The Last Queen of the Apocalypse novel Chapter 8

Chapter 8 Beating Him Relentlessly

As she wandered further, two familiar figures suddenly materialized ahead.

A young man was walking beside a woman with a prominent baby bump.

Iris recognized them: Ryan and Mia, the pair she’d outsmarted just days prior.

“Honey, calm down. Buy whatever you want today—anything! Just forgive me. Don’t get so worked up; it’s bad for the baby!” Ryan begged, his voice laced with desperation.

“Ryan! You’ve been lying to me this whole time! Your family doesn’t even own that house! You tricked me into this!” Mia snapped, her voice sharp with anger.

“That house is definitely ours,” Ryan insisted, his tone wavering slightly.

“Then what about those men today? Debt collectors showed up at your door, yelling that the house is theirs! You even made your grandma so furious that she had to be hospitalized!” Mia shot back, her eyes blazing.

“Honey, I don’t know what’s going on either. My mom really bought that house from Iris for two million dollars. Once we find her, we can transfer the ownership right away!” Ryan stammered.

“Wait a second! Didn’t your mom say the house was still Iris’? That she was letting you live there as a gift, so we couldn’t add my name? Now it’s suddenly bought by your family and ready for ownership transfer?”

Mia’s skepticism cut through Ryan’s excuses.

“Honey, come on. Anyway, this house will be ours sooner or later. I’m the only son in my family—everything will be mine eventually! And mine is yours! Just trust me!” Ryan pleaded, scrambling for words.

“Ryan! How am I supposed to trust you?” Mia screamed, “You said it was fully furnished and move-in ready, but it’s just an empty shell! You claimed your family held the title, and now debt collectors are hounding us!

“I see it clearly now—your family is using me! I’m not keeping this baby! I’m getting an abortion right now!”

“Honey! Honey, wait!” Ryan called out, panicking.

Hiding around a corner, Iris listened in, a faint smile on her face.

This is priceless.

Only ten days had passed, and the Hale family was already in complete chaos—even Amanda was in the hospital.

But she could make things even more interesting.

Watching Ryan rush to chase Mia onto the escalator, Iris decided to stir the pot. She let out a sharp whistle in his direction.

Frantic and distracted, Ryan froze at the sound. He turned around and spotted her leaning casually against the glass handrail, watching them with an amused glint in her eyes.

“Iris!” he snarled.

Ryan’s feet rooted to the spot, the urge to chase Iris warring with the need to stop his wife. But by then, Mia had already disappeared down to the next floor.

“Honey!” he shouted, torn between the two.

On one side was his wife, threatening to end their unborn child’s life. On the other side was the woman who’d ruined everything.

Ryan wished he could split himself in two.

After a split-second of hesitation, he made his choice. He was going after Iris!

Dammit!

If he caught this bitch and dragged her to Mia to explain, everything would be fixed!

Ryan spun around and began scrambling upward on the downward-moving escalator, his shoes scraping against the steps as he chased after Iris.

Iris walked at an unhurried pace, her steps deliberate. By the time Ryan reached her floor, she’d already circled around to the opposite escalator and was heading down, leading him on a wild goose chase through the entire mall.

The pursuit eventually spilled into the underground parking lot, the echo of their footsteps bouncing off the concrete walls.

“Dammit! Where do you think you’re going, you bitch!” Ryan panted heavily, his chest heaving as he cornered Iris in a dim, secluded corner of the lot.

“You messed with me behind my back! I’ll kill you when I get my hands on you!”

Iris said with a cold smile, closing her car trunk with a soft, definitive click, “Good! That’s exactly what I was thinking.”

She pulled a baseball bat from behind her back.

At the sight of the bat, alarm bells blared in Ryan’s head. “What the hell? You… you dare hit me?”

Before he could finish speaking, Iris swung the bat with all her strength, connecting with his ribs.

She pinned him to the ground instantly, dislocating his jaw with a sickening pop to silence his screams, then dragged him deeper into the shadows and began beating him relentlessly.

Having survived ten years in the apocalypse, Iris had mastered countless forms of hand-to-hand combat.

She could kill an adult man in three precise moves.