Chapter 1001

[ 667 words ]

The mood inside Blacktower was tense, almost suffocating.

Dan caught the sound of Adelle’s quiet sobbing the moment he walked through the door. Finch stood beside her, silent and brooding.

Across the room, Derek sat on the sofa, a half-burned cigar smoldering between his fingers, taking idle drags as if he hardly cared whether it stayed lit or not. His face was set, hard and unyielding, unreadable and colder than stone-the kind of look that warned everyone off, no matter what they might say.

Leroy, allowed himself the smallest sigh of relief when he saw Dan return. Today had been pure chaos in Blacktower-chaos on a scale he hadn’t seen in all his years tending to this family. He knew exactly where the mess had come from; things buried for decades had suddenly been ripped straight into the open.

As Dan entered, Adelle and Finch’s guarded animosity sharpened in their eyes. Adelle shot Leroy a quick, almost desperate look. The butler bowed his head a fraction, all stern professionalism, giving nothing away.

Adelle reluctantly turned away and looked toward Derek, lips parted as if she wanted to speak, but in the end, she stayed silent.

Derek took a slow, measured drag from his cigar.

Dan strolled over and dropped himself onto the sofa across from Derek, crossing one leg over the other in easy defiance. “Well?” he asked, voice casual but cutting. “After all these years of playing happy families, what’s got you suddenly wondering if you belong?”

Derek’s eyes flashed with icy contempt.

Dan’s mouth curled into a sneer. “Look at you. Finally dropping the pretense? Who would’ve thought you’d ever let things get this far.”

Adelle and Finch tensed visibly.

Finch glared at Dan, the sarcasm in Dan’s voice stoking his anger.

Adelle’s heart pounded. Dan had spent years keeping her at arm’s length because of his mother-he’d never let her forget it. She’d always known that if he ever got the chance, he’d crush her without hesitation.

And now, it seemed, that chance had come.

“Dan, Finch and Ivanna have always been your family. Why are you doing this?” Adelle asked, her voice trembling.

“Are they?” Dan’s smile didn’t reach his eyes. “Derek wants answers today, doesn’t he? Funny thing is-I do too.”

That single, offhand remark landed with the force of a bomb.

Was he saying that he’d doubted them this whole time? That it was more than just rumors and whispers? That he, too, had suspected the truth?

Adelle felt her breath catch, her mind

wethat wretched woman’s et

son heartless just like her! What right did he

have to question her?”

But she didn’t dare say a word.

Before she could gather herself, Dan added, quietly but relentlessly, “Let’s get it all out in the open.”

The word “all” hung in the air, sharp as a knife, making Adelle and Finch both flinch. Finch growled, “Dan, don’t go too far.”

He took a step forward, fists clenched, but Adelle seized his wrist, warning him not to make things worse.

All out in the open… No. She couldn’t let that happen.

If Derek insisted on testing Finch too—if they really went through with it-everything would come crashing down.

Driven to the edge, Adelle realized she had no choice but to give ground. She turned to Leroy. “Any word from Caden and the others?”

“Not yet,” Leroy replied.

“No? Then tell them to hurry up and find them!” Adelle snapped, teeth clenched.

She’d agreed. She would let Derek

run the paternity tests on Ivanna and Leanpe Adelle knew this was the

moment one sacrifice to shield the

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other. .

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If Derek was hell-bent on testing the girls, then she had to find a way to steer

attention away from Finch.

“Mother!” Finch protested, voice harsh.

A DNA test with Ivanna and the others? That could only mean disaster…

Adelle’s head throbbed with anxiety. She shot Derek a desperate glance, then turned to Finch, voice heavy with feigned sorrow. “Finch, your father doesn’t trust us anymore. If

this is how he wants his answers,

what choice do we have but to let him see the truth?”

“But-” Finch started.

Dan cut him off coldly. “No ‘buts.’ No one’s slipping away today. You, me-everyone gets tested.”

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