Cross My Tigress Face the Wrath (Stella) novel Chapter 629

Susanna’s stomach growled so loudly she was sure the whole house could hear. Lately, she’d been doing everything she could to avoid running into Hull—especially around mealtimes.

She’d tell herself, “Just go downstairs and grab something to eat. You’re not even that hungry, you probably won’t eat much anyway.”

But then she’d wait a little longer and—bam—she was starving.

She tried to time her trips to the kitchen for when Hull was out running errands, but today, his car didn’t seem to be going anywhere.

Didn’t he have work to do or something?

She thought about heading down anyway, but the idea of bumping into him made her hesitate.

As she stood there, caught between hunger and awkwardness, a knock rattled her door.

“Susie, Boss wants you in his office,” Barnaby’s booming voice called out from the hallway.

Susie? Since when did they call her that? Star was the only one who ever called her Susie, and that was their thing.

Now everyone was just going for it?

She muttered under her breath, too annoyed to care.

Outside, Barnaby didn’t seem to notice how irritated he’d made her—he just kept calling out.

“Susie? Susie? Susanna?”

Oh, so now it was Susanna. That snapped her right out of her funk.

She yanked open the door and smacked Barnaby right on the side of his face.

He froze, wide-eyed.

Susanna glared at him, hand still pressed to his cheek. “What’s with your mouth? Don’t push me, or I’ll rip you a new one.”

Barnaby just stared at her, stunned. He’d seen Susanna act all soft and weepy around Hull, especially after messing something up. He didn’t expect her to have this kind of fire left in her. How badly had Hull been pushing her?

On the way, she glanced at Barnaby. “So who’s the one checking if I’m some kind of undercover cop or whatever?”

Barnaby grinned sheepishly. “That’d be me.”

Susanna stopped short, giving him a look. Out of all Hull’s crew, Barnaby was easily the least reliable.

“You?” she said, disbelief all over her face.

He nodded. “Yep, just me.”

She groaned. Just her luck.

“So… how’s your little investigation going?” she asked, already dreading the answer.

Barnaby shrugged, looking almost apologetic.

Susanna sighed, realizing her chances of clearing her name were probably shot.