Cross My Tigress Face the Wrath (Stella)

After all, with the whole deal between Susanna and Dan... you just never know if Yvonne might take it all out on Susie because of Dan.

Ronald shook his head. "Relax. She won't."

"Are you sure?" Stella still sounded worried.

"She won't," Ronald repeated, calm as ever.

Stella sighed, unconvinced.

"She'll just use Susanna as a weapon. Her own little dagger-aimed straight at Dan."

Stella let out a long breath. Yeah... that did sound like something Yvonne would do.

It made her feel a little better, but she couldn't help worrying that Susanna might not be able to handle it. The truth was, Susanna really had zero experience in this sort of thing.

With Yvonne's... intense methods, there was just no telling how rough it'd get for her.

Hull stepped out of the Quinn family's country estate just as his phone started buzzing.

Xander's name lit up the screen. Hull answered, and the tension was obvious from the first second.

"Stop looking," Xander said, voice ice-cold.

Hull's jaw clenched. "And what's that supposed to mean, Mr. Schultz?"

"Don't worry. She hasn't eaten your girlfriend alive," Xander replied, with a hint of a smirk you could hear right through the speaker.

Hull had spent the last few days turning the whole city upside down looking for Susanna. Xander knew exactly why he was so desperate he was terrified Yvonne would do something crazy because of Dan.

Hull's grip tightened on the phone. "So you know where they are?"

Xander just grunted.

Hull's face darkened. "Where?"

They were married, after all. Hull's people hadn't been able to track down Yvonne anywhere, but Xander apparently had the inside scoop.

"Pick her up in twenty-seven days," Xander said.

"Twenty-seven days?" Hull echoed.noveldrama

"Mhm."

Hull stared at the ground, silent.

He glanced over at Silas, who, along with Barnaby, looked utterly wiped out. None

of them had slept much, all focused on finding Susanna.

Hull remembered Ronald's earlier advice: "Keep an eye on Xander." Damn, he really had thought of everything.

He'd assumed Xander and Yvonne's marriage was just for show, but looking at things now... it seemed pretty real.

Before he could ask anything else, Xander hung up.

Twenty-seven days...? Like what happened with Stella all those years ago? But t Susanna was no Stella.

Even if both of them started out net

clueless, Stella had grown up around Ronald-she'd been exposed to all that craziness, at least a little.

Ronald used to take her to visit those training camps, let her play around. Susanna, though? She'd never even seen any of it. Was she really not going to totally freak out?

Thinking about how timid she'd been around him lately made Hull's temples throb. Silas broke the silence. "Mr. Schultz, you know where Susanna is now?" "Yeah," Hull replied, not bothering to hide his irritation.

Barnaby piped up, "So what are we waiting for? Let's just go ask Mr. Schultz to give her back!"

Silas shot Barnaby a look like he was a complete idiot. Go ask Xander? Like that would ever work.

Hull lit a cigarette, eyes sharp as a hawk. "Keep eyes on Xander at all times." Going straight to demand Susanna back was pointless-and probably dangerous.

Silas nodded. "Got it."

Barnaby looked bewildered. "But if you know Xander knows, why not just—"

"Just do it," Hull snapped, cutting him off.

Meanwhile, thousands of miles

away on a secluded island off the coast, Yvonne was lounging in a deck chair, oversized sunglasses perched on her nose, a giant straw sunhat shading her face from the afternoon sun.

She sipped lemonade from a tall glass, watching with a smirk as Susanna trudged

up the beach, hauling a fishing net over one shoulder and lugging a plastic bucket in the other hand.

Susanna looked absolutely

exhausted, cheeks flushed and hair

a mess. When she finally reached Yvonne, she dropped the net with a

dramatic thud right by Yvonne's

chair, then slammed the bucket onto the sand.

The glare she shot Yvonne could've curdled milk, but honestly? It was more cute

than scary—like a kitten trying to roar.