The Real Heiress Rules the World (Sloane Rivers) novel Chapter 428

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Everyone exchanged uneasy glances; the soldier who’d been shouting the loudest earlier lowered his weapon, his face flushed with embarrassment.

Still, one of them muttered hoarsely, “We don’t even understand your tricks…”

Sloane didn’t bother to argue; she simply began packing her things, ready to move on.

But Lucas suddenly straightened, eyes sharp as a hawk’s. “Something’s off–there’s movement in the storm!” He pointed toward the hazy silhouettes flickering in the distance. “That’s not natural sand drift!”

Before anyone could respond, a bloodcurdling scream tore through the howling wind. One of the soldiers was yanked off his feet by several dark shapes and dragged into the swirling sand, vanishing in an instant.

“Ambush! Desert raiders!” Captain Marcus roared as he drew his sidearm, but his voice was swallowed by the storm’s fury. Chaos erupted–some men fired blindly into the haze; others stumbled in panic, scattering in all directions.

“Down!” Lucas shouted, shoving Sloane and Shawn behind a dune. He quickly pulled a black device from his pack and flipped a switch. Instantly, a sharp burst of static screamed through the raiders‘ earpieces.

“Ah!” The bandit leader ripped his headset off in pain, and their carefully coordinated formation fell apart at once.

Lucas seized the moment. “Shawn–smoke grenades!”

Shawn and Sloane hurled three canisters into the wind. Billows of red, yellow, and blue smoke spread eerily through the storm, blending with the swirling sand in a surreal haze. The raiders stumbled and cursed, disoriented, crashing into one another.

“Flank from the left!” Lucas shouted to Marcus, signaling a precise tactical hand sign.

Marcus froze for a moment, stunned by Lucas‘ combat expertise, then instinctively followed the order. “Team A, with me!”

Fifteen minutes later, the fight was over. The raiders lay dead or fled into the dunes–but the team had paid a price: three soldiers were shot, and five more suffered burns from the sandstorm.

Sloane immediately opened her medical kit, pulling out her needles and medicinal powder. One man, shot in the abdomen, groaned weakly, “No… not that witchcraft…”

“Shut up, Josh!” Hart barked, his own arm bleeding heavily from a grazing wound. “Let her treat you!”

Sloane’s hands moved swiftly; she inserted fine needles into the man’s acupoints, then applied a thin layer of healing powder. To everyone’s astonishment, the bleeding stopped almost instantly, and the man’s expression relaxed.

“This… this is unreal,” Marcus muttered, his voice trembling as he stared at the wound that had just stopped bleeding.

While bandaging another injured soldier, Shawn looked up. “Dr. Rivers’s medical skill could bring the dead back to life where she’s from.”

The most stubborn soldier–now pale and weak–grasped Sloane’s hand. “I’m sorry… Dr. Rivers… for what I said before…”

Sloane gave a small shake of her head. “How are you feeling now?”

“Much better… really…” The hulking man, nearly six and a half feet tall, blinked back tears. “Thank you.”

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5:17 pm M A

Chapter 428 A Lesson in Respect

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Marcus approached Lucas, posture stiff with respect, and saluted. “Mr. Hawthorne, I owe you an apology for my behavior earlier. From now on, I want you to help me lead this team.”

Lucas gave a slight nod, his gaze fixed on the fading storm in the distance. “Rest for an hour, then we move. The raiders‘ presence means we’re close to our target.”

No one objected this time. The team quietly began to reorganize their gear. The soldier who’d once been most resistant now hovered near Sloane, carefully helping her pack–his eyes full of awe.

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