Cross My Tigress Face the Wrath (Stella) novel Chapter 1153

As soon as they reunited with Stella, Susanna didn't waste a second before mercilessly teasing Hull. "You have no idea. The moment he suggested it was a tumor, I thought I was going to drop dead from fright."

"Can you believe how clueless he is? The man couldn't even recognize a simple pregnancy."

Stella chuckled. "When you called and asked me to explain the difference between a baby and a tumor, I was completely speechless."

Hull had been convinced it was a tumor. Susanna had been too naive to know the difference, and Stella had just been dragged into their bizarre medical panic.

Sitting in the tea room a short distance away, Ronald and Hull listened to the women's chatter. Hearing Susanna roast him, Ronald shot Hull a look. "How did you manage to mistake a baby for a tumor?"

No wonder his wife had asked him such a ridiculous question earlier—the confusion had started with Hull. Ronald had always considered his right-hand man to be razor-sharp. How could he fail to distinguish between a pregnancy and a terminal illness?

"I didn't overthink it," Hull muttered. "Something felt off, so I assumed it was a mass."

Ronald, usually as unshakeable as a mountain, couldn't hold back a laugh.

The two men glanced over at Susanna and Stella. Watching her glow with happiness, Hull silently wished Susanna could remain this radiant forever. Ronald noticed the dramatic shift in Susanna's demeanor as well. "I seem to remember she used to be terrified of you," he noted.

Hull paused, the smirk on his face deepening. "Yeah, she was."

When she first ended up in his care, she treated him like a predator, trembling like a cornered mouse. She had been so scared, acting as though he might devour her alive. Every time she looked at him, her eyes had been brimming with tears, looking utterly helpless and pitiful.

Meanwhile, Susanna was still having a grand old time roasting Hull. She couldn't help it—she had been terrified out of her mind on the way over. Who wouldn't be paralyzed by the thought of a terminal diagnosis? It was a horrifying prospect. Everyone wanted to be healthy and safe.

"Alright, give the guy a break," Stella reasoned. "He's not stupid, he was just caught off guard."

Susanna gave her a deadpan look. Not stupid? The man had literally compared a growing fetus to a tumor. If that wasn't stupid, what was?

"If you want to talk about true stupidity, Finley takes the crown," Stella countered. When it came to Finley, she had endless material to work with.

"Finley?" Susanna raised an eyebrow. "But he's a doctor." How could a medical professional mess that up?

Susanna laughed until her sides hurt. Her bright, uninhibited joy echoed through the grand halls of the Lugar Castle, infusing the entire estate with warmth. While Hull continued his conversation with Ronald, his gaze never once left her.

"I have no idea, but the whole thing was absurd," Stella said. Finley's ridiculous conclusion had terrified her out of her wits at the time. Naturally, he was subsequently exiled to the Muliba Desert as punishment...

"Can you imagine what bizarre diagnosis he'll come up with when his own wife gets pregnant?" Susanna chuckled. She thought Hull's tumor theory was wild, but Finley took it to a whole new level. A genius doctor indeed.

"I'm genuinely looking forward to finding out," Stella smirked. "Anyway, enough about them. Have you finally sorted things out with the Murray family?"

The mere mention of the Murrays immediately brought Derek to mind.

"It has nothing to do with me anymore," Susanna shrugged. "My mom is handling everything."

She had absolute faith in her mother's ability to handle the fallout, leaving her completely stress-free. She just wondered if Derek's test results had come back yet—and whether he truly was infertile.