Tonight would be another sleepless night for the Murray family. After Dan left, a tense, oppressive silence settled over the study.


    Finch, practically shaking with rage, spat out, "That little brat! Does she have any sense of loyalty to her own family?" His voice was sharp, every mention of Susanna nowced with scorn and contempt.


    Derek shot him a dark look, as if daring him to keep talking, while Adelle pressed a hand to her temple, her headache growing. "Now''s not the time for that."


    Everything had spun wildly out of control. If Susanna wasn''t with Hull, they''d have options: track her down, hand her over, cut a deal to get the heat off ck Gate. But now...


    Ever since Dan had revealed Susanna was with Hull, all their previous assumptions shifted, making the situation infinitely moreplicated. It was confirmation: Susanna had been just a smokescreen. Their rivals weren''ting for ck Gate because of her.


    And if Susanna was only a pretext... then where was the real threating from?


    For years, ck Gate and their adversaries had kept their distance-it was an uneasy truce, but it worked. Now everything was unraveling.


    "I''ll kill her myself!" Ivanna snarled, unable to contain herself any longer. Fury zed in her narrowed eyes. Without another word, she stormed for the door, her intention painfully obvious.


    Adelle caught her wrist mid-stride. “Are you out of your mind?"


    "If I kill her, this ends. That''s all it takes!" Ivanna shot back, her voice crackling with anger. Her eyes were bright with malice-she meant every word. In her world, Susanna was the source of their misery; take her out, and all their problems would disappear.


    Adelle''s expression darkened. "Have you forgotten why Leanne''s still in the hospital?"


    Ivanna stiffened, words lodged in her throat.


    Adelle pressed on. "She''s with Hull now."


    The


    memory was


    rawst time,


    she and her sister had gone onto Hull''s turf determined to eliminate Susanna In the end, Susan


    hadn''t


    suffered a scratch. Leanne came back battered and broken, and was stiff bedridden to this day.


    Just thinking about Hull made Ivanna''s blood boil. The man was terrifying she and Leanne could handle themselves, but they''d almost died in that vi. And now Susanna was at his side, grabbing whatever they could.


    Ivanna''s fists clenched tight. "So what now? Just stand back and watch her join forces with outsiders and tear us to shreds?"


    That''s exactly what it felt like a pack of jackals tearing into ck Gate, and Susanna right there next to Hull, the most ferocious of them all.


    Adelle''s breath came fast and shallow. She nced from Ivanna to Derek. "She''s doing all this because of her mother..."


    The mention of Susanna''s mother, Lacey, made Derek''s expression turn cial.


    Lacey. Where the hell was she? She''d vanished on the way to thest council meeting-one minute there, the next, gone without a trace.


    Finch snapped, "All this over her mother? We didn''ty a finger on that woman! If Susanna wants revenge, she should hunt down Dan, that bastard! He was seething He''d been so close to wing Dans assets back-then Dan had miraculously produced Lacey, tossing a wrench into everything. Now Lacey was missing... and they had nothing to do with it! If Susanna wanted to settle the score, Dan was her mark—not ck Gate.


    Why, then, was she gunning for all of them? Was tearing ck Gate apart her real goal?


    The reminder that Dan had been the one to drag Lacey back soured Adelle''s mood even further.