The Wrong Girl and the Wronged Girl (Stella and Ethan) novel Chapter 836

836 You Call That Family?

Manny went silent. The moment he heard Dan’s words, his face froze on the other end of the line. For a split second, a visible flicker of shock crossed his eyes…

But it passed almost instantly; he quickly regained his composure. “What the heck’s wrong you?”

with

Dan let out a mocking laugh. “Didn’t you always say the matriarch’s daughter was born out of wedlock?”

“If Tessa really is, then you two aren’t all that different, are you?”

“Dan, don’t go too far!” Manny snapped.

Even though he’d never truly acknowledged Dan as his brother, being spoken to like that made his blood boil. Did Dan… know something? No, impossible. That couldn’t be. He—

Dan gave a cold snort. “Too far? What, I took a few things from you, and that makes you run your mouth like this?”

Manny’s silence only deepened his rage; hearing Dan’s drunken tone made him want to explode.

“You call that ‘a few things‘? You son of a wench, was it you who told that whore Marie to rob me?”

Dan’s indifferent voice made Manny’s suspicion flare. Was he in on it with Marie’s group all along?

When Dan heard him insult Marie, his tone sharpened. “Sounds like your face has healed. Want me to open up the other side too, just to make it symmetrical?”

Manny froze, his anger spiking.

The doctor had said the wound was deep–hard to repair. His face, once flawless, had been ruined, and Dan still had the nerve to joke about it.

Grinding his teeth, Manny growled, “Tell me the truth–are you working with Marie?”

“Don’t tell me you’re not. If she came after me today, then those times she went after you before–they were just a distraction, weren’t they? You two planned it all!”

The so–called raids by the entire Ashen Pact were just smoke and mirrors; the real target had always been them. Dan was just the decoy.

No wonder Dan hadn’t seemed anxious lately. Of course–none of the Ashen Pact’s chaos really

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touched him.

No wonder he’d said he would hand over leadership to Manny.

He hadn’t meant to give up power; he’d been plotting with outsiders to gut the Ashen Pact from the inside.

In the end, the whole organization would end up back in his hands–and Manny and their father would be left with nothing. They wouldn’t even have the right to fight back.

The more Manny thought about it, the angrier he became.

“Dan, you’re despicable!”

At this point, he was convinced–Dan and Marie were working together.

Dan chuckled coldly. “You’re acting like a rabid dog.”

And wasn’t that what he was? Snarling without evidence, lashing out blindly.

“I’m warning you,” Manny said through gritted teeth, “if you think you can take the Ashen Pact all for yourself, don’t even dream about it.”

Dan couldn’t be bothered to reply; he hung up on him.

Manny roared, “Ah!”

He slammed his hand down, sending the ashtray and glass flying off the table.

The shout tugged at his wound, and pain shot through his face until his expression twisted in agony.

When Artemis walked in, she found him caught between fury and pain.

“What the heck are you doing?” she asked.

“That scumbag Dan,” Manny spat, “I think he’s behind all these outside forces coming after us!”

“What?” Artemis‘ eyes narrowed.

“Marie’s connected to him somehow; I’m sure of it. He’s planning to take over the whole Ashen Pact, to drag everything back under his control!”

“This has to be his plan–his doing!”

The more Manny spoke, the more certain he became–and the more his anger consumed him.

213

Artemis fell silent.

past

Hearing his words, her expression grew darker. “I’ve thought the same thing. These few days, it’s been mostly our assets getting hit; Dan hasn’t lost much at all.”

“Even when he does, it’s minimal compared to what we’ve lost.”

Looking at it that way, it was as if Dan’s losses were just for show–while theirs were the real thing.

“He’s hiding something,” Manny growled. “This is absolutely his conspiracy!”

“Enough,” Artemis said flatly. “That’s not what’s most important right now.”

“What?”

Her words made him angrier.

Not the most important? Then what the heck is?

Chapter 835 Another Round For The Unlucky

In the end, her little thoughts had drifted off somewhere; she didn’t know where.

On Dan’s side, he finally met with Andy. “Why’d you come alone?” he asked, downing a large glass of liquor as he spoke.

Andy and Blanc had been close for a long time, and they’d collaborated on plenty of projects; they came and went together whenever big deals were on the table, and if there was a major project, the two of them always showed up together.

This time Andy had come to Redwood; there was no doubt he was here to talk big business.

So Dan was a little surprised Blanc hadn’t come along.

Andy said, “I heard he got off the worst last time; he just got out of the hospital.”

At the mention of it, a flash of guilt crossed Dan’s eyes.

The last time it happened, Marie had barged in with so many people that they had no way to avoid it.

Those guys had only been playing cards with him, but they were beaten up for no reason.

Andy looked at the wounds on Dan’s face. “Marie did this?”

Dan fell silent; when he heard it, his face darkened.

Andy clicked his tongue twice. “Marie’s temper is infamous.”

“You just pick the wrong person to piss off–why bother messing with that she–devil?”

Indeed, in everyone’s mind in Falvaria, Marie was basically a she–devil.

Dan’s expression went even worse.

Seeing Dan too angry to speak, Andy asked, “So it really wasn’t you who slept with her?”

“You-”

Is there any sense to this at all? It was maddening.

Dan said, “I was with you guys that night; we played cards all night—through the whole night.”

Andy nodded. “Right, right–so you didn’t sleep with anyone?”

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Dan was silent.

Hearing that only made him grind his teeth in rage.

Andy said, “This doesn’t make sense; if you didn’t sleep with her and the baby’s not yours, why’d Marie single you out to beat?”

