Cross My Tigress Face the Wrath (Stella)

Yvonne just chuckled, saying nothing.

Susanna caught the look and knew right away-yeah, she wasn't gonna make the cut. No way. She'd only been living like this for what, a hot minute? There was no competing with Dan.

But still, she thought, damn, she worked her butt off for this. If there was no reward, what was even the point?

Yvonne said, "Go take a shower."

"I can't move," Susanna groaned.

"I'll help you then?"

Susanna hesitated. Honestly, it didn't sound half bad. She was so wiped out, her fingers could barely twitch. She was ready to just collapse on the floor and sleep for a week.

So, in the end... Yvonne did help her shower. It was a rushed, half-hearted affair, but whatever.

Susanna couldn't help thinking: this wasn't training, this was like taking care of some spoiled princess. Like dealing with Star-high maintenance to the core.

The second she sank into the couch, she was half asleep, teetering on the edge of dreamland.

Then suddenly-sharp, stinging pain shot through her leg.

She jolted awake, yelling, "Ow, ow, ow! What the hell?!"

Yvonne was disinfecting her wounds.

Couldn't she use something besides rubbing alcohol? That stuff on scraped skin felt like hell itself.

Tears stung Susanna's eyes. "Seriously, that hurts like crazy!"

Yvonne replied, "If you don't clean it properly, you'll wish you had when it gets infected."

"Why can't you use iodine or something?"

"We're out. Island's empty."noveldrama

Susanna stared at her. "How do you run out of basic first aid stuff?"

She wanted to complain, but decided to suck it up.

Yvonne was meticulous with the bandages, and once the disinfecting was over, the rest didn't hurt so much.

Watching Yvonne carefully wrap her leg, Susanna's eyes went hot. Tears slipped down her cheeks before she could stop them.

Yvonne looked up. "Why are you crying?"

"I just... you're kind of nice, you know?"

If only she was this gentle during training.

But, nope. Never. Every time training ended, Yvonne would patch her up with the same care. But during the drills? If Susanna didn't hit every mark, there was no mercy, no break.

།

"Don't get sappy," Yvonne said dryly. "I'm only doing this for Star's sake."

Honestly, it was true. If Susanna went home all battered and bruised, Star would bawl her eyes out and never let Yvonne hear the end of it.

Susanna's tears didn't bother her much, but Star's? Those she couldn't handle.

"And anyway," Yvonne added, "Dan's no joke."

Susanna frowned. "But I haven't even done anything to him!"

She hadn't caused trouble, hadn't stepped on anyone's toes. So why was Dan gunning for her?

"Simple," Yvonne said. "If you're

gone, Huff and your mom won't

team up. And your mom'll have it out

for the Quinn family, making even

more enemies. It's a win for Dan

either way."

"Your mom and Derek-only one's coming out on top. If she wins, Dan's her new enemy. So Dan's just getting ahead of the game, stacking the deck against Lacey so she can't keep up."

Susanna's jaw dropped. "So Hull and the Quinn family... that's just..."

"Exactly. That's why you can't die. In fact, you need to make sure Dan goes down first."

Susanna was silent. Damn. That was some next-level scheming.

She'd heard of families fighting over inheritance, but this? This was straight-up cutthroat. She'd never seen anyone ready to kill their own kin like this.

Now she had.

...

The next morning, Chloe woke Susanna at the crack of dawn to go run laps. And

this time, it felt different.