The Divorced Military Queen Awakens (by Sadie Baxter) novel Chapter 622

Chapter 622 A Desperate Command

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“Julius, what the h*ll is this?” Gavin shouted, struggling against the iron grip on his shoulders.

Julius stepped back, expression remorseful yet resolute. “You agreed, but I still can’t risk you spilling something by accident. Until I’m out of Jexburgh, you’ll have to stay put. Once I’m gone, they’ll release you.”

Gavin stared, dumbstruck, as the reality sank in.

Is this man truly planning to lock me away just to keep the secret under wraps?

He had a blemish or two on his record–yes, he had once blurted out Julius‘ business to Quinn –but that hardly gave anyone the right to treat him like this.

Yet no matter how violently Gavin writhed or cursed, Julius merely nodded at the guards, and they hauled him across the courtyard toward a shuttered room in back.

In the rear garden stood the Whitethorn ancestral hall, its dark beams soaked with centuries of incense and whispered vows.

Tacked onto the hall’s northern wall lay a narrow row of guest quarters.

That was where the guards shoved Gavin, the door clapping shut behind him with a wooden thud that echoed like a verdict.

They even patted him down for his phone, confiscating the device as though it were contraband, and the insult made him want to jab a finger straight under Julius‘ nose.

Is all this really necessary? Are they honestly treating me like a criminal?

Are they honestly treating him like a hardened criminal?

The room itself was almost comfortable–single bed, a private bath, fresh linens–and the guard informed him he could request anything he liked, absolutely anything, except one luxury: contact with the outside world.

“So if I demand, say, ten women for the evening, you’ll arrange delivery?” Gavin drawled, every syllable dipped in acid.

“If that’s what you desire, sir. Mr. Whitethorn said your needs come first–short of a telephone,” the guard replied without blinking.

Gavin could only stare, speech snagged in his throat. Fine. He would sit tight for now, let them

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Chapter 622 A Desperate Command

think the cage held him, and bide his time until another route appeared.

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On the morning Harvey left the hospital, Laura drove over in person, handled every discharge form, and steered him home herself. During the ride, her phone chimed again and again; each time she glanced at the screen, her jaw tightened, and she killed the call without a word.

All the way across town, Laura’s phone kept shivering to life–one sharp trill after another jittering through the car’s quiet. Each time, she flicked her eyes toward the screen, sighed without a word, and pressed the call away.

“Laura, aren’t you going to answer? Telemarketers?” Harvey asked, curiosity flickering across his still–pale features.

Something like that, she muttered, lips twisting in a humorless smile.

The persistent caller was her father, and the purpose never changed–reverse the lawsuit, spare the stepmother, shield the stepbrother. He could invent a hundred excuses for them, yet not once did he spare a single thought for his own daughter.

He had never paused to imagine what would happen to her if that assault had gone unchecked, never pictured her skin sizzling beneath acid meant to silence her.

True, her stepmother had acted under hypnosis, but the doctors later clarified that the technique merely dredged up desires already lurking deep inside and gave them permission to surface.

In other words, the woman genuinely wanted to scar her with acid.

The hospital kept a transcript: under a second hypnotic session, the stepmother confessed that if the lawsuit proceeded, she would wait for an unguarded moment and drench Laura in acid.

“She’s trying to ruin my son, so I’ll ruin her for life!” the woman had hissed, voice’flat with conviction.

That single sentence was burned into Laura’s memory like a brand.

Forgiveness was off the table. She would see the woman locked behind bars, serving the lifelong sentence she had wished upon someone else.

Over the past few weeks, her father simply would not let up. The phone on her nightstand buzzed day and night, each call a fresh drill boring straight into her patience.

Even after she blocked his number, new strings of digits kept appearing on her screen–each one a fresh disguise for the same relentless plea.

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Chapter 622 A Desperate Command

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After walking Harvey up to his apartment and watching the door click shut, Laura stepped back into the hushed corridor.

Her phone trilled again. This time, she did not stab the red button. Instead, she raised it slowly to her ear and, heartbeat matching the cadence, pressed Accept.

“I’ve told you already,” she said, voice low and scraped thin, “I’m not forgiving them. Stop trying to sway me. If cutting ties with your daughter is easier, then go right ahead.”

After so many years, you’d think disappointment would have dried up, but no–it still burns just as hot.

“Whatever you decide, we need to meet face to face,” Caxton said, words soft yet edged with iron. “Refuse, and I’ll show up at your office–with reporters in tow.”

Laura’s shoulders tightened. She was not afraid, yet she could not deny that a public spectacle would splatter mud across the company’s name.

“Fine. One meeting,” she conceded.

Over the line, he rattled off an address.

They met in a cramped pasta bar in Jexburgh–the sort of place that lives in the shadow of office buildings and repeats itself on every other block.

Laura slipped behind the wheel, left Harvey’s neighborhood behind, and guided the sedan through the river of lights toward the little shop her father had picked.

She pushed open the glass door and spotted Caxton at a corner table.

“It’s been ages since the two of us shared a meal,” Caxton murmured, letting his voice slip into something almost tender. “Do you remember how you used to drag your mother and me into every pasta bar in town? You loved pasta even more than candy.”