Cross My Tigress Face the Wrath

Topic Shift: "By the way, the Quarry family called me."

At the mention of the Quarrys, Ronald's face immediately darkened. "And what did they want?"

Lottie shrugged. "What else? Beg you to go easy on them. Thane called me himself."

Thane. For years, that guy had always given off this untouchable, arrogant vibe. For him to pick up the phone now? He must really be desperate.

Ronald scoffed. "If his kids can't manage to behave like decent human beings, what am I supposed to do about it?"

Just a few days ago, all that drama in Portis City was clearly orchestrated to use Stella as leverage, hoping to make Ronald back off.

Threaten him? Yeah, right.

People seemed to forget: Ronald never bowed to threats. If they wanted to go scorched earth with him, he'd happily turn their world to ash.

Lottie nodded. "Yeah, make sure Star keeps off her phone lately. Last thing we need is some desperate idiot going after her."

Now that both the Quarrys and the Larkins were bankrupt, all they had left was their lives-and they were getting reckless.

Ronald's tone softened. "Yeah, I got it."

another minute

as Ronald turned to leave, Stella's phone

a moment, then declined the call. He texted Idris instead: "Call Susanna. Help her with

Ronald's mind, Susanna was always a bit of a drama queen. He

let her stress Star out at a time like

instantly:

Susanna's

that handled, Ronald headed back to the dining room, where Stella was munching

grinned, and held out another slice. "Try this! It's

chef had seriously upped

Stella felt like she was gaining weight by the day-well, pregnancy would do that. Ever since she'd found out she was expecting, she'd been extra careful about eating

he gently grabbed her hand, the one she was nibbling on. "I want this

half-eaten piece she was holding up

Stella blinked, speechless.

did he always insist

bad. Tastes just like you," Ronald teased,

and playful, and Stella's cheeks

just tournent