Cross My Tigress Face the Wrath (Stella)

Stella was right. When it came to Hull, it was all about survival, and from now on, she's not doing a single thing.

Listening to her voice, full of grievance, Hull glanced down, a slight smirk creeping onto his lips.

"Then don't do anything."

Susanna inquired, "So you just want to keep a freeloader around?"

"A suspect."

Susanna's eyes widened.

"Alright then, a suspect it is." she murmured to herself.

After all, what happened last night was no small thing. Hull had a close call, and Susanna knew if anything had happened to him, she probably wouldn't have lived to see today.

"Just make sure your people get to the bottom of this quickly," she insisted. She swore that once everything was resolved, she'd fly straight to Stella and never look back at Hull again.

Over the past few days, Susanna, who had never believed in bad luck, was beginning to suspect that Hull was a jinx. How many things had gone wrong since she'd been around him? She still had a lot of living left to do.

"But what if your people get it wrong?" Susanna asked, glancing at Hull with apprehension.

After all, it was his team doing the digging. If they pinned something on her by mistake, she'd be done for. They were already itching to get rid of her as it was; if they found anything solid, she'd be toast.

Her thoughts spiraled, and she felt her heart race with anxiety.

Hull looked at her, silent but with a hint of danger in his gaze.

Susanna was even more on edge. "I mean, nobody's perfect, right? Mistakes happen."

Surely she wouldn't have to pay with her life for someone else's mistake?

"If they're wrong," Hull said, "they're as good as dead."

Susanna gulped. So, the investigators would be in trouble. But what about her?

Meeting Hull's dangerous gaze, Susanna swallowed hard, a picture of

despondency. Clearly, reasoning with some outlaw like Hull was futile.

...

Feeling a little defeated, Susanna slumped as she headed downstairs, her spirits

as low as they could get.

Silas had been efficient, hiring a cook for the villa, though there were still no other staff around. The cook greeted Susanna with a respectful nod. "Hello, Ms. Tucker." swnovel

"Hi," Susanna replied, her voice lacking energy.

The cook handed her a freshly squeezed glass of orange juice. "This is for Mr. Miguel. Could you please take it up to his room?"

When Silas had hired her, he'd been

clear: no one was to enter Hull's study or bedroom, and it was best to avoid going upstairs altogether. But since Hull wasn't coming down, the task fell to Susanna. swnovel

The moment the cook asked her to take the juice to Hull, memories of all the trouble she'd caused around him flooded back. Alarms went off in her head.

"No, no, no," she declined, shaking her head vigorously. "I'm not going to do anything right now."

What if the juice was tampered with? If something happened to Hull after drinking it, she'd be implicated for sure.

Back when she was the only one handling things, disasters happened easily enough. Now, with two people involved...

Having learned her lesson, Susanna refused touching anything related to Hull. The cook looked puzzled.

"You go ahead," Susanna insisted. Not a chance she got involved.noveldrama

The cook uttered, "But Silas said I'm not supposed to enter Mr. Miguel's bedroom

or study, not even go upstairs."

"Then let him come down for it."

Anyway, she wasn't going to deliver that.

The cook hesitated. Asking Mr. Miguel come down? She wouldn't dare.

Susanna shrugged. "Or you could just leave it at his door instead of walking in."

"Silas said not to go to the second floor, and if I touch something I shouldn't, I could get into serious trouble."

Susanna fell silent. Something they shouldn't touch...

Susanna remembered Silas telling t

her the same thing about not touching certain things. Even Stella had warned her that entering Hull's domain uninvited could be perilous. swnovel

"Well, I'm not going. He can come down when he's thirsty."

The cook was clearly distressed.

Susanna was done with anything related to Hull. Just as she was to add more, Stella's call came through, and Susanna eagerly picked it up. "Hey, Star."