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?"

tone became. He'd been searching for Lacey for years, never finding her never realizing Dan was the one erasing

Gate. Her being alive was as much a threat to Dan as it was to Derek and

you expect? If she hadn't come back, you'd have snatched all the power from me and handed it over to Finch by now,

ruled Black Gate, and the one with the

and Finch had bigger problems than Dan. One Lacey

Derek was silent.

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

dark pool-but no one

rightful heir, Derek, was a hopeless romantic, even stooping to

own son, couldn't

the whole

shot Dan one last glare, then turned

Dan called after him, "If Lacey hadn't come back, were you planning to

brother. Years ago, during that infamous baby switch, Derek's lover got promoted, but Finch

voice was icy, his

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

that con, I'd be just like Lacey's

That word-gratitude-hit a nerve.

mother, ruined her, and I'm

she hadn't played her hand, I wouldn't even

threat to anyone's ambitions. But now Derek was

since, back then, he was the

slammed the door on