Xander didn''t say a word. There was simply no right answer to a question like that.


    Yvonne huffed. "Honestly, I don''t even know what to do with you."


    What an absolute train wreck this was.


    Xander reached for her hand. "Come on, don''t be mad, okay?"


    She just shot him a withering look.


    She was still in shock, trying to make sense of it all. "But seriously... why did you run off?"


    He hesitated. "I was on my way back, but by the time I got there, you''d already gone after Dan. Lott and Ashley were practically begging me not to-"


    Another re from Yvonne cut him off.


    "Alright, enough. Just stop talking."


    The more he tried to exin, the more it pissed her off.


    She remembered that morning all too well. As soon as she was awake, her first instinct was to go hunt down Dan—and "hunting him down" was putting it mildly. She''d brought backup, and they''d beaten him within an inch of his life.


    “Okay, okay, I''ll zip it,” Xander said quickly. “Let''s just say things got..... pretty intense."


    To hear Xander say "intense" was one thing. To Shawn, Lott, and Ashley, it had been a scene of pure terror.


    Meanwhile, Dan was slumped in the back of a car, every bruise throbbing. "That damned woman, Yvonne!” he growled. "I hope when she finally realizes it was Xander, she beats that bastard half to death too!"


    Carroll, his driver, kept his eyes on the road.


    Beat Mr. Schultz half to death? He almost snorted. "I doubt that''ll happen," Carroll said, not realizing how deeply the words would cut.


    Dan''s re was lethal. "What the hell is that supposed to mean?”


    What kind of answer was "I doubt that''ll happen"?


    Carroll shrugged. "They''re married."


    Dan was silent.


    "I mean, it''spletely normal for a married couple to share a bed and have a kid. Why would she beat Mr. Schultz for that?"


    Dan''s jaw clenched.


    Every word was like a dagger twisting deeper.


    "So what, you''re telling me I took all those beatings for nothing?"


    "Looks that way," Carroll answered matter-of-factly.


    It wasn''t just a waste-it was a monumental loss. As if Yvonne''s recent rampages against ck Gate didn''t have plenty of additional personal business” mixed


    in especially against Dan


    Of course they did!


    Dan cursed loudly. "Son of a bitch!"


    It let


    He was about to lose his mind. Especially since Yvonne refused to believe for a second that it was Xander. He didn''t know what kind of story that bastard cooked up for her but whatever it was, the damn woman wasn''t buying it.


    The more he thought, the more his temper soared.


    Right on cue, his phone buzzed. Another call about his territory getting poached.


    His grip tightened on the phone until his knuckles went white. His chest burned with a sharpagonizinge rage especially when he heard it was Xander behind the takeover.


    "This scumbag—I took the fall for him all this time, and he''s got the guts to start stealing from me now?"


    Dan was absolutely seething. He hung up and immediately called Xander, but the call went straight to voicemail.


    Angrier, he dialed Yvonne. Her phone was off, too.


    Off-both of them!


    "Find out where Xander is right now and get me the phone numbers of everyone around him," Dan ordered through clenched teeth.


    Carroll nodded and quickly ced a call. In Litamark, theirwork didn''t miss a beat. By the time they rolled up to cktower, the information was back.


    Carroll turned to him. "Mr. Schultz and Ms. Quinn have already boarded their private jet back to Ferrond."


    "What? They left?"


    After leaving him in the lurch like this, they''d just washed their hands of the whole mess and flown out of here!?


    Dan sat there in raw, simmering rage, the silence inside the car thicker than ever.