Cross My Tigress Face the Wrath (Stella)

Susanna was about to lose her mind.

This was just too much.

"If Dan screwed you over, go yell at Dan, that jerk. Why are you coming after me?

Is it just because you can't take him down yourself?"

"Come on, admit it, you couldn't take him in a fair fight, could you?"

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

All week, she'd been running around, begging for mercy, trying every trick in the

book.

But Yvonne? Yvonne was on a whole other level of ruthless.

Case in point: at that very moment, right after Susanna's exasperated "for Pete's sake!", two women in workout gear strode over like they owned the place.

Before Susanna could react, they each grabbed an arm and took off running- with her in tow.

Susanna: ".

"Send help.

Yvonne just called out, "You run like that? That'll be a hundred laps, honey!"

Susanna: "!!!"

God help her, this woman was made of stone.

Why couldn't she be more like Star? Star was actually nice. When Yorick pissed her off, she'd just slap him around a little or maybe kick him once.

But Yvonne? Yvonne didn't mess around.

Susanna gritted her teeth. "Fine, you win. You're the boss, okay? I'll run by myself, happy?"

Her tone was pure frustration, with a healthy splash of resentment.

She'd tried every kind of rebellion these past few days, but Yvonne always had a way to put her in her place.

A hundred laps? With Yvonne's twisted logic, if she didn't finish, she wouldn't even get dinner.

At this rate, she'd be running until sunrise-starving.

Ugh-

Susanna: "Let go, I'll do it myself."

The two women let her go, trading a knowing look as Susanna tore off like her life depended on it. Both of them smirked.

Yvonne lounged in her deck chair, slipping off her sunglasses.

The two workout-women joined her. One of them said, "She's got some grit, I'll

give her that. Way tougher than the little princess."

"Tough? Please. They're all soft if you ask me," Yvonne scoffed.

The other added, "She's improving, though. First day, she needed six or seven hours. Now she's down to three."

This island wasn't small. Ten laps was no joke.

But Susanna finishing ten laps in three hours? She'd already outpaced Stella by a mile.

Yvonne set her iced tea aside. "With Star, we totally missed her potential back then."

"True," the woman agreed.

Back when they first brought Yvonne over to Sunset Isle, they'd actually gone easy on her for a couple days.

It was only later that things got tough.noveldrama

But Susanna? Yvonne hadn't coddled her at all-just tossed her straight into the deep end.

Yvonne started laughing, remembering the fake inflatable ago. "God, that was hilarious. Do you think she's just blind?"

ale from three days

Three days ago, Susanna had been so terrified, her hidden reserves kicked in. She'd rowed that boat like an Olympic athlete, arms pumping like pistons.

The others couldn't help but laugh along, remembering how Susanna's survival instincts had snapped to life.

...

Two and a half hours later.

Susanna collapsed onto the sand at Yvonne's feet, too exhausted to even cling to Yvonne's long legs this time. She just shot Yvonne a look full of pure betrayal.

Yvonne checked her watch. "Nice. You're getting faster every time."

“At this point, if it was a police dog chasing you, you'd still win."

Susanna: ".

11

Was she really being compared to a dog now?

Yvonne grinned. "Go with Crystal. Time to pick up your training gear."

"No more running?" Susanna asked, hopefully.

"You want to keep running?"

Susanna shook her head fast. "God, no."

She meant it. These three days had been hell, and she never wanted to repeat

this experience ever again.

She trudged after Crystal, leaving Yvonne and Chloe by themselves.

Once Susanna was out of earshot, Chloe took a call, then turned to Yvonne, respectful: "Just got word from Ferrowland. Mr. Miguel says time to send Susanna back."

Yvonne snorted. "Send her back? She's in my hands now-she's mine."

Chloe added, “Mr. Miguel says name your price—he'll give you anything you want."

"Anything?" Yvonne's eyes lit up at that.