The Divorced Military Queen Awakens (by Sadie Baxter) novel Chapter 650

Chapter 650 Cornered By Bullies

They kept laughing, pulling grotesque faces at the girl as if cruelty were a carnival game.

Her cheeks blazed crimson, and a mist of hurt glazed her pretty eyes.

I’m not fatherless. When Mommy wakes, she and I will hunt Daddy down–and then they’ll see.

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“Out of the way, runt. Don’t stop us from teaching Bowen a lesson.” The leader punctuated the order with a kick that sent the girl sprawling, then stepped up until he could feel Bowen’s breath.

“You’re the streetwalker’s brat,” he hissed. “Because your mother seduced my dad, my parents can’t stand each other anymore.”

Bowen lowered his eyes. “Whatever she did has nothing to do with me.”

He turned to his gang. “You’re his son! You have to pay for her! Beat him hard. Whoever hurts him most gets twenty.”

The promise of money lit the boys up like fireworks, and they surged toward Bowen.

Bowen kept his gaze on the ground, waiting for the fists that were sure to come.

It’s only another beating; nothing new.

They’re my age. They can’t hit as hard as the grown–ups.

Back home, his mother’s clients often exploded in drunken rages. Whenever an argument broke out, Bowen became the nearest punching bag.

One night, a man beat him so badly that he lay motionless in their rented close and his mother still brought new men home each evening.

om for three days,

Whenever she caught him wincing in pain, she would laugh coldly. “The more you look like him, the harder I’ll be on you. Blame your father, not me.”

She never once told him who his father was.

Getting hit is familiar. A few more kicks won’t change anything.

Just as the first fists were about to land, a chorus of yelps erupted from the circle..

The tiny girl had scooped a fistful of sand and flung it into their faces. In Bowen’s stunned gaze, she seized his hand. “Run!” she barked.

Before he could process what was happening, he was already sprinting beside her into a narrow alley.

Shouts thundered behind them. Bowen, half–dazed, simply matched her pace.

Though small, she ran like lightning and turned corners as if the maze were her own backyard.

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Chapter 650 Cornered By Bullies

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They tore through back–alleys, hurdled dented trash bins, and at last slipper ind a crumbling wall where the distant footfalls of their pursuers dissolved into silence.

The little girl, chest heaving, finally let go of Bowen’s hand and bent at the waist. “So tired. I thought my heart was going to leap right out.”

Bowen drew a steadying breath, then asked in a tone that tried–and failed–to sound casual, “Why did you help me?”

She blinked, lashes dusted with sweat. “Because you looked pitiful,” she said simply. “Mr. Goodwin alway tells us to help people who need it.”

Pitiful?

Bowen’s long black lashes lowered, hiding the flash of mockery that crossed his eyes.

He had heard that word before. Grown–ups would label him “pitiful,” then parade small, self- congratulating kindnesses in front of him. Those gestures always curdled into awkward silence the moment they learned his mother’s job.

He lifted his chin. “So even if my mother is a prostitute, that doesn’t bother you?”

The girl tilted her head, puzzled. “What’s a prostitute?”

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