The Endgame Chronicles (by Hugh White) novel Chapter 62

Chapter 62

As soon as Hayley spoke, the huge men–who easily weighed close to a thousand pounds combined- froze on the spot like they had turned to stone.

Hell, just looking at Hayley, a “petite girl“, had them acting like mice cornered by a cat. If there had been a place to crawl into and hide, every single one of them would’ve done it.

“What’s wrong? Hungry?”

Hayley strolled over to her pot of stew, eyeing the group like they were a bunch of quails.

“W–We didn’t eat anything!” Derek blurted out first, standing up nervously. His young face looked helpless under Hayley’s gaze.

He was the youngest among them, only 20 years old, but he wasn’t a rookie. He had enlisted at 16, done well, and worked his way into Liam’s special forces squad.

Still, even with his solid skills, he was young, inexperienced, and had definitely never met a woman as cold- blooded and ruthless as Hayley.

Otherwise, he wouldn’t have been almost driven to tears by her earlier.

“If you didn’t eat, then what were you doing?” Hayley asked.

“We were just sitting here, smelling the food. That’s not a crime, right?”

“Of course it is,” Hayley said lazily. “That food smells because of me. Who permitted you to sniff it?”

Derek was stunned speechless.

“You realize when stew boils, it gives off oils and steam, right? That steam carries energy–it’s literally part of my food. So by sniffing my stew, you’re stealing my food! What excuse do you have for that?”

“I–I’ll just leave, okay?”

“Too late. You’ve got to pay up.”

Derek gaped at her, stunned. Compared to her, even the most heartless villains he’d ever heard of seemed

generous.

She was going to make him cry again. How the hell was he supposed to pay her back?

“Boss.” Leonard suddenly stood. “I was the one who started it. If you need to punish someone, punish me.”

“Shut up and sit down,” Hayley snapped, then turned back to the rest. “Look, I’m not being unreasonable. You’re all soldiers, right? You live by logic more than anyone. So tell me, how should we settle this?”

The men exchanged nervous glances.

Gavin, the oldest of the group, finally said, “Fine, we’ll just pay you back for your stew.”

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“Yeah, we’ll pay you back!”

“With what?” Hayley raised an eyebrow.

“We’ll go find more food for you! We’ll make the same dish!”

She snorted. “Please. Nothing in this world is exactly the same. And I want it now, so cough it up.”

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“You’re being ridiculous!”

“Yeah, you’re bullying us!”

“Oh, really? A whole squad of you stealing from me, and I’m the one doing the bullying? Sounds more like you’re ganging up on me.”

Her words shut them right up. Nobody had a comeback.

Finally, Gavin muttered, “Fine. Tell us what you want. However you want us to make it right, we’ll do it.”

Hayley sat in front of her stew, relaxed now that she had the upper hand. “Simple. You stole from/me, so you’ll repay me with yourselves. I’ll be generous enough to accept you as my subordinates.”

“Oh! So that’s your game—you’re trying to recruit us!” Derek caught on immediately. “Well, forget it. Not happening!”

“That’s right. We’re going back to the base!”

“We really can’t stay,” another one added.

“Then figure it out. Either you agree, or you pay me back. If you can’t, then get ready to starve to death.”

Hayley didn’t waste another word. She turned and headed back to her seat.

The second she left, the whole group erupted.

“Holy hell! I’ve never met anyone like her. She actually wants us to pay for sniffing her food!”

Chapter 63