"But, I was..."

He had shown up right in the middle of their meal!

The worst part about running into enemies is that there's often no way to avoid them.

Before he could finish his sentence, the line went dead with a series of beeps.

Stella had hung up on him out of sheer contempt.

Finley stared at his phone, dumbfounded.

Hey! Didn't that girl know he'd just gotten rough with Uriah?

And she said his trip to Yoreland was for nothing?

Did she mean he was... useless?

A wave of gloom washed over Finley.

Star was being completely unreasonable, looking down on him like that.

Meanwhile, Uriah had arrived at the hospital.

The wound wasn't critical, but he had lost a fair amount of blood.

Helena was still pale with fright. "What kind of thugs is Tegan running with now? Who carries a weapon like that to dinner?"

"And she just let that man do this to you! After everything the Horners did for her, this is how she repays us?" Helena's choked sobs were filled with accusations, condemning Tegan for her ingratitude.

"That's enough. Shut up!" Uriah snapped, his voice sharp with pain and annoyance. Startled by his outburst, Helena's tears began to fall again.

She stayed quiet for about two minutes before speaking up again. "Leslie was seriously injured yesterday. She can't stay in there!"

The memory of that androgynous madwoman brutally beating Leslie made Helena shudder.

It was terrifying. Leslie had been beaten until she couldn't get up before being thrown into a cell Helena had heard nothing about her since and had no idea what k Condition she was in.

Hearing that Leslie was badly hurt, Uriah's face darkened further.

"What did you say? They beat Leslie too?"

Helena nodded. "Yes. Leslie was beaten unconscious."

Uriah's breathing grew ragged. T

hey had actually beaten Leslie unconscious!

"Was Tegan there?" Helena hesitated for a moment before nodding again. "Tegan

was there, too." Uriah's already grim expression turned downright venomous. Tegan... had been there.

"And she didn't do anything?"

"Nothing!" Nothing... She had done absolutely nothing. She just stood by and watched as Leslie was beaten.

Finley brought Tegan back to his villa.

Tegan had initially wanted to go back to the apartment she was renting but Finley insisted that with Urian in town, he would relentlessly harass her about Leslie if she went back there.

She would have no peace.

Tegan was still reluctant.

Finley finally played his trump card, telling her that Skye was also staying at the

villa.

After considering her options, Tegan

agreed. As soon as she stepped into the entryway, the rich aroma o

cooked food filled the air,

accompanied by the sound of

sizzling from the kitchen.

It was immediately followed by a woman's shriek.

"Aah!" It was Skye. Tegan paused, instinctively about to head to the kitchen to check, but Finley grabbed her wrist.

"Don't go." He was already used to the chaos of Skye's cooking.

She was an incredibly picky eater but a terrible cook, yet she insisted on doing it herself, wincing and complaining through the entire process.

"Ah, that burned me! Dammit!" Skye's colorful language drifted from the kitchen. Tegan was reminded of when Skye had tried to cook at her apartment, cursing at the pan the entire time.