When Hull finally stepped out, Derek Murray''s expression hardened, his face turning stormy the moment their eyes met.


    What was that look Hull gave him? Was that how a man should look at his future father-inw?


    Caden, clutching his bruised side, forced himself up from the floor and came to stand behind Derek. "Sir," he managed, voice taut with pain.


    Locking eyes with Hull''s cold, murderous stare, Derek drew a slow, tense breath and spoke, his voiceced with frost. "What''s the meaning of this, Mr. Miguel?"


    Hull''s mouth twisted in a harsh smirk. "The meaning? I might ask you the same, Mr. Murray. Is this how you act when you''re visiting someone?"


    "Oh? So you think my attitude is bad?" Derek''s tone turned even colder. Derek hadn''t even started interrogating him, and this man was already flipping the script.


    Hull merely red back, then pulled a cigarette from his pocket, lit up, and took a long drag. He stared at Derek through the smoke, silent but radiating a tension that pressed down on everyone in the room.


    Derek forced the air from his lungs. "Who decided to go after ck Gate? Was it you?” For weeks now, Hull, Xander Schultz, and Ronald Quinn had all been taking ck Gate apart, relentless and merciless. Xander and Yvonne Quinn had struck first—and Derek had to wonder if Yvonne''s actions meant the Quinn family was involved as a whole. But Hull... Hull had always been Ronald''s right hand. Caught in the maelstrom, Derek struggled to make sense of whose will was really behind ck Gate''s undoing.


    He had to know the truth: was this Hull''s doing, or Ronald''s?


    "Does it matter?" Hull retorted coolly.


    "I seem to recall there''s no bad blood between ck Gate and Mr. Quinn," Derek pressed, though his voice wavered for a moment. ck Gate was no saintly outfit— they''d done plenty of dirty work over the years. Out in the open, they''d never dare move against Ronald. But who could say what had happened in the shadows?


    Hull didn''t bother with pretense. With a single, cutting remark, he erased any room for doubt. "Whatever you and Mr. Quinn might have between you, I couldn''t care less. And you can stop guessing who''s behind it. This takedown of ck Gate? That''s on me."


    Derek felt his breath catch. "You?" he hissed, his eyes clouding with a dangerous intensity as his voice dripped with venom.


    Everyone knew Hull had built his own empire over the years, but he''d always been loyal to Ronald. For Hull to get both Yvonne and Xander involved in this crusade, though... it defied belief.


    "You-how could you?" Derek demanded, every muscle taut with outrage.


    Hull raised an eyebrow, unmoved. "Why couldn''t I?”


    Derek''sposure cracked. "What about you and Susie, then?" How could Hull be with Susanna Tucker, yet target her father''s organization? What did that even mean for their rtionship?


    At the mention of Susanna, Hull let


    out a mirthlessugh, his lips curling in derision. "Susie, huh?" he


    ???


    repeated, the name a mockery on his tongue. "Are you expecting me to Gate for her sake?


    go easy on ckth contempt,


    Every word dripped


    and his twisted grin was a dagger in Derek''s chest.


    Derek drew a sharp, ragged breath."What grudge do you hold against ck Gate?”


    Hull''s reply was t and cold. "No grudge."


    Derek was left speechless, something uneasy tightening inside him.


    al


    "I just got sick of them. Is that so hard to understand?" Hull''s voice was casual yet unmistakably arrogant, the answer digging at Derek''s raw nerves. When their met, Derek finally saw it-behind the mockery, in the deepest part of Hurs stare, was a hatred so fierce, so personal, it was as if he wanted nothing more than to rip Derek apart.


    This wasn''t simple “disapproval." This was something primal, seething, carved into his very bones.


    Derek felt his heart thud, his chest tightening under that searing, hate-filled gaze.


    “Have we..... met before?" The words slipped out, uncertain, almost desperate.


    Those eyes-they were too familiar. That look of ferocity and animosity... Someone had once looked at him just like that. But where? When? His mind swirled in chaos, memories blurring, nothing clear enough to grasp.


    Yet at this moment, Derek was certain of one thing: he had seen that particr look


    of loathing in Hull''s eyes somewhere before.