A Widow's Poison, A Wife's Rebellion novel Chapter 1180

A bitter, self-deprecating smile twisted Fairfax's lips.

"Bad news! Bad news!" Yvonne's voice rang out, interrupting the heavy silence between the two men.

Amos's heart tightened at her panicked tone. He grabbed her arm. "What's wrong?"

"Susanna went to Yoran Country," Yvonne gasped.

Amos went rigid. Fairfax stared in shock.

Hearing that Susanna Yelchin had gone straight into Yardley Hoggart's territory gave Amos an instant migraine. This wasn't just a minor complication.

He turned sharply to Fairfax. "Let me make this clear right now: we are not sending men to rescue her!"

"And honestly, she doesn't need rescuing!"

Amos had figured out the twisted dynamic between Susanna and Yardley. The last time they had gotten involved in a hostage exchange with Yardley, it had ended in utter disaster—it had cost Starla her life.

Fairfax's chest heaved with a dull ache. "Yardley Hoggart is a—"

"Stop. Don't say another word," Amos cut him off fiercely, knowing exactly where the conversation was heading. "I know Yardley is a bastard. But what's going on between them is personal, romantic entanglement. It does not require us sending our people into a meat grinder."

Whatever happened, Amos absolutely refused to authorize a rescue mission.

They had lost too many good people the last time they tangled with Yardley. Amos was still deeply bitter about it. "Don't forget, the last time we played this game, it cost Ms. Lansbury her life. Our people's lives matter too!"

He hadn't even finished mourning the disaster with Starla, and now Fairfax wanted to throw more bodies at the problem?

"He'll actually kill Susanna..." Fairfax argued desperately.

"That's just what you think! If Yardley wanted her dead, he wouldn't have gone to such extreme lengths to force her back to Yoran Country, would he?"

He had utilized substantial Yelchin family leverage to make it happen. Sure, Susanna's life with Yardley would be a living hell, but he wasn't going to kill her. And even if they did miraculously extract her, Yardley would just find another twisted way to drag her back. It was an endless, vicious cycle.

Amos was firmly refusing to get dragged into that nightmare again.