Cross My Tigress Face the Wrath

Actually, before Hull came back, Susanna had really wanted to ask Barnaby about

it.

But Barnaby was glued to his phone, scrolling through TikToks, barely

acknowledging she existed.

So when Hull finally came home, he walked right into Susanna shooting daggers at Barnaby, her face a picture of pure exasperation.

Now, hearing Susanna say she had questions for him, Hull frowned. "About your mom?"

"Yeah, and about my mom. Didn't you say you had a lead on her? What happened?"

It wasn't just about herself-her mom was always at the back of her mind.

Every time she thought about how the Murray family had treated her and her mom, Susanna's worry only grew.

Growing up, all she really knew was that her mother was always busy with work. She was hardly ever home.

Susanna had barely ever felt what real family warmth was like.

She'd always longed for her mother's love, sometimes even daydreamed about what it'd be like if her dad had been around.

What was it her mom had said back then? Something like, "Susie, your dad's been gone a long time."

Hearing that as a kid had crushed her.

at things now, sometimes she wondered if being gone was better. At least the dead didn't drag you into all this mess.

"Your mom's okay.

"So where are they?"

"That... I'm not sure."

though-Lacey and Lincoln were together, wherever they'd gone.

know where they are, how can you be so sure they're

"Lincoln left a sign."

only Hull could read, meaning

All's well...

only mean one thing: the two of them had left for some other

job was to

ack Gatenet

Gate distractiet

Lacey and Lincoln

to de whatever they

still

pinched her cheek, his eyes soft.

it like that, Susanna couldn't help

hadn't seen her mom

right—look what we found near Lincoln's

dug into his jacket pocket and pulled out a

in her brow finally eased as

asked, "What is

a little.

shown her it together with another item