Cross My Tigress Face the Wrath

Yvonne was getting a bit anxious.

She dreaded Ronald's silence because when he clammed up, it meant he was plotting something big.

"You know, I miss Star too," she said.

Hearing this stirred a wave of unexpected emotion within Stella.

Ronald snorted. "You were in cahoots with Skye, and now you claim you can't reach her?"

Yvonne replied, "I really don't know. She gave me a number, but now she's unreachable."

Yvonne was on the brink of losing it.

What on earth was Skye up to? It was bad enough if others couldn't get hold of her, but Yvonne was her boss, for crying out loud.

Skye had taken so much from her, and now, when Yvonne had instructions, Skye was nowhere to be found. What was she playing at?

"Hey, maybe you could have Idris intercept her or something? Umm... where is he?"

Yvonne asked the last question with a note of trepidation. For years, she had avoided speaking of him, and no one had dared to touch the scar on her heart.

In her mind, she had even accepted his death, holding a solemn vigil for him in the corners of her memory.

Yet, now Ronald was saying he'd seen him.

The long-buried emotions in Yvonne's heart seemed to spring to life, sudden and overwhelming, like a desert blooming after an unexpected rain. Ronald furrowed his brow, "This is your mess..."

"Come on, I'm your sister. Can you really bear to see me live like a widow forever?"

That had been Yvonne's plan. The person who mattered most to her was gone, and she had decided to live her life in mourning for him. Ronald's breath hitched.

grasp the conversation between him and Yvonne, but she caught the careful tone in

at her, meeting her wide, watery eyes, and

really can't get

Believe me. I wouldn't joke

"him," Yvonne

considered this. Yvonne wasn't the type to joke

meeting Stella's pleading gaze, Ronald reached out and gently pinch her cheek, then spoke

place in the middle of a desert, two hundred miles from

he

visited once

impressed with

the location-

e there. Content besthe

not be

over

added, "Idris saw him. But

the

go

front of

didn't see him burned to ashes, did

and Stella

suddenly realized who

five years ago, the man who had made Yvonne swap her androgynous wardrobe for

left a deep mark on her, disappearing just when Yvonne had fallen for him the

"I'll send a few people with you. That place is

remote, had become a haven for all sorts of

Yvonne replied, "No need."