?Chapter 76:


    Instinct made her pivot, ready to retrace her steps. But the moment she turned, shadows peeled away from the darkness ahead.


    Figures dressed in ck closed in, their movements silent and deliberate, blending into the night.


    They had not dared to make a move against The Underbarrel. But now, with no crowds around and no witnesses in sight, they saw their opportunity, and they had no intention of letting it slip away.


    The man leading them shed a crooked smile. “We don’t want to rough up a pretty girl like you. Be smart ande quietly.”


    Maia didn’t budge, her hands staying buried in her pockets. “And what exactly do you want?”


    “You’ll find out soon enough,” he said, smirking wider.


    “Got it,” Maia replied in an easy, careless tone.


    Assuming that she had given up resisting, the leader nodded toward his crew.


    Two men stepped forward, closing the distance without a word.


    Right as they reached for her…


    Maia moved like lightning, seizing one man’s wrist and wrenching it backward hard enough to make him yelp. At the same time, she mmed her foot into the chest of the second man, sending him crashing to the ground, then pinned him there with her heel.


    Her movements were so swift that the leader stood frozen in disbelief. It was only when the alley was filled with the sounds of his men groaning in pain that he snapped back to reality.


    Maia lifted her head, her cold, crystal-clear eyes shing sharply in the dark. “Well, I never said I wouldn’t fight back, did I?”


    The leader’s nerves faltered. Both of his men had been dropped in an instant by a single woman.


    gα?ησν????s??оm, where stories thrive


    It was almost too much to believe.


    “You idiots, get up!” he yelled in frustration.


    But no matter how much they struggled, the two men could not even lift themselves off the ground.


    “Shit!” the leader cursed, charging at Maia with his fist swinging high.


    In his other hand, hidden behind his back, he clutched the handle of a gleaming knife.


    “Look out!”


    Maia had just moved to block the iing punch when someone crashed into her from the side, throwing her off bnce but also saving her from the sh of a knife that had been aimed straight at her ribs.


    A cold, firm hand mped around her wrist. “Come with me!”


    Before she could react, Maia found herself being yanked away into the dark. Behind them, the leader of the attackers roared in fury, “Don’t let them get away!”


    Their footsteps pounded against the pavement as they raced out of the alley, the faint streetlights painting broken patches of light across the ground. Only then did Maia catch a clear glimpse of her rescuer, a boy, barely in his teens.


    Yanking free, Maia came to a sudden stop.


    Confused, the boy turned around, wide-eyed, the glow catching in his clear, bright gaze.


    Something about his face caught Maia’s attention — a faint resemnce and a sense of familiarity she could not quite ce.


    .


    .


    .