The Divorced Military Queen Awakens (by Sadie Baxter) novel Chapter 470

Chapter 470 Unforeseen Resolve

Chapter 470 Unforeseen Resolve

Hearing Quinn’s strategy that day had shocked Gavin to the marrow.

The woman was nothing like he had imagined–unyielding, decisive, possessed of an execution style that bordered on surgical. Most staggering of all, she had pulled it off.

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While Gavin waited in the hotel lobby tonight, nerves gnawed at him. Julius was no novice; the man’s vigilance was legendary.

Even if Quinn intended to move against him, success should have been near impossible- especially when Julius had come expressly to escort her away and therefore would be twice as alert. Yet she had succeeded. Against every calculation, against every instinct, she had succeeded.

Gavin remembered asking the same question Fabian had voiced earlier. He had looked Quinn straight in the eye and said, “If Joaquin Whitethorn truly tries to kill you, will you kill him first?”

“Yes,” Quinn replied without the slightest tremor. “If it comes to that, it’s nothing more than self–defense.”

“You wouldn’t hesitate because he’s Julius‘ father?” Gavin pressed. At the time, he hadn’t believed a word of her calm assurance.

She answered, “Precisely because he is Julius‘ father. If the moment arrives when only one of us walks away, I’ll be sure it’s me.”

“Why?”

“Because if I don’t pull the trigger, Julius will. And I refuse to let him live with the weight of patricide–even the slightest chance of that shadow is one chance too many,” she said, her eyes hard as hammered iron.

In that instant Gavin understood–she spoke the absolute truth. Quinn had already made peace with the cost.

“Julius feels nothing for his father,” Gavin had argued. “Even if he killed him, the guilt wouldn’t touch him.”

“Whether he feels it or not is his affair,” Quinn replied. “Whether I allow even a one–in–ten- thousand chance of scarring him–that’s mine. I won’t gamble with his soul.”

Only then did Gavin realize how shallow Julius‘ judgment had been. He believed Quinn loved

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Chapter 470 Unforeseen Resolve

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him lightly, yet her love ran deeper than any blade that had ever been turned against him.

“I wonder what you’ll do when those eyes snap open,” Gavin whispered, twirling the syringe between his fingers. “Maybe you’ll carve me up, maybe not. Quinn swore she’d keep me breathing, and you–well, you always do whatever she says.”

From here on out, everything hinged on Quinn’s talent. The thought sent a prickle of anticipation skittering beneath his skin, a thrill he was almost ashamed to feel.

Across town, Joaquin sat alone in a shuttered loft, the only light the cold shimmer of a dozen monitor screens.

Live feeds overlaid a digital map of the city, every block glowing, every intersection pulsing with the restless movement of cars and pedestrians. He had already sealed off a critical stretch of road—one narrow artery that, once blocked, would trap his prey like insects in amber.

Joaquin knew his son had dispatched scouts all over the city, bloodhounds sniffing for the faintest trace of their target. But he had no intention of waiting meekly for capture. The surest defense was always a ruthless offense: find the crack, strike once, strike deep.

And Julius‘ only crack–his single, blinding weakness–was Quinn.

So tonight, Joaquin had scattered just enough bread crumbs to lure his son into this carefully laid snare. The moment Julius stepped inside, a second team would sweep in from the shadows and claim Quinn as collateral.

“Do you hear me?” Joaquin murmured to the empty room, his gaze fixed on a face only he could see. “Your son is destined to share my curse. He will become the same kind of monster I am. His heart, though, still lacks the necessary cruelty. If it were truly cold enough, I might have been reunited with you long ago. Tell me, wherever you are, would you have wanted to see me again?”

Time trickled past, slow and viscous. Joaquin waited with the patience of a stalking panther, breath contained, muscles coiled, every second stretching like taut wire.

At that same hour, miles away, Julius jerked upright in bed, eyes snapping open as if ripped from a nightmare.

Gavin blinked, stunned. “Seriously? Already awake?” Julius‘ recovery time was far shorter than the doctor had dared to predict.

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