She Was the Treasure All Along novel Chapter 309

Gavin turned—slowly, stiffly, as if his neck had rusted in place—and stared at the young woman standing in the center of the deck.

“Who… are you?”

His voice shook. His eyes trembled, overloaded by what he was seeing.

Loyce strolled toward him at an easy pace. Around her, the raiders hit the deck and started slaughtering Gavin’s crew. Gavin’s men weren’t sailors. They weren’t trained fighters. They were opportunists with guns and no conscience—and they folded under real violence.

Automatic fire stitched through them. Bodies fell. Blood spread.

As Loyce closed in, Gavin’s courage evaporated. He scrambled away on hands and knees, then lurched up and ran.

Without anyone backing him, he was nothing. Loyce slipped past his wild, panicked shots, crossing the chaos as if bullets and screaming were weather, and followed him.

Gavin slammed into the game room and burst through the door. He spun to lock it—

A shoe wedged in the gap. A plain, old-fashioned leather shoe, stopping the heavy door like it was weightless.

Loyce slid inside, silent as smoke. She’d dropped the “victim” act, but she was still wearing the same mismatched, ordinary clothes, making her look even more unreal—like something that didn’t belong anywhere lit.

The door shut behind her, sealing out the gunfire, explosions, and howling voices outside. Inside was dim and suffocating, the air tainted with cigar smoke, booze, and a thread of blood. Only Gavin’s breathing remained—ragged, loud, like a broken bellows.

“Why run?” Loyce asked. Her voice was almost lazy, but every syllable landed clean in the empty room. “Now you know what fear feels like.”

She picked up a playing card from the table and flicked it between her fingers. The Ace of Spades caught the occasional sweep of white light from the searchlights outside, flashing like a blade.

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