Chapter 514 "Bait on the Line"

"Susan!" Hazel Johan clenched her fists, her chest burning with rage.

For some reason, it felt like Susan was slipping out of her grasp.

The old Susan had been meek—pliable, obedient, nothing more than a money-making puppet dancing on Hazel's strings. But now? This version of Susan had learned to push back.

And that terrified her.

Still sprawled on the floor from her humiliating fall, Hazel glared up at Susan with a storm of emotions swirling in her eyes—disbelief, fury, even a trace of fear.

Then—

A sharp ringtone cut through the silence.

Hazel gritted her teeth and fumbled for her phone, her hand trembling slightly. She retrieved it from her jacket pocket and glanced at the screen.

The name flashing across the display stopped her cold.

Her eyes widened in disbelief. Director Landon.

She scrambled upright, nearly tripping over her own feet in the process, and answered the call with forced sweetness.