Ronald couldn''t be bothered with Xander and just hung up the phone.


    Xander heard the abrupt beep, signaling the call had ended. "Ugh, what a jerk!"


    "All our misunderstandings are cleared up, but he never mentioned giving back the stuff he snatched from the Schultz family!"


    Thinking back to three years ago...


    When Ste went missing, Ronald found out Xander had something to do with it, and he certainly didn''t go easy on the Schultz family.


    Xander had skipped town, fled overseas.


    Ronald, furious, not only sent people after him, but took his anger out on the Schultz family too.


    Back then, Ronald managed to swoop in and take over a bunch of the family''s projects—almost wiped the Schultz family outpletely!


    Yvonne rolled her eyes at Xander. "You''re unbelievable."


    Xander grumbled, "I''m just stating facts..."


    Seriously, all that stuff Ronald took from the Schultz family, is he just gonna keep


    it?


    The misunderstanding''s cleared up-shouldn''t he give it back?


    How''s that fair...?


    ...


    Meanwhile, Ste was on the phone with Susanna.


    Susanna, curled up in Hull''s arms, went wide-eyed as she listened to Ste. She''d just overheard Yvonne and Ronald arguing-loudly-about the whole mess.


    Yvonne was so worked up she was ready to whisk Ste away just to make a point.


    Susanna shivered. Even without seeing Yvonne in person, she could feel how fiery her temper was.


    Ste sighed, "She''s super anxious. I feel awful right now!"


    Even if none of this was really Ste''s fault, knowing where Susanna was and keeping it to herself made her feel guilty.


    Susanna heard the worry in Ste''s voice. "Should I just reach out to Yvonne?"


    "Don''t! Right now, she thinks you''re with Ronald. At least that''s keeping her from totally losing it."


    If Yvonne was this mad just thinking Susanna was with Ronald, a call from Susanna herself would just add fuel to the fire.


    Susanna hesitated. "Yeah, I guess you''re right."


    Though, something still felt off to her.


    Ste tried to reassure her, "Honestly, it''s all just a big chess game right now. The more we do, the messier it gets!"


    As long as Yvonne believed Susanna was with Ronald, things were under control -for now. Thinking that way made Ste feel a bit better.


    Hearing this, Susanna rxed a little too.


    Either way, whether she was with Hull or Mr. Quinn, it didn''t really matter to Yvonne.


    But still...


    "Hey, what''s this all about, anyway?" Susanna wondered aloud. "I mean, it all started because of me but now it feels like it''s not even about me anymore?"


    Ste paused. "Huh. When you put it that way, you''re kinda right."


    It had all started because of Susanna. At first, it seemed like as long as ck


    Gate handed her over, everything would be fine.


    But now...


    Susanna wasn''t even with ck Gate.


    The thing that started this whole mess had be almost irrelevant. The real


    focus had shifted-now it was all about picking ck Gate apart!


    Susanna sighed, "I''m just worried about my mom right now."


    "Don''t stress," Ste replied. “ck Gate is in total chaos. They''ve got no time to worry about your mom."


    “But Hull''s demanding they hand her over!"


    Ste winced


    Well... there''s not


    much anyone can do. Nobody''s


    thinking straight over there. They''re


    stunning aro


    just running around like headless


    chickens, not even stopping to figure out what''s really going on with your mom."


    Susanna fell silent.


    Honestly, that was exactly what was happening. ck Gate was an absolute disaster.


    Even when Yvonne had stormed in to search for Susanna, ck Gate didn''t have a clue They''d torn their own ce apart, and still found nothing.


    Susanna was dumbfounded.


    "So, what is all this even about?"


    Ste shrugged. "Who cares? As long as that old jerk Ronald is having a rough


    time, I''m happy."