Chapter 654 Sides Taken
Kale said, “That Mc Miller–she’s Dan’s sister.”
“What the hell?”
Dan’s sister?
“That guy has a sister? Since when?” Derrick looked baffled.
Kale fell silent
That guy That thing
That was Derrick’s usual way of referring to Dan and the people around him.
And once one crack opened in a secret, the whole thing spread fast. Sure enough, Kale had gotten his hands on this earth–shattering piece of gossip too.
He laid it all out for Derrick, step by step.
When Derrick finished listening, he was speechless.
Finally, he muttered, “Ashen Pact is seriously fucked up.”
Calling it a little messy didn’t even come close. Anyone going in with a clear head would come out with a brain full of knots.
And if you didn’t have a sharp mind to begin with–forget it. You’d be left with nothing but confusion.
Kale nodded. “Yeah, it’s pretty messed up.”
Even they, who specialized in intel, had their brains scrambled trying to untangle all those relationship threads.
Derrick looked out the window.
His long fingers tapped rhythmically on the armrest. Then he said, puzzled, “But Dan looks way older than Stella’s friend.”
“Older…? Does he?” Kale asked.
Dan didn’t exactly look old.
But if you had to compare, yeah, he definitely looked older than Tessa.
“He doesn’t not look old,” Derrick replied. “That guy’s calculating as hell.”
He was a master manipulator. The real power behind Ashen Pact. Old or not, his mind was deep and dangerous.
Kale stayed quiet.
Sure. If you say he’s old, then he’s old.
“He looks about the same age as Mr. Abraham,” Derrick added.
The moment Abraham’s name came up, Kale clammed up. That was one name nobody dared gossip about.
“Why’d Marie take that woman and run off?”
Kale answered, “Probably to forge a blade.”
A blade. A weapon aimed at Dan?
Yeah, that would track. Right now, Marie’s hatred for Dan was absolute.
The people of Ashen Pact….
Thinking back to Shan Na’s past collaboration with Mr. Abraham, it was clear–Dan had crossed a line with Marie.
Everyone knew the Dawson family hated backdoor schemes.
And Dan had approached Marie with just that in mind. No wonder Marie wasn’t going to let him off easy.
“Then let her forge that blade,” Derrick said flatly.
Tessa. Sibling against sibling. It had a nice ring to it.
Kale said, “But now Mr. Victor is getting anxious.”
That surprised Derrick. “Victor?”
Kale froze. Her? Who?
Derrick added, “I back my wife. Whatever she does is right. I’ll help her no matter what.”
Kale said nothing.
Wife…
With Derrick stepping in, both Victor and Dan found it nearly impossible to locate Marie.
When Victor found out Derrick was involved, he nearly smashed his phone.
He immediately called Derrick. “Mr. Derrick, what exactly do you think you’re doing?”
Derrick replied coolly, “Nothing much. You’re looking for your woman. I’m helping my wife.”
Victor went silent.
That word–wife–set off something explosive in his head.
He let out a cold laugh. “Your wife?”
Derrick said, “Legally and literally.”
What had started as a staged marriage on paper… had become real. And he hadn’t even struggled against it.
Victor warned, “If Tessa doesn’t come back… do you think you’ll still have a wife?”
His voice dripped with threat.
Silas, behind the wheel, could sense the tension in the air. It was like a duel between giants.
For the next three days-
Victor and Dan tore the world apart trying to find Tessa. But no one knew where Marie had taken her. They searched every location they could think of. Any place Marie might have gone. Still, nothing.
Back at the Dawson family estate-
Stella had been trying to contact both Marie and Tessa the whole time. But after that last call from Tessa three days ago, the line had gone completely dead.

Comments
The readers' comments on the novel: The Wrong Girl and the Wronged Girl (Stella and Ethan)
Ch 489 Doesn’t this prove that Dan doesn’t actually have amnesia? Why would he go to the island with a strange woman and why would he steal from Derrick? He doesn’t know them....
Ch 488 I feel like this is going to be what Stella stole in his study in Pagenda or wherever his estate was....
Ch 485 I thought it was going to be the Reed family mine that she robbed, thus taking the Keenes product and leaving them in that situation....
Ch 483 o then, how did the Reeds fine her? How did they not know where she was from?...
Ch 477 Definitely hidden pedo in here, referring to tiny women as little girls in every way possible....
Ch 468 How could Stella inherit her adopted father’s weak stomach constitution?...
Ch 468 Abraham and Marie’s mother has been called Evelyn, Diane and Loretta.. which is it? Evelyn has been the most used....
Ch 465 She still doesn’t know the mistress is Lillian’s aunt?...
Ch 464 Why didn’t she kick her out herself be for she went to attack the mistress…...
Ch 463 This is stupid now. I understand being scared in his presence enough to not think straight, but she’s a lone more often than not and has plenty of time to think things through, especially if she has time to get gossip from Rivermount and report to Stella....