His Bride, Her Revenge

Chapter 147: Shadows Beneath the Throne

The countdown ticked on the screen.

23:14:37

23:14:36

Ava stared, unmoving, the glow of the laptop painting her face in blue light. Her heart thundered in her chest like a war drum. It was real. The footage. The voice. The truth. Maddox Raye, the man who had once ruled Manhattan’s media empire, presumed dead, was not only alive, but orchestrating a silent coup from the shadows.

And he was coming for them.

Her.

The floor beneath her seemed to tilt as the implications spiraled. He hadn’t just faked his death to escape scandal or exile. He’d vanished to rebuild something darker. Ruthless. And judging from his words, she Cambria Vale was now the central threat to his vision.

A knock pulled her from her trance.

Liam stepped into the study, shirt half unbuttoned, his tie loosened. His limp was more pronounced tonight; the pain in his leg had flared up after the ceremony, though he’d said nothing. His eyes landed on the laptop, still open, still counting down.

"You watched it?" he asked quietly.

Ava nodded.

His jaw clenched. He crossed the room and looked over her shoulder. She could feel the heat of him, the subtle rage coiled under his skin.

"So it’s true," he said. "He’s alive."

She turned in her seat, eyes searching his. "How much do you remember about him? Not as a father. As a man."

Liam leaned against the desk, rubbing his temple. "Cold. Brilliant. Unforgiving. He built the company from nothing. Took over news, politics, entertainment. Blackmailed, bribed, buried people. I thought I hated him until the day he died... then I realized I was terrified of becoming him."

"Well," she said, closing the laptop, "he thinks you already have."

Their eyes met.

"Then we’ll prove him wrong," Liam said.

Ava stood and kissed his cheek softly. "Or we’ll burn down whatever throne he’s trying to crawl back onto."

The next morning, the war began with a whisper.

Ava’s phone buzzed as she sat in the glass-walled strategy room at Leo Media HQ. She was surrounded by her top advisors tech analysts, legal experts, cybersecurity leads. Elara stood beside her, a hard line to her jaw as she skimmed the incoming reports.

The alerts were subtle at first.

Massive server breach detected. Unknown malware planted across affiliate news outlets.

Email dump leaked to press. Headlines targeting Ava Leo & Liam Mateo scheduled.

Digital asset manipulation traced to Cayman Islands shell company. Suspected link: M. Raye Holdings.

Ava’s voice was quiet, sharp. "Scrub everything. Encrypt backups. Isolate the compromised servers and cut them loose."

"We’re on it," her lead engineer said.

"Elara," Ava said without looking up, "make the first call."

Elara nodded and stepped into the hallway. Moments later, a cascade of messages went out to lawyers, investors, trusted journalists. The storm was coming, and they would control the narrative before Maddox could spin it.

Ava turned to the screen again.

Her own face stared back at her, splashed across news feeds:

"The Real Ava Leo: Wife, Widow, Weapon?"

"New York’s Queen of Revenge Cambria Vale Exposed?"

She smiled faintly. "He’s sloppy."

Liam’s voice came through the speaker. "No. He’s confident. Which is worse."

Meanwhile, across the city in a nondescript building with no name on the door, Maddox Raye watched the chaos unfold from a secure surveillance room.

His fingers drummed against the arm of his chair.

Sophia Drake sat opposite him no longer in couture, no longer in control. She wore plain slacks, her hair tied back, the bruises from her arrest faded but not forgotten.

"You said you had a plan," she snapped.

"I do."

"Then why haven’t you acted? She just announced a new digital platform merger with two global investors. She’s absorbing every outlet we blacklisted."

Maddox turned his head slowly. His eyes cold, calculating met hers.

"She’s building a fortress. But she doesn’t realize it’s made of glass."

Sophia narrowed her eyes. "What does that mean?"

He didn’t answer. Instead, he stood, walked to a cabinet, and opened a drawer. He retrieved a slim black folder and tossed it on the table.

Sophia opened it.

Her breath caught.

Photos. Documents. Financial statements. Footage.

And at the top: Operation Black Vale.

"What is this?" she whispered.

"The past," Maddox said. "The very thing she thinks she buried."

Sophia scanned the photos. "These are..."

"Her records. From the orphanage. The ones she erased."

"But how did you ?"

"I never throw anything away," he said. "Even broken things have sharp edges."

