Chapter 414:

From the shadowed corner, Jeffry slowly rose to his feet, his face steady despite the chaos. “Wait,” he said evenly.

One of the men turned to him with a sneer. “What? You planning to take their place and die instead?”

Jeffry gave a small nod, his fingers lifting to the long, twisted scar running across his stomach. His voice stayed calm, almost detached, as he spoke. “Most of my organs are already gone. Those kids still have theirs intact. Let me go first. I’m worth far less than they are.”

The man shot Jeffry a cold, mocking look before tossing the child aside with a twisted smile. “Got guts, boy. Fine, since you’re so eager to die, you can have their turn.”

The three children were dragged onto the cold, damp deck, the heavy fog curling around them like a suffocating veil. The sea breeze bit at their small frames, sharp with salt and chill, tugging harshly at their thin, tattered clothes.

Terror left them shaking uncontrollably, their cries weakening into broken, stifled sobs that faded into the mist.

Ronan made his way up to the control room with several men in tow. Standing by the large window, he grabbed the microphone and flicked it on, his voice booming over the ship’s loudspeakers, slicing through the still, midnight air. “Rylie! I know you’re listening!” he bellowed, the words laced with menace. “Come out now, or I start throwing a kid overboard every five minutes! Let’s begin with this boy!”

Ronan fisted his hand tighter in Jeffry’s hair, yanking him closer to the edge until his small feet dangled helplessly above the churning water. The thick fog swirled around them, the icy wind howling as waves crashed violently against the hull below. The boy’s face remained eerily blank, his wide eyes fixed on the black sea, betraying no fear despite his fragile frame swaying in the gusts. Five minutes felt like an eternity. Everyone on the fog-shrouded deck watched intently, but Rylie’s figure still hadn’t appeared.

“Three!” Ronan’s voice rang out, cold and pitiless, his tone slicing through the oppressive quiet like a blade.

Lɒtєst cнαptєrs ιn g𝒶lnovєls.𝒸𝑜𝑚

The deck lay in tense silence, broken only by the mournful cry of the wind and the relentless pounding of waves against the hull. Ronan’s men gripped their guns tightly, scanning every corner of the fog-shrouded darkness, their nerves strung to the breaking point. The children’s desperate sobs tore at the air, each sound sharp and aching, like a knife twisting in the chest.

“TWO!”

Jeffry’s frail body was pinned mercilessly against the freezing metal railing, the chill seeping through his thin clothes. Ronan’s fingers, curled tight in his collar, began to loosen bit by bit, a silent threat hanging in the air as the dark waters roared far below.

Hidden among a stack of wooden crates in the dim cargo hold, Rylie kept perfectly still, her eyes locked on the deck through a porthole she had quietly loosened beforehand.

Judging the timing with icy precision, she stepped out into the patrol’s line of sight.

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