Cross My Tigress Face the Wrath

Derek: "Shut your mouth."

Dan: "Wow, Dad. All that scheming just for a woman, huh?"

Derek's face darkened, his eyes flashing dangerously.

Dan kept pushing, "If you're so capable, why not do it on your own? Instead, you manipulate women to get everything you want, and then complain that their kids are ruining your love life?"

"Dan!"

Derek's voice was sharp, cold, and warning, his glare icy.

Dan met his gaze, unflinching.

"It's a shame, really. You calculated every move, but you didn't expect the first Mrs. Murray to be smarter than you. Before you ditched her, she set you up."

Lacey had run off with half the map.

That move sent shockwaves through the whole Black Gate circle.

And Dan's mother? In the end, she had to die for Derek's sake, so he could go play happy families with that other woman.

At the mention of Lacey, Derek's expression turned downright murderous. The tension in the room was thick enough to cut with a knife.

Dan just gave a bitter laugh at the sight.

Derek: "You brought her back on purpose, didn't you? And you've been helping her cover her tracks all these years?"

for Lacey for years, never finding her never realizing Dan was the

Gate. Her being alive was as much a

she hadn't come back, you'd have snatched all

only woman who ever ruled Black Gate, and the one with the

both Derek and Finch had bigger problems than Dan.

Derek was silent.

you a favor and found her. Whether you can get that half of the map from her for Finch?

whispered that Black Gate was a deep, dark pool-but no one really knew how

even stooping to fake a marriage

son, couldn't help

the whole

he might explode. He shot Dan one

Lacey hadn't come back, were you planning to give even my name

during that infamous baby switch, Derek's lover got promoted, but Finch was left out in the cold,

voice was icy,

around, cold as a winter storm. "Leanne took care of you for three years.

Dan scoffed. "If my mom hadn't pulled that con, I'd be just like Lacey's

That word-gratitude-hit a nerve.

I'm supposed to

played her hand, I wouldn't even

daughter-no threat to anyone's ambitions.

back then, he was the

the door on