The Wrong Girl and the Wronged Girl (Stella and Ethan) novel Chapter 875

875 The Aftermath

How the hell did he end up with a son like this?

“I knew,” Dan said coolly. “I’ve always known.”

The words hit Dale harder than anything. He looked like he might faint.

“You knew?” His chest tightened, the room spinning around him.

Dan shrugged. “Even if I’d told you back then, would you have believed me?”

The air went still.

For a long moment, neither of them said a word.

Of course Dale wouldn’t have believed him. No matter what Dan had said before, he’d always assumed it was jealousy–jealousy that Manny and the twins got more of their father’s affection.

Every sarcastic comment, every jab–Dale had brushed them off as bitterness.

But now…

“You knew,” Dale muttered hoarsely. “And you just stayed silent?”

That was what cut the deepest. Dan had known the truth all along–and he’d kept it to himself.

The thought made Dale’s blood pressure spike. His anger hit so hard his vision blurred, and within seconds, he passed out cold.

After Lenny locked Manny and Artemis in the basement and came back, he found Dale collapsed on the couch. His face went stiff. “Mr. Dale!” he called.

Lenny rushed forward, panic flashing across his face.

The doctors were called immediately. They worked fast, stabilizing him and carrying him to the medical wing.

Dan stood quietly to the side, calm as ever. He took one last drag from his cigarette, then turned to Lenny. “Keep a close eye on Artemis and Manny. Don’t let anyone get them out.”

The DNA mess was over–for now.

With that, he left.

Lenny had Dale carried straight to the medical wing. An hour later, he finally came to, groaning softly as his eyes fluttered open.

But even though only a few hours had passed, he already looked like he’d been through a lot–pale, drained, and worn down, the sharpness in his eyes gone.

He blinked at the unfamiliar white ceiling, then looked around the room. “Where’s that damn kid?”

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“Mr. Dan left,” Lenny said quietly.

Dale’s temper flared again. “You see this? You see? The ones who aren’t mine act like family, and the one who is mine–he doesn’t even look the part!”

Lenny stood there, silent.

It was a painful truth, and there was nothing he could say.

“Call him.” Dale snapped. “Tell that ungrateful brat to get his ass back here!”

Everything was chaos. The whole Artemis and Manny situation might have been exposed, but the Ashen Pact was still in complete disarray. Someone had to deal with it–and soon.

“Yes, sir,” Lenny said immediately. “I’ll contact Mr. Dan right away.”

Dale drank a full glass of water, but the anger boiling in his chest didn’t fade.

“And send more people to find Lina and Lana,” he said sharply.

The warmth that used to fill his voice when he said their names was gone. Now, there was only venom–an icy, bitter hatred that made his words sting.

When the results from Black Mountain came through, Tessa got the news almost immediately.

She was sitting, eating a slice of melon, when she read it.

Her brows furrowed. “That makes no sense. Artemis had three kids, and not one of them is his–but somehow Dan is?”

It just didn’t add up.

If Dale’s so–called ‘beloved woman‘ never gave him a single biological child, how did another one end up being his?

Victor leaned back in his chair. “You’re saying you think Dan isn’t his either?”

“Of course not,” Tessa said, frowning. “There’s no way.”

Artemis’s three kids weren’t his. She herself wasn’t related to him. And now, suddenly, Dan was? It didn’t line up with anything she knew.

Black Mountain might’ve gone quiet on the surface, but the entire Ashen Pact was in turmoil.

Manny wasn’t Dale’s son.

Lina and Lana hadn’t taken the DNA test, but the fact that they’d run away told everyone exactly what the result would’ve been.

Which meant, as of now, only Dan was officially proven to be Dale’s biological child.

And Tessa

hadn’t taken any test either. But anyone who saw her knew she looked the most like him.

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From appearance alone, she could easily pass as his daughter.

Of course, Tessa didn’t believe it for a second. Dan couldn’t be his. And neither could she.

After all, Artemis had been with Dale for years and never once had his child. That didn’t seem possible–at least, not scientifically.

The only explanation that made sense to her? Dale was infertile.

Maybe Dan’s report had been tampered with. Maybe someone had meddled–how, she didn’t know–but that was the only thing that made sense to her.

How? She didn’t know. But it was the only thing that made sense.

Victor smiled faintly and reached over, pinching her cheek affectionately. “You sound awfully sure about that. You just want to see him pay for what he did, huh?”

Tessa grinned. “Of course I do.”

She’d known since Rivermount that Dale wasn’t a good man. Then she’d learned her mother disappeared because of him.

And now, knowing that Dale was also responsible for destroying Victor’s family? That sealed it.

In her eyes, he was beyond redemption.

So yeah–she wanted him to pay.

Victor smiled faintly, his voice calm. “Still, I doubt the report was tampered with.”