?Chapter 77:


    Tilting her head with a yful squint, Maia smiled. “Wanna y a thrilling little game?”


    The boy furrowed his brow, clearly not following.


    Not long after, the men in ck came storming after them, only to find Maia standing alone beneath the flickering lights near the ck market’s entrance.


    “Why did you stop running, sweetheart?”


    “I ran out of gas. Tell you what. I’ll go with you, but can we keep things civil? No more knives or guns, please.” She added in a soft, trembling voice, “I’m scared.”


    The leader snorted, seeing right through her… or so he thought.


    “Of course, tough at first. Soft when cornered,” he muttered to himself. Sure, she had given them some trouble earlier. But in the end, she was still just a scared little thing with no real threat.


    The leader chuckled mockingly. “Rx. As long as you cooperate, we won’ty a finger on you.”


    Maia gave him a wide-eyed look. “Then drop the knife first. Give me something to trust.”


    For a beat, the leader hesitated. Then, with a grunt, he tossed the knife to the ground with a tter. “There. Feel better now?”


    Maia gave a simple nod and moved forward without resistance.


    Two of the men grabbed her roughly by the arms, steering her down a narrow, empty alley. Just as they rounded a corner, one of them yanked her backward, pressing a cloth soaked with knockout chemicals over her mouth and nose. Everything around her went ck in an instant.


    Far on the outskirts of the ck market, where crumbling slums hugged the city’s edge, the air turned foul and heavy. Broken-down houses leaned against each other like rotting bones, their walls alive with buzzing flies and crawling insects. It felt like stepping into a graveyard left to rot.


    Inside one of those copsing shacks, the men dumped Maia carelessly into a filthy corner, her bodynding with a soft thud among piles of trash. The door mmed shut behind them.


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    “Boss, she’s pretty damn hot. We really can’t have a little fun?” one of the men said, giving Maia a long, leering look.


    The leader shot him a cold re. “You heard the orders. Strip her. Snap some shots. That’s it. No touching.”


    Before they could do anything else, the leader’s phone buzzed in his pocket. A new message popped up from their employer.


    “She’s all yours. Have fun. Just make sure you get plenty of photos.”


    The leader’s frown deepened as he nced from the screen to Maia’s limp figure on the floor. She looked so harmless lying there. Whatever grudge their hirer had against her, it must have been serious.


    But a job was a job. Orders were orders.


    “The boss changed the deal,” the leader said, his voice low. “Do whatever you want.”


    At once, the two goons lit up like kids at Christmas, practically drooling as they rubbed their palms together and crept closer.


    This was a first. They had handled a lot of targets, but never one this pretty.


    The moment their fingers brushed her cor, Maia’s eyes snapped open.


    Deep ck, cold, and as sharp as a predator lurking in the darkness.


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