Cross My Tigress Face the Wrath (Stella)

Ronald nodded with a soft, "Yeah," ruffled her silky hair, and turned to leave the

room.

Stella really was starting to feel sleepy.

She turned, crawled into bed, and was just about to drift off when her phone buzzed. It was Susanna. "Did you just grill Hull about something again?"

Stella squinted. "Or did you maybe blurt out something like, 'Let's get married right now'?"

Susanna: "!!!"

Uhh...

So now, in Stella's mind, these two things had become Susanna's signature

moves when it came to Hull-either stripping him down (figuratively or literally), or dropping some bombshell line.

Susanna groaned. "Remember earlier, when I told you I was scared to admit I liked him?"

Stella thought for a second. Yeah, that rang a bell.

Susanna always seemed to be poking or prodding Hull in some way, so it made sense Stella suspected there were feelings there.

"I remember. So what happened?"

Could it be something to do with that? Maybe she'd accidentally upset Hull again? Stella wouldn't be surprised. Whenever Susanna got into trouble with Hull, it was always in this exact way.

Susanna sighed. “He asked me why I'm scared to like him."

Stella: "!!!"

Well, that was unexpected.

From what she knew of Hull, that didn't seem like his style at all.

"And... what did you say?"

There was a lot to unpack here, and Stella couldn't quite process it all at once.

Susanna: “I didn't dare answer! Anyway, forget about me screwing up for a second."

"So what's up?"

"My mom. Turns out, she really was the boss of Black Gate. Isn't that super dangerous?"

Susanna was clearly fishing for info, but apart from a few things she'd overheard from Hull, she was totally in the dark.

Stella replied, "I don't know about dangerous, but honestly, there's nothing you can do right now."

Ronald had told her the same thing he couldn't help, either.

If Ronald couldn't do anything, Susanna definitely couldn't.

Susanna: "I just want to see her. Just once."

Stella: "..."

See her mom?

Susanna: "Do you think Mr. Quinn could help? Star, you're my only hope here."

Stella sighed. "I'll ask him."

velan

This was Black Gate business, after all. Even though Ronald had his own connections in Ferrowland's underworld, he and Black Gate had always kept out of each other's way. noveldrama

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He always said Black Gate was a tangled mess, and he had no interest in getting caught up in drama. His own network was more than enough.

After a little more back-and-forth, Stella hung up and dialed Ronald.

Back when they were in Portis City,

problems were at

handled right away. Now, it

Stella's turn to pull strings.

The call connected, and Ronald's voice came through, warm and teasing: "Can't

sleep without me there?"

Stella's cheeks flushed. "What? No! That's not it at all."

"Hmm?"

"It's Susie. She wants to see Lacey. Any chance you can help?"

With Black Gate involved, Stella honestly didn't know if Ronald could pull it off, but

it couldn't hurt to ask.

Sure enough, there was a pause on the other end.

Then Ronald said, "I'll take care of it."

"Seriously? You can do that? Please, Susie's been a wreck over her mom—she's barely eating or sleeping."

Ever since Lacey's incident, every call from Susanna had been about her mom.

Ronald's lips curled into a faint smile. "Got it. Now get some sleep."

He soothed her for a moment, then ended the call.

Turning to Idris, who was driving up front, Ronald said, "Call Hull. Tell him Susanna wants to see her mother."

Idris: "..."

Uh... couldn't Miss Susanna just ask Mr. Miguel herself?