapter 65: The Rise of a Queen
The truce offer was a carefully crafted lie. Cambria knew it before Maddox even hung up the phone, his face as cold and unreadable as it had been when they first met. Blackwood had been playing this game for too long, and now, he was trying to manipulate them into making the first move into showing their cards.
But Cambria wasn’t about to fall for it. Not now. Not when she had everything to lose.
She paced the room, her mind racing as she mulled over the offer. The words "peace" and "compromise" had never sounded so hollow coming from Blackwood. The man had no intention of peace. This was about control, about ensuring that no one, not even his own son, could ever challenge him.
"We can’t trust him," Cambria said, her voice steely as she turned to Maddox. "This truce is just a setup. Blackwood wants us to drop our guard."
Maddox’s jaw clenched as he leaned against the wall, his arms crossed. "I agree. But that doesn’t mean we don’t use it to our advantage."
Cambria stopped pacing, her eyes narrowing. "How do we use it?"
"We force his hand," Maddox replied, pushing off the wall and walking toward her. His eyes burned with the intensity of someone who had been cornered and now had nothing to lose. "We give him a reason to think we’ll negotiate, but we expose him at the same time. We leak everything. His empire will crumble before he has a chance to stop us."
Cambria nodded, the fire in her veins reigniting. This was the chance she had been waiting for to tear down the empire that had controlled her life for far too long, to expose Blackwood for the monster he was. But there was one thing she needed before they could make their move.
Her son. The child she had fought so hard to rescue was now the key to bringing Blackwood to his knees. She had to make sure that his life, his future, would be safeguarded no matter the cost.