Cross My Tigress Face the Wrath (Stella)

Dan sat up in his hospital bed, his anger burning hotter with every passing second. The worst part? He was innocent.

That's right-innocent!

He hated to admit it, but it was clear as day now: he was being set up.

But Xander..... that bastard, why did he run?

Thinking back to last night, when Yvonne had been with Xander, Dan's blood pressure spiked. He wanted nothing more than to hunt Xander down and wring his neck.

Yvonne's voice crackled through the phone, cold and sharp. "Wow, Dan. How did I not realize before that you're such a scumbag? Can't own up to what you did, huh? Or are you just a coward?"

Dan stammered, "I-"

She cut him off. "You sleep with me and then pretend it never happened? Then try

to pin it on Xander? Two birds, one stone, huh? You're really something."

She must have figured Dan wanted her and Xander to fight. Maybe he did.

Just then, Xander walked in from outside, catching the tail end of Yvonne's tirade. His face was a mess of emotions-mostly the kind you don't want to put into words.

Dan nearly shouted, "I swear, I didn't sleep with you!"

This was ridiculous. He was being framed and couldn't even prove his innocence.

Yvonne scoffed, "Keep lying. Go on. Doesn't matter. Either way, I'm not letting this go."

She was furious already-Dan had faked his own death, and now this? She couldn't believe she'd ever fallen for a guy like him.

Dan wasn't having it. "Yvonne, are you out of your mind? Why aren't you going after the guy who actually did this, huh? Why are you blaming me?"

They were shouting now, Dan's frustration boiling over. No matter what he said, she wouldn't believe him—not after the whole fake death stunt. He was screwed.

Yvonne snapped, "Sure, keep making stuff up!"

Xander quietly looked away.

The butler approached him with a respectful nod. "Mr. Schultz."

"Where's Ronald?"

"He's in the study."

"I'll go find him," Xander mumbled, barely above a whisper, and started up the stairs.

Yvonne and Dan kept bickering over the phone, neither noticing Xander's exit. Stella, standing nearby, was too engrossed in Yvonne's fury to see Xander slip away.

Dan was practically growling into the phone. "Yvonne, are you deaf or just plain stupid? I'm telling you, it wasn't—"

Who the hell had actually slept with her last night? If Dan ever found out, he'd tear the guy apart.

Suddenly, a new voice cut in on the phone. "Sir, you need to calm down. Please, relax-this is the ICU."

"Hey! Sir, are you alright? Sir? Sir—somebody help, he's passed out!"

Yvonne was speechless.

Stella's eyes went wide as she heard Dan's

background, chaos erupting

Sound Shouting in the other end of the line. Contenovi.nenoveldrama

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"Yvonne's a walking disaster," one of Dan's guys yelled. "She's gonna be the death of us all!"

"I swear, I want to strangle that witch right now-look what she did to our boss!" The commotion grew louder; it sounded like the doctors were rushing in to help.

Stella glanced at Yvonne, realizing for the first time just how brutal she could be— even over the phone.

Dan's crew was beside themselves-first, their boss landed in the ICU, and now he'd been knocked out cold by sheer anger.

One of the guys grumbled, "For crying out loud, who actually slept with her last night? Whoever it was, she should go after him instead of beating up our boss!"

"Exactly! The boss was with us all night. What, did he clone himself or something?"