Chapter 708 The Fractured House

    To Dale, everything Dan had unleashed was nothing less than a deliberate attempt to drag outside powers in and destroy Ashen Pact.

    After all, this mess now reached Abraham himself.

    Dan gave no answer. He simply pulled out a chair and sat directly across from Dale.

    His silence only deepened Dale’s scowl. “Dan, no matter how we fight, it’s still family business. But you-”

    The word family darkened Dan’s face. He cut him off coldly. “Quarrels between family count as family business. Am I your family?”

    iFamily /iibusiness/i?

    iHa/i. iAfter /iiall /iithese /iiyears/i, it iwas /iithe /ifirst itime /iiI /iihave /iiever /iiheard /iiDale /iicall /iitheir /istrife ithat/i.

    His voice dripped with irony.

    Dale’s eyes narrowed. “Tessa. Was it you who took her?”

    The name left his mouth without a trace of warmth.

    No tenderness for his daughter–only indifference.

    Indifference so stark it was as if Tessa had no right to exist at all.

    The same indifference he had shown Dan for a lifetime.

    Perhaps once, when Dan was still a toddler, Dale had been a father in truth. But from the moment Dan’s memories began, Dale had never treated him as a son.

    Only the children born of Artemis counted as his blood.

    “Tessa,” Dan echoed,ughter sharp and mocking. “Listen to yourself. That cold tone.”

    “Dan!” Dale’s voice turned sharp, dangerous.

    “What can I say?” Dan leaned backzily. “Victor and Marie both believe Ashen Pact took her. If you can’t produce her, guess what they’ll do to you—especially…”

    He let the pause hang, savoring it.

    Dale’s face sank deeper into shadow.

    700

    bDan’s /blips curved in a vicious smile. b“/bEspecially Victor. Surprised, aren’t you? That bDiana’s /bdaughter turned out to be his treasure. And you–of all peopleb–/byouid hands on bVictor’s /bbjewel/bb./b”

    The most lethal de in Abraham’s hand–his woman. That was a crime that could tear the bsky /b

    open.

    Dale’s bjaw /bclenched. “What are you getting at?”

    “I mean this,” Dan sneered. “Don’t dump your filth on me. Marie’s already torn my grounds. apart, and she found nothing. So…”

    Their eyes locked, sharp as des.

    “So your dirty water won’t stick to me.”

    Dale’s face twisted ck. “I didn’t take her.”

    “Then you’ll have to tell Victor that. Whether he believes you… that’s another matter. And I doubt you have what it takes to convince him.”

    Silence pressed down like a weight.

    Veins bulged at Dale’s temples. He hadn’t known Victor himself wasing to Noctarth. Not until Marie’s promation made it clear.

    Now he understood–the Ashen Pact was in deeper trouble than ever.

    Dan rose, leaning over the desk, looming above him.

    “Was it your people? Or Manny’s?”

    The question cut sharp–who had taken Tessa?

    Either wayi, /iDan had been forced to take the me in front of Marie. And someone would pay for that.

    “Shut your mouth,” Dale snapped.

    But his certainty wavered. iWas /iiit /iireally /iinot /iihim/i?

    His earlier rage had made him assume Dan’s men were behind it, stirring chaos and throwing me on Ashen Pact.

    But Dan’s tone… it rang too true.

    If not Dan–then who? Could it have been Manny’s people?

    Chapter 708 The Fractured mo

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    Dale’s face shifted, growing darker by the second.

    “Or was it Artemis’s people?” Dan pressed.

    Artemis. That was all Dale called the woman who had raised Dan for three years.

    Fury erupted across his face. “She raised you for three years,

    and

    you dare suspect her?”

    “Oh, that’s right. In your eyes, she’s wless, fragile–too gentle to crush an ant.”

    The word fragile dripped with venom.

    “You ungrateful son!” Dale roared.

    Dan’s smile was ice. “Of course I’m ungrateful. You had my mother killed. If I weren’t unfilial, I wouldn’t be a son at all.”

    Chapter 709 Lines in the Sand