The Queen Who Fights Back (by Lily Hastings) novel Chapter 122

Chapter 122

The voices outside got quieter and quieter, until finally they vanished altogether.

Guess the talk’s done, Nova thought.

Nova stood outside the treatment room, her gaze growing colder and more intense.

Anyone familiar with her could tell–this was the telltale sign that she was about to blow.

But for now, she kept herself in check.

Soon, the door to the treatment room swung open.

The door creaked as it opened.

The moment the door opened, Hannah, who’d run off earlier, and Maxwell, who’d been waiting, quickly hurried back.

Inside the makeshift treatment room, Aria appeared with a mature, confident smile, gently guiding Fiona out.

“Is everything alright?” Maxwell pressed, worry written all over his face.

“Mom, are you feeling okay?” Hannah chimed in.

Maxwell and Hannah both pressed for answers, barely able to contain themselves.

Their hearts were practically in their throats.

“My legs… I just felt them. For a split second, during the treatment, I could actually feel something!” Fiona’s voice was shaking, disbelief and hope tangled together.

“It was only for a moment, but after all these years, it’s like my legs never existed for me… until now.”

Tears brimmed in Fiona’s eyes–she could barely hold them back–as she spoke, her emotions spilling over.

After the accident, Fiona hadn’t walked for over a decade. Her thighs had wasted away from nerve damage, leaving them nothing but skin and bone.

Honestly, they looked downright scary.

Even if the nerves were fixed right away, she’d still have to start from scratch and learn to walk all over again. “Give it a month, and you’ll be standing tall again, just like everyone else,” Nova said quietly.

She was confident in Aria’s healing abilities.

reassured her with a warm smile.

“That’s right, Aunt Fiona. For the next month, I’ll be by your side every day, helping with your recovery,” Aria

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“By the end of the month, you’ll be walking on your own again.”

Aria stood at Nova’s side, adding softly with a warm smile.

“Thank you…” Fiona managed, her hands trembling.

To Fiona, everything unfolding before her felt just like a dream.

‘Nova really pulled it off, she thought, her heart racing with disbelief and joy.

‘She made it possible for me to walk again–for my kids to see their mother stand.”

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Maxwell and Hannah were caught up in a mess of feelings–so tangled they couldn’t put it into words.

Especially Hannah. She spun around fast, her hand darting up to swipe away the tears before anyone could

see them.

It was like all the frustration and grudges she’d been nursing against Nova over the years just melted away, gone in a heartbeat.

‘Grandma… sorry. I found myself forgiving her before I even realized it…

‘You were always so gentle. If you were here, I bet you’d end up forgiving her too…‘ Hannah thought in a whisper to herself.

******

Nova’s grandparents were just ordinary country folks–nothing like those always up to no good, like Mabel. There wasn’t a scheming bone in their bodies.

They greeted Nova warmly, pulling out all the stops that night and serving up a table full of hearty farmhouse dishes.

Damien and Aiden skipped out on dinner and took off earlier.

Turns out there was some urgent business in the Shadow Sanctum, so they had to head out immediately that night.

After dinner, as the warmth of the farmhouse meal lingered in the air, Charles stood quietly with Fiona.

“How about we bring some flowers to Mom’s grave tonight?” Charles suggested gently.

Charles’s mother was Nova’s biological grandmother.

She was Mrs. Blake of the Blake family, the ex–wife of Alfred Blake–the last family patriarch.

Before Charles was kicked out of the Blake family, his mother had already divorced Alfred because she couldn’t put up with his old–fashioned way of thinking.

Later.

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Chapter 122

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After Charles settled down in Ravenport, he brought his mother, who was all alone, to live with him.

So Nova, Maxwell, and Hannah had all grown up under their grandma’s care, starting from when they were just kids.

She truly loved them with all her heart.

In the end, while trying to find Nova after she’d gone missing, she got in the car with Fiona–and that accident took her life.

She died instantly, and now rests on the mountainside overlooking the Green Ridge Village.

“Alright, let’s pay our respects to Mom,” Fiona nodded.

With that, Charles gently pushed Fiona’s wheelchair through the front door, and together they headed out.

Nova watched with her own eyes as her parents left, her gaze unblinking.

She carefully slipped on a pair of pure white gloves, each slender finger sliding into place with methodical precision.

With that, she walked toward the living room, where Mabel and Forge were waiting.

Night had fallen, the darkness thick and heavy.

The moon was full and bright, flooding the world with a cold silver light.

It was the perfect kind of night for blood to be spilled.

“Hey, Nova, where are you headed?” Maxwell called out as he stepped from the side door, instantly picking up on the strange tension in the air.

He eyed her warily as he spoke.

Hannah stood right next to him, both of them fixing Nova with anxious, searching looks.

Nova met their eyes and replied coldly, her voice slicing through the tension with just two words.

“I’m going to kill someone.”

Maxwell and Hannah had seen Nova hunt down wanted criminals before–they knew she meant every word.

Even so, the news made their hearts clench.

Maxwell shot Nova a wary look, “Nova… Are you really about to-”

Nova’s

eyes dropped, a shiver of warning running down her spine–someone was coming.

