The Wrong Girl and the Wronged Girl (Stella and Ethan) novel Chapter 840

hapter 840 Not the Hospital Again

Finished

Tessa went quiet. Sure, listening to them talk trash about Dale had been satisfying–but now she was catching the stray fire.

Derrick had gone to bed late the night before. He’d been coordinating closely with Victor, though Victor had a bad habit of making his moves in the middle of the night. Which meant Derrick had to keep up, no matter how exhausted he was.

Early that morning, his phone buzzed relentlessly. Half–asleep, he assumed it was Sebastian calling.

He picked up without looking. “What, Victor’s on the move again? Fine, I’ll cover him.”

He was dead tired. And honestly, after all the raids on Ashen Pact’s assets, the thrill of it had worn off. But-

The voice that exploded through the receiver wasn’t Sebastian’s.

“Derrick, you son of a…” Dan roared.

That woke him up fast.

Derrick blinked, sitting upright as Dan continued shouting down the line. “Are you even a man? You can’t even handle one damn thing? I’ve been getting my ass kicked over and over because of you!”

“Tell me, can you fix this or not? Can you make it right, huh?”

The longer Dan yelled, the louder he got. At this point, he probably wanted to reach through the phone and strangle him.

Derrick, groggy but now wide awake, scratched his messy hair. “What the heck are you talking about?”

“You’re seriously asking me that?” Dan snapped. “I’ve been taking the blame for you for how long now? Are you ever gonna clear my name or what?”

Derrick sighed. “Uh…”

“How the heck did you explain things to that psycho Marie?” Dan barked.

Right now, he really wanted to know. How had Derrick explained things? Why did Marie always come after me afterward?

He was starting to think Derrick was stirring up trouble on purpose—either that or too lazy to

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straighten it out.

So every time Marie blew up, Dan was the one who paid for it.

Derrick’s brain was still foggy, but as Dan’s furious tirade kept coming, it started to make sense.

“Wait–Marie beat you up again?” he asked.

As he spoke, he got out of bed and went straight to Marie’s room. The sheets were a mess, and the bed was empty. He touched the covers–cold. She’d been gone for a while.

When Dan heard his question, he nearly lost it. “You ungrateful trash”

Dan’s chest burned with fury. He was genuinely about to pass out from how mad he was.

How had he ended up dealing with someone this shameless? It was infuriating–unbearably so. He wanted to strangle Derrick with his bare hands.

Meanwhile, Derrick, still half asleep, just sat there listening to Dan rant.

After a moment, he pieced it together–Marie hadn’t calmed down at all after last night. She’d gone straight to find Dan first thing in the morning—and, apparently, beat the crap out of him again.

Marie, the one who always did the hitting.

“How is she?” Derrick asked immediately.

At the mention of Marie, his mind jumped straight to her pregnancy. Panic flared in his chest.

Dan, hearing that, nearly screamed. “Are you kidding me? She beat the heck out of me, and you’re asking how she’s doing?”

Derrick didn’t even bother responding. He grabbed his coat–still wearing his robe underneath -and bolted out the door. “She can hit you all she wants, but you don’t lay a finger on her!”

Dan went silent.

“If anything happens to her or the baby,” Derrick said sharply, “I’ll make sure you go down with

them!”

“What the heck–I’m the one in the hospital!” Dan yelled. “Maybe I should find someone to die with me–how about you?”

Just hearing the word “die” made Dan’s anger spike out of control.

He lost it completely, shouting into the phone until his voice cracked. But Derrick only

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muttered, “Dream on,” and hung up.

Then, already halfway down the stairs, Derrick called Sebastian. “Find Marie. Now.”

Sebastian worked fast–and a few minutes later, reported back. “She’s at the hospital.”

That made Derrick’s heart seize.

On the drive over, Sebastian eyed him up and down and sighed. “You’re in such a rush you couldn’t even change? You’re still in your bathrobe, man. What kind of image is that?”

“My wife and kid ran out to get into a fight; what the heck do I care about my image?” Derrick shot back.

Sebastian fell silent. Well… he wasn’t wrong.

Still–Marie’s temper really was something else.

“She beat Dan into the hospital again?” Sebastian asked, shaking his head.

That woman didn’t care where she was or who she was dealing with. Even here in Redwood- Ashen Pact’s territory–she was fearless.

Sure, Ashen Pact was in chaos these days, but it was still dangerous ground.

And Marie… well, she’d just thrown herself right into the hornet’s nest.