“Give me everything from Sigma Network.” Juniper lounged on the sofa, her chin tilted up as she looked down her nose at the man whose face had gone as white as a sheet.
Was he anxious? Scared? In agony? Good. That was exactly how she had felt, and he was the one who had caused it.
“Done,” Shanley agreed without hesitation, his voice trembling slightly. “Is Juniper hurt?”
The Juniper he knew had a temper and wouldn’t be taken easily. She must have put up a fight.
Juniper had planned to exaggerate the details to properly terrify him, but seeing the raw panic on his face, she couldn’t bring herself to be that cruel.
“She’s fine,” Juniper said, turning her face away. Her voice was hoarse. “She has a bit of an attitude. It was almost a struggle to get her.”
Shanley breathed a sigh of relief to hear that Juniper was unharmed. “What are your other conditions?” he pressed. “Tell me all of them.”
“I want your hands, I want to break your legs, cut out your heart, gouge out your eyes…” Juniper’s lips curled into a smirk as she shot back, “Or maybe I want your life. You’re good with all of that?”
“Yes,” Shanley replied, the fury in his eyes threatening to erupt like lava.
“Oh, is that so?” Juniper stared at him deeply for a few seconds, then raised an eyebrow. “Get over here and kneel. Tell me you were wrong, and I’ll consider letting her go.”
“Are you fucking with me?” Shanley’s patience snapped. He strode forward, grabbed Juniper by the neck, and slammed her onto the sofa.
Juniper’s reflexes were sharp, but she had let her guard down for a split second. With Shanley’s emotions spiraling out of control, his movements were brutal and violent. The physical disparity between them was too great. Before she could react, she was thrown onto the sofa, feeling as if every bone in her body was about to shatter.
“Throw him in!” Shanley was in no mood to tolerate Specter’s provocations. He was like a rampaging lion, beyond reason and restraint.
“Yes, boss,” Flint acknowledged, immediately moving to grab Luella and shove her toward the deck.
Shanley had gone insane. His grip tightened, cutting off Juniper’s breath entirely. In a moment of desperation, she summoned every last ounce of strength and finally broke free from his hold.
But in the struggle, as they grappled, Shanley’s hand scraped against Juniper’s jaw. The prosthetic mask, slick with sweat, was ripped clean off.
In the next second, a fair, exquisite face—beautiful to the extreme—was revealed to Shanley.
Flint stopped dead right as he was about to toss Luella overboard. Felton froze with his hand hovering over his holster. Even Shanley snapped out of his psychotic frenzy. All three of them staring in utter, baffled silence.

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