Chapter 610

When Hayden found himself surrounded by dozens of henchmen, each with a bucket of balls in front of them, I knew exactly what Bruno had planned. They were going to turn Hayden into a human target.

“If you’ve got any guts, face Hayden one-on-one! This gang-style ambush… what kind of man does that make you?” Yara shot at him, unable to hold back.

“This isn’t something a real man would do. Word will get around, and people will laugh at you,” Jace added, his voice steady despite the fresh bandages on his arm.

I stayed silent. It wasn’t that I didn’t care or didn’t want to speak up for Hayden. I just knew the more we tried to reason with Bruno, the more he’d dig in his heels.

Bruno wasn’t someone you could easily talk sense into. I’d barely been around him, but already I could tell he was unpredictable—like a storm waiting to tear through everything in his path. The more you tried to stop him, the harder he pushed.

Sure enough, Bruno’s answer was exactly what I expected. “People haven’t laughed at me enough? Like I care what they think.”

“This isn’t fair,” Yara tried again. She was beautiful, capable—but still naive when it came to guys like Bruno.

“Oh, you want fair?” Bruno sneered. “Fine. Then join him. You two can play together.”

With a snap of his fingers, Yara was shoved into the circle.

Hayden’s face went hard. “Why did you provoke him?” he asked, irritation flashing in his eyes.

“I had to, or how else was I going to help you?” Yara said, standing strong beside him.

As I watched them, a single word flashed through my mind: matched. It clicked—Yara wasn’t clueless about what Bruno was trying to do. She just wanted to protect the person she cared about.

“This is between you and me, Bruno. It has nothing to do with anyone else. Let her go,” Hayden said, his voice steady, but I could see the worry in his eyes.

Bruno chuckled darkly. “Oh, it has nothing to do with her? She’s your woman, trying to protect you. You two make quite the heroic couple. Really nauseating, you know that?”

Then he turned his gaze to me. “Isn’t that right, snooker girl?” He was baiting me, trying to get a rise.

I stayed silent, not giving him the satisfaction.

“Aren’t you going to step in and help him out?” Bruno taunted. “You two shared something special once, didn’t you?”

Chapter 510

His meaning was clear—he wanted me in the circle too. He didn’t care about fairness. He wanted to make this as complicated as possible for Hayden and Yara. I wasn’t as skilled as Yara, so if I got involved, they’d be distracted, trying to protect me. It would make it that much harder for them to dodge the balls flying at them.

“Bruno, however you want to play this is on you. Leave me out of it,” I said, trying to steer him away from his twisted idea.

“But this all started because of you,” Bruno said with a wicked smile.

“Don’t drag in innocent people,” Jace added, his voice like ice.

Bruno shot him a sidelong glance. “What’s the matter? You want in too?” Then he shook his head, the mockery clear. “Actually, never mind. In your condition, you’d just ruin the vibe.”

Bruno was enjoying this, savoring every moment of our discomfort. He wasn’t just out to win—he wanted to break us, piece by piece.

“Enough with the chatter. If you’re going to do this, just get on with it,” Hayden said, his patience clearly wearing thin.

“Oh, you’re in such a hurry,” Bruno replied with a sinister grin. “But before we start, don’t you want to leave some final words? Just in case things…. don’t go your way?”

Hayden’s jaw clenched. Without another word, he kicked the nearest man with enough force to send him flying. It was Hayden’s way of showing Bruno that he wasn’t going down without a fight.

Clap, clap… Bruno started clapping again, that mocking smile plastered on his face. “Impressive moves, Agent Hart. You’re clearly confident. Guess I’ll just have to raise the stakes for you.”

With a flick of his wrist, I was shoved forward, right into the circle.

“Rea!” Jace called out, struggling to get up, but his injuries kept him down as someone shoved him back into his seat.

“Agent Hart, you’d better protect the woman you love,” Bruno taunted, his grin widening. He grabbed a ball from a nearby bucket and flung it straight at me.