Cross My Tigress Face the Wrath

Faced with Lottie's interrogation, Melissa swore up and down on everything she held dear.

Sure, the younger generation of the Norton family had seen better days, but Old Mr. Norton still had some clout in Ferrowland.

And, well... in Ferrowland, folks take their promises seriously.

Swearing an oath-especially the kind where you're basically saying, "Strike me down if I'm lying"-isn't something anyone does lightly. If Melissa really had something to hide, she'd probably have tried to use Old Mr. Norton as her shield, not stack up oaths like pancakes at a Sunday brunch.

Stella glanced at Lottie. "Mom, maybe it wasn't her after all?"

Just the fact that Melissa was willing to swear so many oaths made it seem unlikely she was the culprit.

Lottie narrowed her eyes, studying Melissa.

Melissa, exasperated, threw up her hands. “It seriously wasn't me! If I'm lying, may lightning strike me right now-how about that?"

She was practically losing it.

Who the hell did this, anyway? When she found out, she was going to make them wish they'd never been born.

What kind of twisted person has a crush on a guy but can't just own up to it? What kind of nonsense is that?

The more she thought about it, the angrier Melissa got.

In her head, she was already coming up with a hundred different ways to make whoever did this pay.

Lottie glanced at the butler. "Show her out."

Clearly, at this point, Melissa was looking less and less like the guilty party.

forward. "Ms. Norton, I apologize. It

"Huh?" Melissa blinked.

"This

just stared. "...That's it?

mind went

at Lottie. What the heck? That's it? We're just...

This didn't seem right.

It really didn't...

she stammered, "So... it's just

she at least get some kind of compensation?

the middle of the night

been awake

the people who came to get her hadn't

thought she'd been

getting some sort of emotional

"Ms. Norton, if there's something you'd like,

they'd make it

a little salty, but she

the butler gestured politely.

at Stella, pouted, and

a bad feeling Stella's life was about to get a lot harder-Ronald was just too much of a

was always some woman

the hell actually

she

'd pull something c