The Wrong Girl and the Wronged Girl (Stella and Ethan) novel Chapter 873

873 The Turning Point

Artemis pressed her hands over Manny’s wound, panic flooding her chest. “Manny! Manny, no–stay with me!”

Just moments ago, he’d been fine–alive and standing. Now, he was limp in her arms, barely breathing.

The shock and pain tore through her chest, and she let out a raw scream.

She looked up at Dale, her face streaked with tears. “You… you shot him. You really pulled the trigger. He’s called you ‘Dad‘ for years–how can you do this? How can you be this cruel?”

Her voice cracked, filled with disbelief and grief.

She couldn’t wrap her head around it–Dale had always cared for Manny the most.

He’d treated Manny like his own flesh and blood.

And now…

“Fine, he’s not your biological son,” she cried, her voice breaking. “But he’s been by your side all these years, calling you ‘Dad‘ every single day! How can you be this cruel?”

She clung to Manny, sobbing uncontrollably.

She didn’t care about anything else anymore. “We need an ambulance! He’s losing too much blood–we have to get to a hospital!”

But Dale just stood there, watching coldly.

After he pulled the trigger, some of his rage faded–but not enough to bring back any mercy.

Then Artemis’s desperate, accusing voice hit him again, and something inside him twisted with disgust.

He’d once held her close, trusted her completely–and now he saw her for what she really was.

Three children. Not one of them his.

“Don’t you dare treat him,” Dale said, his voice like ice.

His order fell heavy in the room. He wouldn’t allow the Black Mountain medical team to save Manny–or let them leave the estate.

“Lock them in the basement,” he said coldly.

His voice carried finality. His hatred for Artemis ran deep now–so deep he didn’t even want to look at her.

But he also wanted them gone. Forever.

When Artemis heard his command, the blood drained from her face.

It was happening. Exactly what she’d feared all along.

He was doing to her what he’d once done to those other women. He wanted her dead.

“No, please, no!” She cried, shaking her head. “I need to take Manny to the hospital! You can’t do this to us!”

Dale closed his eyes, the air around him growing colder by the second.

It was clear that every word of Artemis’s pleading meant nothing to him now. Her pleas hit a wall, completely powerless against his coldness.

This was the real Dale–the man she’d seen once before and hoped never to see again.

He was capable of loving a woman completely, of treating her like she was his whole world. But when that love was gone, he took every ounce of it back without hesitation.

“You think this is my fault?” Artemis cried, her voice trembling. “You think I wanted any of this? I didn’t have a choice!”

Those words made his eyes snap open again, his expression darkening into something deadly.

That coldness cut straight through her, swallowing her whole.

“You betrayed me,” he said with a bitter laugh, “and now you want to make excuses for it? Artemis, you make me sick.”

Her excuses only made his anger cut deeper. The way she said she “didn’t have a choice” made it sound like someone had forced her to cheat–as if she were the victim in all this.

Her tears spilled freely now.

“You have no idea what I went through being with you,” she shouted. “You said you loved me; everyone thought you loved me–but you kept marrying other women here at Black Mountain! What was I supposed to do?”

Dale’s voice cut through her sobs. “If you couldn’t wait for me, you could’ve left. That doesn’t give you the right to betray me!”

His teeth clenched, fury burning in his eyes.

Yes, she could have left if she couldn’t stand it–but betrayal was a choice.

“When you were pregnant with Manny, I was with you. Every day,” he said, his voice shaking with anger. “And you tell me you had no choice? What kind of pathetic excuse is that?”

Sure, he’d married other women–but he’d spent most of his time with her. That was no justification for what she’d done.

Dale didn’t want to argue anymore. His patience was gone.

“Lenny,” he called.

The butler stepped forward immediately. “Yes, sir.”

“Lock them in the basement. No doctors. No medical treatment. Not without my permission.”

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Then he looked at Artemis again–and what he saw in her eyes froze him inside.

Hatred.

She was the one who’d betrayed him, yet she dared to look at him with hate?

And Manny–weak and barely conscious–was glaring at him with the same look.

Dale’s body trembled with rage. “No food. No water.”

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