Cross My Tigress Face the Wrath (Stella) novel Chapter 836

"Or maybe," Dan said, his gaze shifting to Derek, "you’re thinking about using Susanna to threaten Lacey?"

Derek’s breath caught in his throat.

He turned to Finch, whose face tightened under his stare. "Dad, it wasn’t me!"

Derek looked to Adelle next.

Her hand went to her chest, eyes wide and hurt. "Derek, you don’t trust me now?"

Dan’s relentless logic was turning Derek’s mind into a warzone. It didn’t matter anymore who he once trusted or how sure he’d been of anyone. Right now, the Black Gate was in the middle of a crisis, and every ounce of trust he’d had in anyone just crumbled like a sandcastle in the tide.

Seeing Derek’s silence, Adelle’s eyes brimmed over: "Finch and I didn’t take them, I swear."

Finch’s voice cracked. "Dad, Dan’s trying to frame us!"

Dan just shrugged, a sly grin on his lips. "Come on, Finch. Framing you guys? That’s not my style. I’d rather cook up a scheme that has Lacey tear you both to shreds. Why would I take her?"

Finch: "…"

Derek: "…" Derek shot Dan a glare so cold, the room seemed to drop a few degrees.

When had his own son become such a stranger? He could still remember when Dan used to trail behind him, tugging on his coat, calling out, "Dad!"

Dan met his father’s gaze. "Don’t say I didn’t warn you. They want her, and they’re not going to back down."

Finch’s voice was rising now, trembling with anger. "You’ve taken her, haven’t you? You’re done with Black Gate, so you roped in the Quinns and the Schultzes to destroy everything? If you can’t have it, no one can!"

The argument was spiraling out of control.

Dan was convinced Derek—or Finch and Adelle—had taken her.

Finch was sure Dan had done it, working with the Quinn and Schultz families to bring down Black Gate. If Dan couldn’t have it, he’d make sure nobody could.

Adelle’s eyes filled again, her voice breaking. "Derek, how can you think that of us?"

Adelle had never been accused like this before, never felt so small.

Derek pressed a hand to his forehead, his breathing ragged. "I’m telling you both, if something happens to Susanna and Lacey, it’s not just Black Gate that’s finished. We’re all finished."

"But we really didn’t take them," Finch insisted, his eyes pleading. Adelle nodded miserably beside him.

Derek’s frustration was boiling over. "Then what about Leanne and Ivanna? What happened there?"

At the mention of their names, a flicker of guilt crossed Adelle’s face.

She had sent them away. When Lacey first came back, Adelle thought she was here for revenge for her own child—and she worried Lacey might rekindle something with Derek. If Susanna was gone, what cards would Lacey have left to play?

And so, Adelle had made her move.