The Returned Heiress Who Never Fit In novel Chapter 879

Chapter 879: Not Me, Not Beaten

“She actually believed it?”

The words hung in the air, sharp with disbelief.

Hearing Derrick say that Marie was convinced the child was his, Dan’s voice betrayed a hint of skepticism. Could she really have fallen for it so easily? Just like that, without question?

“She really swallowed it?” Dan pressed, unable to mask his surprise.

“Yeah,” Derrick replied calmly. “So don’t worry—at least she won’t be beating you up over the kid anymore.”

Dan’s lips curled into a smirk. No more bruises or scratches inflicted because of the child—at least that was some relief. But whether Marie would find other excuses to take her anger out on him was a whole different matter.

Slowly, Dan began to accept it.

For weeks, he’d been planning to track down Derrick and Marie, determined to unravel the tangled mess that had cost him so much. There was no way he could believe the bitterness had completely disappeared between them.

Now that Dale had wiped out the entire Artemis family—the Ashen Pact’s most despised thorn in their side—Dan knew it was time to shift his attention elsewhere.

Yet, when Derrick casually mentioned that Marie had accepted the child as his own, Dan’s curiosity flared.

“So… how badly did she beat you?” he asked, his voice dripping with barely concealed amusement.

He couldn’t forget the way Marie had relentlessly thrashed him for the same reason, over and over again. The cold, accusing look in her eyes as if he’d committed some unforgivable offense just by being near her.

His face still bore the evidence—scratch marks crisscrossed his skin, painful reminders of those brutal encounters.

If he had ended up looking like that, Derrick’s injuries had to be worse. There was no way Derrick had escaped unscathed.

Before Derrick could even respond, Dan kept the questions coming. “Are you at the hospital right now?”

“How many departments have you been through? Orthopedics and dermatology, I bet. What about internal medicine?”

Dan’s tone was teasing but tinged with genuine concern—he knew that kind of detail all too well.

The first time Marie had gone off on him, he’d ended up registered in both orthopedics and dermatology. Not to mention some internal damage—his stomach had been a mess for weeks afterward, every meal coming back up like a cruel reminder.

Three departments. Three!

So what about Derrick?

“You should be thanking me,” Dan said with a smug grin. “If I hadn’t taken the brunt of Marie’s wrath all that time, you’d probably be six feet under by now.”

“I can take a hit, sure,” Derrick retorted, “but I lost half my damn life in the process.”

Dan’s tone was mockingly sympathetic, clearly enjoying every word as if rubbing salt into an open wound.

It didn’t even cross his mind that they were supposed to be enemies—his teasing was pure torment.

“So, which hospital are you in? I’ll bring you some supplements,” Dan added casually, though he really just wanted to see what shape Derrick was in.

Derrick exhaled deeply. What had Sebastian done this time?

Meanwhile, Dan kept jabbering on until Derrick finally cut him off.

“I didn’t get hit.”

A stunned silence followed—five full seconds of disbelief.

Dan’s mind seemed to freeze. “What?”

“I’m not like you,” Derrick said lightly. “I have power through my child.”

Dan went quiet.

Marie froze in place.

When she heard Derrick say “power through my child,” she rolled her eyes so hard it was almost audible. Seriously? Was he trying to shove that right into Dan’s chest? Was this his idea of fun—rubbing it in?

Sure enough—

On the other end of the line, Dan nearly lost it.

The smug, self-satisfied grin vanished the moment Derrick declared, “I didn’t get hit,” and added, “She’s just using the pregnancy as her shield.”

His voice dropped low, darkening with disbelief. “You’re telling me… she didn’t hit you?”