Cross My Tigress Face the Wrath (Stella) novel Chapter 991

“Wait, Yorick Quarry is the one who called you?” Stella Quinn asked.

“That’s right! The whole time he was telling me about it, I couldn’t shake the feeling there was something sneaky going on,” Susanna Tucker replied.

Stella paused, unable to find the words for a moment. “Just be careful how you handle this, okay? I don’t know why, but this whole thing just feels like a train wreck.”

“Ferrowland has always been a train wreck,” Stella said with a resigned sigh.

Susanna felt her heart sink a little at that. She remembered all those times back in Portis City when Stella would mention Ferrowland: always with a heavy sigh, always shaking her head in exasperation.

She could go full throttle at the Larkin family, she could freeze Yorick out in a heartbeat—but when Ferrowland came up, there was only this sense of helpless resignation.

As if the mess there had rotted so deep, you’d have to rip everything out to make a fresh start—and even then, who knew if it would work?

“My life feels like a mess these days too,” Susanna admitted. She thought about the differences between her and Stella’s worlds—how, back in Portis City, her own life had always been steady and peaceful.

Now it was as though chaos kept lining up at her door, each new problem stomping in before she’d even figured out the last one.

“Look, relax,” Stella said. “You’ve got Hull in your corner.”

“My mom just called.” The words tumbled out of Susanna before she could stop them. “She told me Derek Murray isn’t my father.”

There was a stunned silence on Stella’s end.

“Wait—what?” Stella finally managed.

“I don’t think she was just lashing out or anything,” Susanna went on. “She sounded serious, like she was spelling out the truth for me: Derek isn’t my father.”

Stella blinked, trying to process it. “Then who is your father?”

“I asked. She wouldn’t say. Just hung up,” Susanna said.

Another long pause followed.

“God, this is such a mess!” Susanna groaned, her energy draining.

Stella fell silent, waiting for Susanna to continue.

“Hull’s crew is ruthless—and Yvonne, Mr. Schultz… The stuff they’ve done to Black Gate lately? You wouldn’t believe it. They’re tearing that place to pieces.” Just watching was enough to make Susanna feel that Black Gate was getting ripped apart, inch by ferocious inch. “Honestly, thank God Derek’s not my father—I don’t even feel guilty about any of it.”

“The only weird part is, Derek refuses to acknowledge me as his daughter, but for some reason he’s convinced I am.”

“That means he’ll be after you, right?” Stella pointed out.

“Exactly! He thinks I’m his ticket to solving Black Gate’s problems. But what could I possibly do?”

“Don’t sell yourself short,” Stella said, her voice a shade softer. “You matter to Hull more than you think.”

“That’s not what I mean,” Susanna explained. “Compared to all the stuff Yvonne and Mr. Schultz fought to get their hands on, Derek actually thinks he can use me to bring everything back to its original owners. Like that could ever work.”

“That’s never going to happen,” Stella said flatly.