The Mercenary Queen Strikes Back (Lily Hastings) novel Chapter 62

Chapter 62

Chapter 62

At first, Frank felt a strange exoptiness, then came the horrifying realization-the finger he had pointed at Nova was gone.

His outstretched hand, which had been curled in an accusatory gesture, was now a bare, mutilated stump.

He froze, not fully grasping Damien’s words at st. But the next second, excruciating pain erupted from the nerve endings at the base of his finger, surging violently into his brain.

“Ah!” Frank let out a soul-piercing shriek and collapsed, writhing on the floor in agony.

That scream, combined with Damien’s ruthless action and his declaration that Nova was “his,” left everyone stunned–both the Verdant Reign members who had thought Nova was doomed, and the Frostwave Bar crew who had believed they were finished.

Victor and Ethan were stunned, their hearts skipping a beat.

“Nova… that terrifying man… Do you know him?” Ethan asked fearfully, his voice trembling as he glanced at Damien. “He said… you’re his?”

Hearing Damien’s words and witnessing him sever Frank’s finger for her, Nova didn’t react like an ordinary girl who might naively mistake it for love at first sight or break into grateful tears.

If she still harbored such unrealistic romantic fantasies, she would never have survived this long in the international underworld.

Rather than suspecting Damien had special feelings for her, she saw it as a gesture of goodwill-the leader of Shadow Sanctum signaling an alliance to the head of the Bloodblade Mercenary Corps.

With the way things, stood, either form an alliance or fight to the death, there was no third path.

“Yeah, we’ve met a few times,” Nova replied flatly to Ethan. “Not close.”

Both Ethan and Victor couldn’t help but wonder, ‘Someone you’ve only met a few times and aren’t close to, yet he’d go this far for you?’

Ethan and Victor almost blurted out the question, but they knew it wasn’t the time. They swallowed their doubts and stayed silent.

Even Aiden, who stood by Damien’s side, was stunned once more.

r

He knew Damien’s temperament better than anyone, Damien never took the initiative to show goodwill to any faction, let alone do something as irrational as drawing a blade for a woman.

One thing was certain-Damien had taken an interest in Nova.

Damien ignored Frank writhing in agony at his feet and walked straight toward Nova. He even stepped onto Frank’s mangled, bleeding arm as if Frank were nothing more than an insect, unworthy of being treated as human.

Brody had begun trembling the moment he heard Damien’s words “she’s mine.”

It dawned on Brody that he had chosen the wrong ally. He should have approached Frostwave Bar and Nova instead!

Seeing Damien walking in his direction, Brody feared he would suffer the same fate as Frank. He dropped to his knees, voice shaking as he begged, “Sir, I didn’t know she was yours. I was wrong. I’ll change, I promise! Please let me go.”

1/4

14:06 Mon, Jun 8

2:06 pm pppp.

Chapter 62

Pamien’s deep-sex-exes didit linger on Brody for even a second. With a few long strides, he stood before Nova.

Ever since Damien broke free from the shackles of darkness, she had become his only weakness

0190

Every time he saw het, he lost control Especially after that brief encounter in the tent during the SLRA wilderness survival

training

Even though he had deliberately avoided her aber

crward, trying to regain his usual composure back at Shadow Sanctum. he couldn’t stop recalling the sensation of his fingertips against her skin and the faint fragrance on her body

Before meeting Nova, Damien never believed any woman could stir his emotions. As the ruler of Shadow Sanctum, he had no need for such attachments.

But since encountering her, his heart, long buried in darkness, seemed to have finally touched a sliver of light.

Damien was tall. His shadow completely enveloped Nova’s figure. To others, the two looked strikingly well-matched standing together.

He reached out uncontrollably, wanting to touch Nova’s cheek.

Damien’s childhood was spent in circles where the wealthy bought and sold slaves.

Days filled with being used as a punching bag, subjected to kicks and blows, shaped the boy from a helpless slave into a fearsome, brutal leader.

Damien killed his first person at eight, bloodily overthrew the international underground slave market at thirteen, and by sixteen, he had founded the now globally notorious assassin organization-Shadow Sanctum.

Everyone who survived in the underworld had a past. Most who made it became rulers in their own right often with their own hidden obsessions.

In Damien’s life, if he wanted something, he took it with his own hands. And now, he wanted Nova. He wanted to claim her for himself and make her his-heart and soul.

His well-defined hand reached out slowly. Today, Damien wasn’t wearing his black gloves from his last kill. He carried a clean, captivating scent, something disarmingly fresh.

When his fingers gently lifted her chin, forcing Nova to meet his gaze, a faint, almost imperceptible smile touched Nova’s lips.

Nova said with a faint smile, “It seems you’ve exposed yourself, Mr. Assassin. Not a wise move.”

[

Beneath the appearance of compliance, Nova had already acted before Damien could notice. She pressed a pistol against his chest, hidden from view.

One pull of the trigger, and he would drop dead.

Nova had taken the pistol during her last mission with Jordan, capturing hidden fugitives.

When Nova and Damien first met in the forest, she had realized that she was no match for him-mostly because she had underestimated him

The moment she realized what kind of expert she was really facing, she was disturbed by his great strength, and in the first encounter, she inevitably lost her advantage.

But true strength wasn’t just about power-it lay in strategy and vigilance. And this time, she had the upper hand

2/4

14:07 Mon, Jun 8

2:07 pm pppp.

Chapter 62-

35 vouchers

Pater’s deep eyes locked onto Nova. An ordinary person would have panicked with a gun to their heart, but his -Composite was unnerving.

He showed no fear and said only. “You need me.”

To heal her mother’s legs, Nova had to go through Damien to reach the poison doctor. So she wouldn’t kill him.

Nova wasn’t surprised he knew. After all, her return to the Blake family and her mother’s injury weren’t secrets.

As the master of Shadow Sanctum, it was natural Damien would figure it out.

Still. Nova wasn’t about to back down. “So what? Right now, you’re at my mercy.”

Their exchange left members of both Verdant Reign and Frostwave Bar utterly confused. Ethan and Victor just stood there, totally dumbfounded.

None of them had even the slightest idea what the two were talking about.

From their angle, no one could see the pistol pressed against Damien’s chest.

“Uh, what are they talking about?” Ethan whispered to Victor.

“I’m getting old. I can’t keep up with the young folks,” Victor sighed.

Even if they didn’t understand the words, the intense presence surrounding Nova and Damien made the other underworld figures seem insignificant.

Just then, Claire, Hannah, Zane, Jessica, and Charles finally slipped in through a window. The tense scene before them froze them in place.

The fearsome black-market figures they had imagined were now standing around Nova and Damien with their heads slightly lowered.

And what was more shocking-Nova and Damien stood extremely close, their posture almost intimate.

2:07 pm p p pp