Chapter 66-A big mistake

Chapter 66: 66-A big mistake

"You should have left when I gave you the chance," she said. "Don’t blame me for being rude."

His expression hardened when he heard her words. "You’re in no position to give us orders."

Aymara sighed. He was confusing possession of weapons with possession of control. The distinction would be educational if he had some brains.

The general spoke again. "However..." his eyes traveled over her once more. "If you’re worried about what will happen to you after we take the ship, don’t be."

Aymara’s expression remained blank. She wasn’t shaken or swayed in the slightest.

The man smiled and went on as though he was in charge of the situation and Aymara was at his mercy.

"You’re young and you’re attractive. You could become my woman and live."

A lethal silence settled in the air. It was absolute silence. Even the men behind him seemed to pause for a moment to wait for Aymara’s answer.

Aymara stared at him. Something inside her went very still. Her fingers slowly tightened around the railing until her knuckles paled.

"My woman?"

The words echoed in her head. She thought of Nathaniel: his shy smile, his soft voice calling her Mara, his embarrassed expression whenever she teased him, and his worried eyes when the submarine approached.

She remembered the way he had quietly told her, "I’ll wait for you."

Aymara’s gaze darkened. There was only one man in this entire world who had any right to occupy that place in her heart, and he was currently sitting at a dining table, probably staring at food he still hadn’t touched because he was worried about her.

She looked back at the general, then spat over the side of the railing. "You want me to become your woman? Dream on."

The men stared at her with amusement. To them, it looked like she was acting tough to scare them on the surface. Like a cat barring it’s teeth at a tiger.

Aymara straightened. Her annoyance flared up immediately. "And don’t ever talk about me as though I’m something you can claim."

Her voice was no longer amused. It was cold. Deadly cold. She was beyond angry at the fact that the man even dared to covet her. It sickened her.

"You have five minutes!" She repeated for them, her patience had run out.

She lifted one hand and glanced at an imaginary watch and started running the countdown for them to show just how serious she was.

"Four minutes and fifty seconds now."

Hahaha! Hahaha! Hahaha!

The men burst into laughter again. It filled them with immense pleasure to see her threatening them. Instead of feeling scared, they were even more cheered up.

The general shook his head. Seeing her acting so tough, he felt his blood stir and the need to tame her as his woman.

"You really think you can stop us?" he asked, getting smug.

Aymara smiled. This time, there was nothing pleasant about it. "Whether or not I can stop you. You’ll find out soon enough."

"What’s a woman going to do against thirty armed men?"

Several men laughed and raised their weapons higher.

The general spread his arms and pointed at her. "Look around you. You’re alone," he went on, all too happy with himself. "What can you do against all of us?"

Aymara’s eyes flickered briefly toward the ship behind her. No, she wasn’t alone.

Nathaniel was behind those walls. Her system was watching over her, her ship and every inch of the ocean had already become her territory.

She looked back at the submarine and spoke with full confidence. "Four minutes."

The general scoffed. "You’re wasting our time."

"No," Aymara’s lips curved upward. "I’m giving you time."

The distinction seemed to confuse him. Then her gaze settled on the submarine’s hull. For the first time, the general noticed something strange.

Aymara wasn’t looking at the men anymore. She was looking beneath them, as though she could see something they couldn’t.

His smile slowly disappeared. "What are you looking at?" he questioned her.

Aymara didn’t answer him. There was no advantage in explaining a trap to the people standing inside it.

Instead, she turned her head slightly toward the empty air beside her.

"System."

A translucent blue screen appeared before her. The general and his men couldn’t see it but Aymara could and what appeared on it made her smile.

[Hostile submarine fully analyzed.]

[All hostile personnel identified.]

[Threat assessment complete.]

[Defensive countermeasures ready.]

Aymara’s eyes returned to the men. Her tone was getting more and more impatient. "Three minutes and fifty seconds."

The general’s face darkened as well. He was getting rather annoyed with Aymara’s attitude because instead of submitting to him like a good girl, she was defiant and even threatening him and his men again and again.

"You’re making a mistake."

Aymara’s smile widened. She had vowed to protect her survival in this life and she had come prepared and the first troublesome survivors had delivered themselves to her.

"Not at all," she turned away from him. "You are the one making a big mistake and I’ll make sure you understand just how bad of a mistake you’ve made."

For the first time since surfacing, the laughter from the submarine stopped. The silence lasted only a few seconds. Then the general’s expression hardened. He had endured enough.

This young woman had ignored every warning, mocked his authority, refused his offer, and continued speaking to him as though he were nothing more than an inconvenience. His pride could no longer tolerate it.

Beneath his anger, however, something sharper twisted in his chest. She wasn’t afraid of him. Worse, she seemed to see through him, as if his rank, his weapons, and the men surrounding him were nothing but decorations.

He lifted one hand. "Fire!" The order rang across the submarine, and the men reacted instantly. Weapons were raised and aimed towards the ship.

Aymara didn’t move. A cold instinct urged her to step away from the railing for a single second.

Her body remembered too many nights of running, too many moments when danger had arrived without warning. But she forced the impulse down. She would not give the general the satisfaction of seeing her retreat. She would not let his violence dictate even the smallest movement.

"Fire!"

BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG!

A storm of gunfire erupted. The peaceful ocean was suddenly filled with deafening cracks as bullets tore through the air toward Aymara.

The sound struck her like a physical force, rattling through her bones and dragging old fear to the surface. Her fingers tightened against the railing, and for half a heartbeat, her breath caught.

’Will the ship’s defenses hold?’