Who knows what’s wrong with her head!

Dan was furious; if anyone was wronged here, he was more wronged than Dou E. This whole thing just couldn’t be explained.

“It’s unbelievable—why is she so sure it wasn’t Derrick? Derrick already admitted it…”

When Derrick was brought up, Dan’s chest burned with anger.

But thinking of how Derrick had been admitting things in front of Marie, it didn’t seem entirely fair to blame Derrick either. Still… how the heck did that scumbag admit to it? How did he make Marie stop believing it was him?

Andy asked again, “It really wasn’t you?”

He was being stubborn too.

Dan slammed another big drink down in anger; this whole mess couldn’t be cleared up, and he sure as hell didn’t want to keep talking about it.

If he went on, he’d explode.

Seeing Dan so furious, Andy finally believed him; it really was unfair. He also thought Marie was being unreasonable–he couldn’t understand how someone could be innocent and get beaten like that.

Just as Dan was about to say more, his phone buzzed; it was Manny calling.

Dan grabbed the phone with a sour tone. “Speak.”

“Did you tick off that woman Marie again?” Manny snapped; from his tone, it was clear she’d

messed with the Ashen Pact once more.

But Dan barely registered that–what got under his skin was the way Manny talked about her.

His bottled–up anger finally burst. “You’ve got some nerve talking about other people like that when you can’t even own up to who you are!”

“Maybe sort out your own identity first!”

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Chapter 836 You Call That Family?

Manny went silent. The moment he heard Dan’s words, his face froze on the other end of the line. For a split second, a visible flicker of shock crossed his eyes…

But it passed almost instantly; he quickly regained his composure. “What the heck’s wrong you?”

with

Dan let out a mocking laugh. “Didn’t you always say the matriarch’s daughter was born out of wedlock?”

“If Tessa really is, then you two aren’t all that different, are you?”

“Dan, don’t go too far!” Manny snapped.

Even though he’d never truly acknowledged Dan as his brother, being spoken to like that made his blood boil. Did Dan… know something? No, impossible. That couldn’t be. He—

Dan gave a cold snort. “Too far? What, I took a few things from you, and that makes you run your mouth like this?”

Manny’s silence only deepened his rage; hearing Dan’s drunken tone made him want to explode.

“You call that ‘a few things‘? You son of a wench, was it you who told that whore Marie to rob me?”

Dan’s indifferent voice made Manny’s suspicion flare. Was he in on it with Marie’s group all along?

When Dan heard him insult Marie, his tone sharpened. “Sounds like your face has healed. Want me to open up the other side too, just to make it symmetrical?”

Manny froze, his anger spiking.

The doctor had said the wound was deep–hard to repair. His face, once flawless, had been ruined, and Dan still had the nerve to joke about it.

Grinding his teeth, Manny growled, “Tell me the truth–are you working with Marie?”

“Don’t tell me you’re not. If she came after me today, then those times she went after you before–they were just a distraction, weren’t they? You two planned it all!”

The so–called raids by the entire Ashen Pact were just smoke and mirrors; the real target had always been them. Dan was just the decoy.

No wonder Dan hadn’t seemed anxious lately. Of course–none of the Ashen Pact’s chaos really

1/3

touched him.

No wonder he’d said he would hand over leadership to Manny.

He hadn’t meant to give up power; he’d been plotting with outsiders to gut the Ashen Pact from the inside.

In the end, the whole organization would end up back in his hands–and Manny and their father would be left with nothing. They wouldn’t even have the right to fight back.

The more Manny thought about it, the angrier he became.

“Dan, you’re despicable!”

At this point, he was convinced–Dan and Marie were working together.

Dan chuckled coldly. “You’re acting like a rabid dog.”

And wasn’t that what he was? Snarling without evidence, lashing out blindly.

“I’m warning you,” Manny said through gritted teeth, “if you think you can take the Ashen Pact all for yourself, don’t even dream about it.”

Dan couldn’t be bothered to reply; he hung up on him.

Manny roared, “Ah!”

He slammed his hand down, sending the ashtray and glass flying off the table.

The shout tugged at his wound, and pain shot through his face until his expression twisted in agony.

When Artemis walked in, she found him caught between fury and pain.

“What the heck are you doing?” she asked.

“That scumbag Dan,” Manny spat, “I think he’s behind all these outside forces coming after us!”

“What?” Artemis‘ eyes narrowed.

“Marie’s connected to him somehow; I’m sure of it. He’s planning to take over the whole Ashen Pact, to drag everything back under his control!”

“This has to be his plan–his doing!”

The more Manny spoke, the more certain he became–and the more his anger consumed him.

213

Artemis fell silent.

past

Hearing his words, her expression grew darker. “I’ve thought the same thing. These few days, it’s been mostly our assets getting hit; Dan hasn’t lost much at all.”

“Even when he does, it’s minimal compared to what we’ve lost.”

Looking at it that way, it was as if Dan’s losses were just for show–while theirs were the real thing.

“He’s hiding something,” Manny growled. “This is absolutely his conspiracy!”

“Enough,” Artemis said flatly. “That’s not what’s most important right now.”

“What?”

Her words made him angrier.

Not the most important? Then what the heck is?

“Your father,” Artemis said quietly, “wants to do a paternity test with Lina and Lana.”

“What?”

Already fuming, Manny shot to his feet at that.

He stared at her in disbelief. “Mother, what did you just say?”

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“Your father,” Artemis said quietly, “wants to do a paternity test with Lina and Lana.”

“What?”

Already fuming, Manny shot to his feet at that.

He stared at her in disbelief. “Mother, what did you just say?”

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