The Divorced Military Queen Awakens (by Sadie Baxter) novel Chapter 635

Chapter 635 The Exchange

Chapter 635 The Exchange

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His first priority was clear–get Laura to safety; only then could he confront his father without restraint.

Yet, as Julius bent to lift her, Laura’s eyelids snapped open. In one fluid motion, she drew a pistol and jammed the barrel against his forehead.

In the same heartbeat, Julius reversed his grip, the knife’s edge kissing the hollow of her throat.

“You hypnotized her?” Julius asked, voice like cracked ice.

Joaquin chuckled. “Sharon set the trigger. One word from me, and she pulls the trigger. Of course, you could slit her throat first. Who dies, you or her? And will Quinn forgive you if you made the wrong choice?”

Color drained from Julius‘ face, leaving it carved from stone.

At that instant, the standoff, captured by an invisible counter–surveillance drone outside the window, streamed onto Quinn’s laptop miles away.

A Falcon commando beside her glanced up. “Captain, orders?”

Quinn’s fingers flew over the keys. “Plan One. Move now.”

“Yes, ma’am!”

Pale, Julius felt sweat bloom in the palm wrapped around the knife.

Laura, to him, was little more than a stranger.

He was here solely because the woman happened to matter to Quinnie.

But now, Joaquin had twisted the knife in a way Julius could never have imagined, chaining that woman’s fate to his own.

He could accept Laura’s death, yet the instant he pictured Quinn learning Laura died by his hand, his stomach turned to ice.

Quinn had walked away once before when his lies cut too deep. The hollow that separation carved into him was a wound that still throbbed at random hours of the night. If she refused him a second time–if she chose distance over forgiveness–Julius feared the pain would break what remained of his sanity and turn him into something even darker than his father.

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Chapter 635 The Exchange

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No. He could not allow this to unfold the way Joaquin intended.

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He would rather face a bullet than watch Quinn’s eyes cloud with disappointment and hurt.

And if Laura died here, Quinn would blame herself until her final breath. Julius would never let that happen.

If he seized the barrel with his bare hand, there would be a heartbeat of slack–just long enough to shove the muzzle away from his forehead.

The shot might punch through his shoulder, maybe his chest. With rotten luck, it could pierce his heart. Still, in this moment, wagering with death felt like his only card.

A dozen variations of the same reckless gamble flashed through his mind, each sketched and discarded in the span of a breath.

“Well, my son,” Joaquin murmured, his voice floating through the room like cold mist, “have you decided? Will it be your life, or the life of Quinn Bridger’s dearest friend, Laura Wentworth?”

“And what if I refuse both options?” Julius asked, his tone sharp enough to cut glass.

“Stalling, are we?” Joaquin’s smile never reached his eyes. “I’ll count to three. When I finish, you will choose–one way or another.”

Julius‘ brows knitted. Resolve flickered across his gaze like a blade catching light.

“Three… two…”

Joaquin’s countdown slithered through the air, the hiss of a devil urging a soul toward the brink.

Julius‘ fingers closed around the gun’s icy barrel–then the door burst inward with a crash that snapped every head around.

Two of Joaquin’s guards flew into the room, bodies skidding across the floorboards and silencing their master mid–syllable.

“Down!” Quinn’s order cracked through the chaos like lightning.

No explanation followed–no hint of whom she was addressing. Because it was Quinn’s voice, Julius moved on instinct, flattening to the floor while yanking the still–dazed Laura down with

him.

An explosion thumped through the walls. The house lurched; shards of glass and splinters of

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17:41 Tue, Dec 23

Chapter 635 The Exchange

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