The Divorced Military Queen Awakens (by Sadie Baxter) novel Chapter 402

Chapter 402 Inferno Confrontation

Chapter 402 Inferno Confrontation

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A strangled scream ripped from Serena as the landing splintered beneath her heels. Instinct surged. She flailed for anything solid–banister, wall, even smoke itself–desperate to stop the plunge that yawned open in front of her.

A heartbeat later, a hand punched through the haze and clamped around her wrist. The fall snapped to a halt so violently her shoulder burned, leaving her body dangling over the black void of the stairwell while sparks drifted around them like dying fireflies.

Serena threw back her head and laughed, the sound jagged as broken glass. “Hahaha! Quinn, even if I want to kill you, you still have to keep me breathing. After all, only I carry the cure for your brother’s precious Lena.”

Quinn’s face hardened. Serena spoke the ugly truth–only Serena could donate the stem cells that might pull Lena back from the edge. That meant, whatever Serena did, Quinn could not let her die.

Serena’s gaze locked on the ruby necklace glinting at Quinn’s throat. Snarling, she leveled her pistol again. “But saving me won’t change a thing. You must die tonight.”

At this distance, she was confident she wouldn’t miss. Even if Quinn let go, Serena would tumble only one flight–enough bruises to scream about, yet not enough to end her life.

All Serena needed was for Quinn to drop dead, so she could rip that ruby necklace from the woman’s neck.

The trigger never clicked. Quinn whipped a boot upward, catching the pistol’s barrel and sending the weapon clattering into the darkness below.

“You…” Serena choked, fury draining the color from her face.

“You talk too much,” Quinn said, voice as cold as steel. “Killing me? You don’t have what it takes.” She braced to haul Serena over the rail and knock her out cold.

The world detonated. A roar of pressure slammed Quinn sideways, flinging her against a concrete wall hard enough to rattle her bones.

The blast sheared the banister in two, Serena’s body shot clear of the stairs, left hanging over open air while Quinn’s hand–bloodied but unbroken–clung to her wrist.

They were three stories above the lobby floor.

If Serena missed the second–floor landing and crashed all the way to the first, her neck would

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Chapter 402 Inferno Confrontation

likely snap on impact.

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If Quinn hadn’t grasped Serena’s hand even after the blast, Serena would’ve plunged to her death.

Panic shredded Serena’s earlier bravado. “Pull me up, Quinn! You have to pull me up. If I die, Lena dies, and your brother will never forgive himself!”

Quinn’s lungs screamed from heat and smoke. Every inch of skin felt scorched, and her breath came sharp and shallow.

A fresh spike of agony knifed through her calf. The collision had likely cracked the bone.

If she let go now, she could still limp to safety before the fire swallowed the stairwell.

But if she released Serena, the woman would plunge to her death.

If Serena dies, Lena loses her only matched donor. Rowan will carry that guilt forever. Hold on a little longer, Quinn. This is Whitethorn Group’s gala. He knows I was in the lounge when the fire broke out. He’ll push the firefighters to reach me first. Do I risk everything on that? Bet my life—and Serena’s—on Julius moving fast enough?

Quinn’s fingers still clamped around Serena’s slick, trembling hand, yet she felt her own strength bleeding away with every ragged breath. The choking smoke pressed against her lungs, and the din of distant flames sounded like a war drum pounding in her ears.

“Quinn, you can’t leave me here!” Serena screamed, her voice raw with panic. “Weren’t you a soldier? Aren’t soldiers supposed to heal the wounded, to give their lives so others can live?”

Quinn fixed her with a hard stare. “And you expect me to sacrifice myself for someone who just tried to kill me? You think you deserve that?”

Serena’s face twisted, desperation and spite tangled together. “Don’t you care if your brother suffers? That girl Lena is his whole world. If I die, she dies too–your brother will break! They were this close to marrying if she hadn’t fallen ill.”

The words struck Quinn like a backdraft. She had always believed Lena was merely Rowan’s savior–never had she imagined feelings ran deeper than gratitude.

“If you want to live, stop talking,” she said, voice clipped. “I’ll haul you up first, then we both get

out.”

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