Mona's heart hammered against her ribs as she stared at Yvonne, her breathing shallow and frantic. A cold sweat broke out across her spine.

"Give that back!" Mona screamed, lunging desperately for the device.

Yvonne sidestepped effortlessly, falling back a step right into Xander's waiting arms.

The call had been answered, and Yvonne had put it on speakerphone. Silence dragged on from the speaker. After a few agonizing seconds, the call simply disconnected.

"Tristan!" Mona wailed, snatching the dead phone from Yvonne's hand and turning her tear-streaked face to her husband. "Do you see this? I've had no peace for days over these baseless rumors, and now I'm being denied basic human respect! It's too much!"

She let out a dramatic sob. "I've dedicated years of my life to running this household, and this is how I'm repaid? It breaks my heart!"

Since Berry hadn't spoken, Mona used the silence as a weapon, throwing a theatrical fit to paint herself as the ultimate victim.

"Stop the pathetic act," Yvonne scoffed. "You're a bit too old to be playing the victim card."

Mona choked on a sob, glaring at her.

"No one begged you to sacrifice anything for this family," Yvonne continued

mercilessly. "And besides, your sacrifices were never legitimate. What are you to the Schultz family anyway? Just a mistress who managed to push her way in. The second you chose to be a homewrecker, you forfeited your right to any respect. Understood?"

"Enough!" Tristan roared. The word 'mistress' had struck a nerve, turning his face an ugly shade of purple. He stepped forward, clearly shielding Mona.

Mona's tears stalled, a glimmer of hope flashing in her eyes at his defense.

"No, it's not enough," Yvonne shot back, refusing to back down. "I'm going to find

out exactly who was on the other end of that phone call today."

She had planned to drag this out slowly, but seeing Mona look so smug after a single word of defense from Tristan made Yvonne's blood boil. She wasn't going to let this go. She pulled out her own phone and made a call. "Get in here. Right now."

"What are you doing?!" Mona shrieked, the panic returning in full force. She felt like she was suffocating. She had heard rumors that the Quinn family girls were relentless, but she never imagined this level of ruthlessness. Was Yvonne trying to destroy her completely?

"I'm getting to the bottom of this. Wasn't that clear?" Yvonne snapped.

"Tristan!" Mona cried, desperate to end the nightmare. She knew now that Yvonne was utterly unhinged and couldn't be reasoned with.

"Calling him won't save you," Yvonne mocked. "I'm the one pulling the strings right now."

Mona shot her a look of pure venom, silently wishing she could strike Yvonne dead on the spot.

Tristan rubbed his temples, his patience wearing thin. "Yvonne, can you drop this?"

"No, I can't. This outsider is standing

in my living room plotting against us, and I haven't even settled the score with her over the incident with the snake yet." Yvonne crossed he arms. "Wicked stepmothers do wicked things, What, she's allowed to scheme, but I'm not allowed to retaliate?"

"It wasn't me!" Mona yelled.

"Who else would it be? I don't even need hard evidence to know it was your doing."

Yvonne was an unstoppable force of nature, relentlessly shooting down every defense. Mona was crumbling under the pressure, and Tristan felt a massive headache coming on.

A moment later, Cody walked through the door. He was Yvonne's top tech expert and a phenomenal private investigator.

Yvonne rattled off the phone number that had just appeared on Mona's screen. "Trace the owner of this number. Now."

Cody immediately pulled out his phone, his fingers flying across the screen as he began running the digits through his database.