Cross My Tigress Face the Wrath

Inside Hull's country house.

Susanna Tucker had been running a high fever, and it had left Hull absolutely

exhausted. It wasn't until around six in the evening that she finally drifted awake,

groggy and disoriented.

Hull was standing by the window, speaking on the phone, his voice low and tense.

Susanna couldn't make out what was being said on the other end.

He glanced at the watch on his wrist, then spoke coldly into the phone,

"Everything's set."

"Tell Mrs. Tucker I need to see her. No excuses."

With that, he ended the call without waiting for a reply.

He turned and caught Susanna's gaze-her eyes were glassy and dazed, like she

was still only half-awake.

"You're up?"

Susanna gave a weak nod, still feeling like she'd been run over by a truck.

Hull walked over to the bed and pressed a hand to her forehead. "Fever's mostly

gone."

A woman with a fever, he thought, could really be a handful.

Susanna looked up at him, wide-eyed and anxious. "That call just now... When

you said Mrs. Tucker, did you mean my mom?"

Just mentioning her mother made worry flicker in Susanna's eyes.

Everything she thought she knew about her life had been turned upside down in

days. And there was no one who could

what even was that place? Some kind of shadowy

Hull nodded. "Yeah."

did

lips pressed in a thin

heart started pounding, the silence making her more

too

or death.

that supposed to

sighed. "It's

"Complicated how?"

of Black Gate's

But

frowned. "What

looked her in the eye. "Your dad... He's the

Black Gate."

Susanna blinked. "Wait-what?"

was the father of

Are

dad was dead.

the ground?

face was

at him. "So then, me and the boss of Black Gate

"Half-siblings," Hull said quietly.

Susanna's mouth dropped open.

have not just a dad,

an only child her whole life, and now

out of

"Not just a brother. You've got

stared at

it's a whole

to process it. "Then why did he take my mom? And at

ready to

had said

left years ago,

"with her."

frowned. "Half a

Hull nodded.