Derek slid a photo across the desk toward Derek.


    Derek picked it up and nced at it.


    It was a shot of Hull with a woman-just their backs, but Hull had his arm around her as they stood on the rooftop of the Litamark Sky Lounge. The woman''s head was resting on Hull''s shoulder.


    You didn''t need to see their faces to know how close they were.


    Derek stared. "..."


    Close, huh?


    What a joke. What a pathetic excuse.


    He clenched the photo so hard his hand trembled with anger. "Get the car ready!"


    "Yes, sir..."


    Caden gave a quick nod.


    Meanwhile, over with Susanna...


    After Hull''s little talk, she''d dropped the whole "I want to go back to ck Gate" thing, especially after seeing the coded message her mother had left.


    Now, her one and only worry was Yvonne...


    She was terrified that Yvonne would totally lose it when she found out Susanna had been hanging around Hull all this time. Yvonne could be a force of nature when she got mad-Susanna had seen the videos of her taking down Dan. It was legendary.


    Hull slipped his arms around her from behind. "What''s on your mind?"


    "Yvonne," Susanna mumbled.


    She was so much shorter than him that, when Hull hugged her from behind, her head barely reached above his stomach. Maybe her forehead touched his chest if she stood on tiptoe.


    She turned in his arms, wrapping hers around his lean waist.


    Hull raised an eyebrow. "Yeah?"


    "If Yvonne finds out, she''ll totally beat me up," Susanna said, half-whining.


    Forget about getting scolded-she was pretty sure a smackdown was inevitable.<fn982b> Newest update provided by find(?)ovel</fn982b>


    Hull snorted, clearly amused. "Really? You spent almost a month shadowing her and you still think you can''t take her?"


    Susanna''s mouth twitched.


    Did he even hear himself? Yvonne had grown up in that crazy world, barely flinching at danger, traveling solo across countries. Steffa said she''d survived more sketchy'' situations than Susanna had eaten cheeseburgers in her life.  s


    Even if she''d trained with Yvonne for twenty days, she wasn''t dumb enough to


    think she could suddenly turn into Wonder Woman.


    Susanna just sulked harder, rubbing her cheek against Hull''s chest. "Still no word from my mom?"


    Hull was still searching for Lacey.


    Even though Lincoln and Lacey had left coded signs to show they were safe, he wasn''t about to rx until he found them in person. No code was foolproof, after all.


    Hull looked down at her. "What''s wrong? Bored already?"


    Susanna rolled her eyes. "Bored? I''m just worried about my mom and Yvonne."


    How could she be bored with all this anxiety, every day not knowing what might happen next?


    Just then, Barnaby knocked and stuck his head in. "Boss, Derek-the old fox- wants to see you."


    Susanna groaned.


    Hull looked at her, a sly smile on his lips. "Why do you think he wants to see me?"


    "Why else? He''s pissed," Susanna replied tly.


    She''d been glued to Hull''s side, and meanwhile, both Hull and Yvonne had been using her as an excuse to put the squeeze on ck Gate. Hull was one thing, but Yvonne didn''t know the whole story and she yed way rougher. No wonder Derek was desperate.  s


    Hull''s smile deepened. "Go wait in the bedroom, okay?" Clearly, he had no intention of letting Susanna see Derek.


    Derek and his precious "white moonlight had enjoyed their little fairytale for years, but that woman had been searching for Lacey behind the scenes for ages. It wasn@hard to guess why.  s


    They''d been living it up, but still couldn''t leave Susanna and Lacey alone-always plotting against them.


    Well then.


    A little suffering was only fair.