"Why are you at the airport? Didn''t you just call saying you were at the Larkin family''s vi for an interview? Weren''t you just gossiping?"
Susanna''s eyes widened as she recognized Ste. Tears began to roll down her cheeks. She rushed forward, wrapping her arms around Ste. "Star, oh my gosh, I was so scared. That bullet almost hit me; I nearly met my maker." Susanna, who usually feared nothing, was visibly shaken. Walking through that hail of bullets had been terrifying.
Ste gently patted her back, trying tofort her. "What kind of luck is that? Is there some gossip you need to catch at the airport?"
Susanna shook her head vigorously. "No, no, I was here to pick up some documents for my mom."
She had just managed to grab them when her life nearly shed before her eyes.
Susanna''s voice was tinged with frustration, "Why is my luck so terrible? Everything keeps going wrong this year. I must be cursed. Bad luck is bad enough, and now I''m staring death in the face. Does it really have to be this harsh?" Ste gave her a reassuring pat. "It''s okay now."
After calming her down, Ste returned to Ronald. "Can we take Susie with us?"
"Cyris Isle isplicated and unsafe," Ronald replied, his expression serious.
Ste''s lips twitched. "Complicated and unsafe" meant they were bound to run into some unexpected trouble. Susanna, who had always lived in the peacefulfort of Portis City, couldn''t handle that. "She definitely won''t want to go back alone now."
Ste had seen Susanna''s legs shaking, a perfect round hole in her pant leg. It didn''t take a detective to figure out a bullet had grazed her leg.
Just then, as Ronald was about to instruct Idris to have a couple of people escort Susanna back, Hull put down his wine ss and stood up. "You go ahead. I''ll take her back and then head straight to Cyris Isle."
Several pairs of eyes turned to Hull.
Finley blinked. "You? You''re taking her?"
There was something unspoken in the air, but before Finley could voice it, Hull shot him a warning nce, signaling him to zip it.
Finley closed his mouth, feeling a little sheepish. He wanted to say, "Susanna''s probably more afraid of Hull than of going to Cyris Isle."
After all, back at Mist Bay, Susanna had fainted at the sight of Hull wielding a gun.
Susanna was still waiting for Ste when she noticed Hull approaching. Memories of him at Mist Bay shed in her mind, making her instinctively take a step back.
en
Hull walked past her. "Let''s go."
"Where?"
"To take you home."
"I don''t want to get off the ne," Susanna blurted out, without thinking.
She had just fled the airport terminal, where those menacing figures had made her feel trapped Even though she often felt unloved and her mom rarely contacted her, one thing was certain-she wasn''t ready to die yet.
Hull looked at her. "If you don''t get off the ne now, those guys mighte for you." Susanna gasped. "I don''t want to put Star in danger."
Ste, overhearing, felt a pang of emotion.
Hull raised an eyebrow. "Then what are you waiting for?"
Seeing Susanna so frightened, Ste figured the airport situation must be truly dire.
She briefly considered taking Susanna to Cyris Isle with them, but before she could suggest it, Susanna turned to her. "Star, I''m leaving now."
Without waiting for Ste''s
response, Susanna hurriedly
followed Hull. She trusted this man,
whose toughness rivaled that of the
thugs, to get her safely out of the airport.
Watching her leave, Ste felt a pang of guilt. "Maybe I should..."
Before she could finish, a firm grip on her wrist pulled her into Ronald''s embrace.
"What are you doing?" Ste protested, ring at him.
Ronald tilted her chin up. "Star, you seem very fond of Susanna, don''t you?"
Ste blinked, speechless.
Finley, standing nearby, was baffled.
What did that mean? Was it a problem if she likes a girl too?
It suddenly dawned on Finley why he''d been getting into trouble so often. Ronald''s possessiveness over the little princess was something fierce.