Chapter 76: The Battle for the Throne
The live feed was cut to black.
Cambria lunged for the keyboard, trying to trace the IP, but the signal scrambled mid-stream. Beside her, Maddox was already calling their tech team. Knox paced behind them like a predator ready to maul something or someone.
"Elara’s smart," Cambria said, forcing calm. "She’ll leave us a clue."
"If she’s still alive," Knox muttered.
Cambria’s glare was sharp enough to cut glass. "Don’t. Not now."
The betrayal by Julian still echoed in her bones. But seeing Elara, the one person who had stood by her from day one helpless, bleeding, and kidnapped, shattered something primal inside her.
"I’m going to find her," Cambria said. "With or without either of you."
"You’re not going alone," Maddox snapped. "Whoever’s behind this has resources. Eyes on us. Maybe even inside this penthouse. You think Julian pulled this off by himself? Evelyn’s gone, but the plan she left behind is still in motion."
Cambria closed her eyes, remembering the voice on the feed: distorted, yes, but something about the cadence made it felt familiar. Too deliberate to be random.
She opened a secure app Elara had built for emergencies and scrolled through old encrypted logs. One entry stood out, marked with a flame emoji.
"Elara tagged this six months ago," Cambria murmured. "A meeting Julian had in London. She flagged it as off-books. Said he came back different. I ignored it."