Cross My Tigress Face the Wrath (Stella) novel Chapter 1085

Finley caught sight of Uriah gripping Tegan’s injured wrist. The patch of frostbitten skin, already flushed red, began turning an ugly shade of purple under his squeeze.

A wave of outrage washed over Finley. He stormed forward and yanked Tegan's hand away from Uriah’s grasp with force.

“Uriah, are you fucking blind? Can’t you see she’s hurt there?”

Uriah fell silent, his breath growing heavy. He instinctively glanced at the wrist now cradled protectively in Finley’s hands, the skin where he’d squeezed already mottled with bruises.

“How did this happen?” Uriah demanded, voice rough.

Tegan met his gaze but said nothing. The question was pointless—she’d told him yesterday. What had he said on the phone? Something about her making a scene. She’d insisted Leslie had sent people after her, that she’d barely escaped being kidnapped. And Uriah? He'd just said, “Leslie would never do something like that.”

Finley’s patience snapped. “You don’t know how she got hurt? Leslie sent thugs to kidnap her. She was trapped in a freezing cave on the cliffs—”

Uriah cut him off. “The two of you rehearsed this story together, didn’t you?”

The accusation fell heavy and toxic, sucking all the warmth from the room.

Tegan’s frosty eyes met Uriah’s, filled now with chill resentment and an impenetrable distance.

Finley stared, his mind nearly blank with disbelief. “Are you insane, Uriah? Seriously? You think we set all this up just to go after Leslie? Who the hell does she think she is that we’d round up a whole team to stage an elaborate conspiracy just for her?”

He lifted Tegan's arm, showing Uriah the ugly bruises. “Look at this! It’s from being trapped in that cave all night. There’s more—here, and here.” As he pointed out each injury—hand, wrist—what little color remained in her skin was marred by unmistakable frostbite. Thankfully, it wasn’t severe, but there was no mistaking that she’d been hurt.

A flicker of something unreadable passed through Uriah’s eyes.

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