Sophia looked up. "You’re going to destroy her."

"No," Maddox said calmly. "She’s going to destroy herself."

Back at Leo Media, Ava stood alone in her private office as Elara returned with a file folder. Her expression was tense.

"We got a hit," Elara said. "On the shell company. Cayman records are sealed, but we traced the offshore payments to a lobbyist in D.C. Guess who he used to work for?"

"Maddox," Ava said instantly.

"And?"

"And Knox Raye."

Ava’s stomach turned.

Knox the slippery half-brother with a silver tongue and a penchant for betrayal had disappeared months ago. Last she heard, he’d sold his shares of Raye Global and vanished overseas. But this connection changed everything.

"He’s been helping Maddox," Ava muttered.

"Or being used," Elara said.

"Either way," Ava said, "he’s the next link."

Her phone buzzed again.

This time, the message was simple.

1: You took my son.

2: You stole my legacy.

3: You will not survive the endgame.

Ava’s pulse quickened.

"Where did this come from?" she asked the cybersecurity chief.

He checked the logs. "A satellite phone pinged from international waters. Spoofed location. But it originated from somewhere near Nova Scotia."

"Maddox’s old retreat," Ava said, remembering a conversation Liam once had with her in bed. "He used to disappear there during negotiations."

She turned to Elara.

"Prepare the jet."

Elara blinked. "You’re not seriously "

"I am. He started this war in the shadows. I’m dragging him into the light."

Twenty-four hours later, Ava and Liam stood on the snowy shoreline of a secluded cove just outside Halifax. The estate loomed above the trees glass and steel perched like a predator watching its prey.

They weren’t alone. Two security guards flanked them, armed and trained.

"This is insane," Liam said as they climbed the hill toward the estate.

"It’s necessary," Ava replied. "He wants to play god. Fine. But he’s going to look me in the eyes while he does it."

Inside, the house was eerily quiet. No staff. No guards.

Just a fire crackling in the massive stone hearth.

And Maddox Raye, seated in a high-backed chair, sipping brandy like a man awaiting company.

"You came," he said without rising. "I wondered if you’d inherit your mother’s courage or your father’s arrogance."

Ava froze.

"What did you say?"

He smiled. "You never knew, did you?"

Liam stepped forward. "What the hell is this?"

Maddox rose slowly.

"I suppose it’s time. Secrets are only useful when they hurt. But truths? Truths destroy."

He turned to Ava.

"Your mother... Eleanor Vale. She was brilliant. But she wasn’t alone when she came to New York."

Ava’s throat closed.

Maddox walked to the mantle, pulling a photograph from behind a frame. He handed it to her.

It was old. Faded.

A young woman Eleanor stood beside a man with storm-gray eyes and a crooked grin.

A man Ava had never seen.

But she shared his smile.

"No," she whispered.

"He was my greatest rival," Maddox said softly. "He died young. But not before giving her you."

Liam blinked. "Wait... are you saying ?"

"I tried to destroy her," Maddox continued. "But I underestimated the blood in her child’s veins."

Ava’s knees went weak.

Her whole life had been a lie. She wasn’t just the orphan girl who clawed her way up. She was born of the very war Maddox had started decades ago. A legacy wrapped in vengeance.

"You wanted to break me," Ava whispered. "But all you’ve done is show me why I can never stop."

Maddox’s voice dropped to a whisper. "And that is exactly what I want."

Liam stepped forward. "Why?"

"Because the world doesn’t need heirs," Maddox said. "It needs monsters."

And then the window shattered.

A shot rang out.

One of Ava’s guards fell with a cry.

Chaos erupted.

Liam grabbed Ava, pulling her behind the desk.

More gunfire.

Sophia Drake appeared from the hallway, dressed in black, holding a rifle. noveldrama

"You should’ve stayed dead," she snarled.

Ava pulled her own pistol one she hadn’t used in three years from her coat.

She aimed.

Sophia fired first.

The bullet clipped Ava’s shoulder.

She spun, hit the floor.

Liam shouted her name.

Sophia raised the gun again.

But before she could shoot, another shot rang out from the door.

Sophia’s body jerked.

She collapsed.

Blood pooled.

And behind her...

Knox Raye stepped into the light.

Holding the smoking gun.

He looked at Ava.

And smiled.

"Miss me?"