Dumped My Cheating Ex. Now I'm Sleeping Next to a Billionaire CEO novel Chapter 1378

Nina let out an indignant yell, her footwork instantly shifting into a dizzying blur as she scrambled backward to put distance between them.

A faint glimmer of genuine amusement flashed in James's dark eyes. Rather than holding back because she was a child, his assault only grew more ferocious. His fists tore through the air with bone-crushing force, his kicks a relentless storm of violence. The five elite adults had failed to survive even ten of his moves, yet this pigtail-wearing teenager was displaying an utterly terrifying resilience.

She didn't try to block a single strike. Fully aware of her massive disadvantage in raw strength, she relied entirely on insane agility and technical evasion. She ducked, rolled, vaulted, and twisted, weaponizing her small stature to slip through the minuscule, lethal gaps in James's attacks. For a moment, the entire arena was flooded with the white afterimages of her uniform.

Ten moves. Fifteen moves. Twenty moves! Just as James unleashed a devastating hook destined to seal off her final escape route, Nina sucked in a sharp breath. Using the violent wind generated by his punch, she stomped hard off the ground, launching herself entirely out of the combat ring. She landed heavily, stumbling backward several steps as she frantically rubbed her shoulder, screaming at the top of her lungs.

"I quit, I quit! You are an absolute freak!" she shouted. "Are your fists made of solid steel? You barely grazed me and I swear my bone is cracked!" Though she was whining loudly, her eyes burned with the ecstatic thrill of combat. There wasn't a single shred of fear in her.

James ceased his assault and stood perfectly straight, calmly adjusting his slightly rumpled cuffs. A rare, satisfied smirk finally graced his sharp features. He looked at the teenager furiously rubbing her arm and raised an eyebrow. "How is your marksmanship?"

The moment she heard the challenge, Nina completely forgot about her pain. She puffed out her chest, aggressively wiped her nose with her thumb, and beamed with absolute arrogance. "Flawless! It is my ultimate specialty!"

James gestured toward the shooting range with his chin. "Show me."

Without another word, Nina sprinted to the firing line. She snatched up a black handgun from the table, her playful, childish demeanor vanishing into thin air. It was instantly replaced by a terrifying, cold-blooded focus completely alien to someone her age. Chambering a round, raising the weapon, and locking her aim, every motion blurred into a singular, lightning-fast action.

Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!

However, the clan produced far too many children. There was simply no way every single one could be filtered into the military. The government harbored their own paranoia, refusing to allow a single family to monopolize the armed forces. Thus, a rigid, unspoken rule had been established: the Murphy clan was strictly permitted to send only five of their absolute best candidates into the military every ten years. The remaining children, no matter how brilliantly gifted, were coldly discarded as rejects. They were either forced to serve as bodyguards for wealthy socialites, or dispatched into the shadows to handle the clan's dirty work.

Watching Alastair guard the girl so jealously, James let out a dark, mocking laugh, utterly destroying the elder's polite facade. "Alastair, as far as my intelligence goes, the Murphy clan has already completely maxed out your military quota for this decade, hasn't it? For the next five years, your family doesn't have the clearance to send a single soul into the ranks."

Alastair's face paled, his eyes flickering with obvious guilt. James was completely right. The family had produced an unprecedented number of elites over the last few years, and to secure their political power, Alastair had aggressively pushed all of them into the military, exhausting every single slot they had. But when he looked at Nina, he saw a priceless, uncut diamond he couldn't bear to lose. "Nina is young. She can afford to wait."

James scoffed, his tone dripping with absolute ice. "For a prodigy in combat, spending five years without bathing in real blood and actual warfare means she will rot away in the blink of an eye. And in five years' time, how many more exceptionally gifted young masters will the Murphy clan produce? When the time comes and you have a stronger male heir standing before you, do you honestly expect me to believe you will even remember this little girl you kept locked away?"