Just then, a girl crept out from behind a door up ahead, moving as quietly as she could.

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She wore her hair in double ponytails and had that distinct, confident vibe–it was Verity, Nova’s cousin, no

mistake

“Um.. can we talk for a minute?” Verity edged closer, her demeanor nervous and tentative.

She hadn’t caught what Nova said about killing someone.

“Speak,” Nova said, her voice icy and sharp.

Her tone was so cold and cutting that Verity felt like an invisible blade was already at her throat.

It felt like a razor–sharp, invisible blade was poised against her throat.

One wrong word, and that blade would drop instantly, cutting her down without a second thought.

Verity swallowed hard three times, steeling herself before finally forcing the words out.

“I’m here…

“To tell you the truth about something…

“This has felt like a devil eating me alive. Every night, I’m tormented by nightmares, waking up over and over, unable to shake the guilt.”

No matter how harshly her own parents warned her, Verity could never escape her own remorse.

Standing at a safe distance, she bowed deeply to Nova.

“I’m so sorry!

“You got lost when you were a child… It was all because of me.

“They kept saying it wasn’t on me.

“Still…

“It really was me who snuck you out to the market back then. Your necklace caught my eye–it was gorgeous, so I asked if I could try it on. But you wouldn’t let me.

“The details are kind of fuzzy, but I just remember us getting into a fight.

“You were five, and I was seven.”

“But back then… I just couldn’t win against you. In a panic, I yanked your necklace and ran–just ran away.

“I did come back right after, heart pounding. But when I got there, I saw some adults stuffing you into a car. I was terrified… I didn’t know what to do.

“I raced home and told my parents, but they warned me never to breathe a word about it–no matter what.

“I can’t stand it anymore. I don’t want to spend my whole life with this guilt gnawing at me since that day…”

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Every word was crystal clear, heavy with guilt and raw honesty.

From Verity, raised by Mabel and Forge–the greediest pair one could imagine–this was probably the first time she’d ever shown real sincerity.

Maxwell and Hannah’s eyes flew wide open as they listened to Verity’s confession.

“What do you mean by that?” Hannah demanded, her voice full of disbelief.

“So, what you’re actually saying is-

“Nova didn’t just wander off to the market and get lost on her own? You were the one who took her there, then ditched her and came home without her?” Hannah asked.

Her temper snapped in an instant. She shot Verity a glare that could kill and exploded, her voice shaking with

rage.

At the same time, she pointed at Nova, then kept shouting at Verity.

“What good is your apology? Is it going to bring my grandma back from the dead?

“All this time, I’ve been blaming her!

“I kept blaming my own little sister, and now you tell me it was actually you?

“Why did you keep quiet for so long?!

“You saw them shove her into a car–why didn’t you say anything back then? We might’ve actually saved her!”

Hannah’s explosive rage was something only Nova could face head–on, her expression perfectly calm, not even a flicker crossing her face.

But for Verity, she completely fell apart–head bowed, tears streaming as she choked out apology after apology.

“I’m s–sorry… I’m so sorry…” she sobbed, voice shaking.

“Really, I’m so sorry… please…” Verity whimpered between hitching sobs.

“Hannie,” Maxwell said, putting a hand on her shoulder to keep her from going at Verity.

“Your apology means nothing to me,” Nova replied, her voice chill as ice.

Nova just watched, her face utterly blank and emotionless, as Verity sobbed and pleaded.

She spoke, cold and detached.

“Well, because you came clean, your family gets to live–for now,” Nova said, her voice cold as steel.

“I’m not accepting your apology, but believe me, I was this close to killing every last one of you,” she added, her tone flat and lethal.

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Nova never beat around the bush.

She had zero tolerance for tricks or roundabout talk.

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Those simple words-“killing every last one of you–were enough to completely shatter someone like Verity. No regular girl could handle that.

Her face, already streaked with tears, went pale with shock and terror.

“Surprised?” Nova let out a low, almost amused laugh, her voice calm as ever.

Truth is, that one reckless act from Verity when they were kids–the fight and everything that came after- turned Nova’s entire world upside down.

But even in the middle of all that misfortune, she ended up finding real, ride–or–die friends she’d risk it all for.

Like Marlie, Falcony, and Ghost–Hammer…

“It’s just killing someone–what are you so terrified about?” Nova continued, her tone icy and dismissive.

Her eyes flashed with a subtle glint..

Right in front of Maxwell, Hannah, and Verity, she began to talk about a realm neither her brother nor her sister had ever heard of.

She said, “But do you even realize the kind of hell I’ve been thrown into because of you? Every single day, it’s kill or be killed in my world.

“Landmines, battlefields, betrayal from my own crew–I’ve learned that nothing’s as dependable as cold, hard

cash.

“Thanks to you, 1,599 supposed teammates betrayed me. They chased me down for ten days and nights, never giving me a moment to breathe.

“Because of you, I had 39 bombers closing in from every direction, ready to wipe me out.

“Because of you, I’m still wanted in 29 countries–and I’ve been running ever since.”

‘You should consider it a mercy that I haven’t killed you. I won’t accept your apology, Nova said coldly.