Chapter 137

Christian’s face darkened with defiance. He let out a cold snort and walked around Abigail without another word.

“Chris,” Daniella called out, clearly afraid of Stephen.

“What are you calling him for? Scared we’re going to eat you alive? If you’ve got nothing to hide, then come to the hospital with me and Ralph tomorrow,” Stephen kept the pressure on Daniella.

Daniella’s eyes filled with tears as she put on the most pitiful act she could manage. “Stevie, do you really have to be so aggressive?” she choked out between sobs.

“Come on. I’m just asking you to get a checkup. How is that being aggressive? Weren’t you the one who told everyone in this family that you had depression?” Stephen was so frustrated he almost laughed.

He couldn’t understand it. If Daniella was really sick, getting a simple test to prove it would be the easiest thing in the world, unless she’d been lying this whole time.

Wyatt watched Daniella bite her lip and cry. “Dani, you haven’t actually been lying to us, have you?”

That question hit home, and even Bianca’s expression started to shift. “Did you really use a mental illness to deceive us?”

Daniella stammered, “I… I thought I really had it at the time, and the hospital didn’t exactly give me an official diagnosis…”

“I’m only asking you one thing. Did you take the medication they prescribed?” Bianca cut her off. When the doctor had written the prescription, he’d warned them about side effects like weight gain and skin problems.

But Daniella had never shown any side effects all these years.

Bianca had assumed Daniella just had a strong constitution and took good care of herself, but now it was obvious she’d been lying the whole time.

“Mom, I did take it! You even saw me take it sometimes,” Daniella sobbed. Being interrogated by everyone like this made her feel like she was suffocating.

Abigail twisted open her water bottle and took a sip. She noticed Christian was still staring at her, so she looked back at him.

Christian wasn’t helping Daniella, not because he didn’t want to, but because there was no way to defend her in this situation. She’d lied about so many things and even deceived Bianca. ‘How could I possibly speak up for her now?’ he thought.

Bianca shook her head. “Do you think your body can handle the hormonal chaos those herbal supplements would cause? I never questioned you before because I loved you and trusted you completely. But what have you been doing? Don’t I deserve your honesty at least once?”

Bianca was completely devastated by Daniella’s betrayal. Even though she was adopted, the Gibson family had invested most of their money in her.

“Mom!” Daniella cried and tried to rush forward to hug her.

Stephen immediately pushed her back. “Don’t try that pitiful act on Mom anymore. We brought this ungrateful brat into our home, and it’s our own fault!”

“Stevie, I was wrong. Can you give me one more chance? I did lie, I did deceive everyone, but it was only because Abigail came back. I was scared she’d take everything away from me. I was afraid you wouldn’t want me anymore, afraid you’d only pay attention to her…”

Stephen showed her no mercy whatsoever. “So what if we do pay attention to her? You’re just an adopted daughter. When the real daughter comes home, you should give everything back to her willingly."

“Are you really going to act like the victim here? We’ve raised you in the Gibson family for years, given you the best of everything, and this is what we get? A pathological liar?”

“Stevie, I really messed up. I’ll never do it again…” Daniella was crying so hard she looked like she might pass out, tears streaming down her face.

Bianca felt sorry watching her, but Stephen pressed on. “Fine, you were scared she’d take everything from you, so you bullied her. We can understand that. But then you lied to Mom about buying that chicken noodle soup. What’s your excuse for that?”

The mention of the soup made Bianca’s mood sour all over again.

Abigail got tired of listening to them go in circles with the same arguments. She turned and headed upstairs.

“Not sticking around for the show?” Wyatt followed her.

“Not interested. I think I’ll just go to bed.” Abigail’s tone was completely indifferent.

“Abby, I stood up for you today. Everything she took from you is going to come back to you eventually.” Stephen saw that she’d stopped watching and didn’t want to keep arguing with Daniella, so he quickly caught up with Abigail.

Abigail frowned. “I never asked you to help me. Don’t flatter yourself.” She picked up her pace and headed straight to her room. Once inside, she quickly shut the door and let out a long breath.

‘Daniella’s going to have a rough time in this house from now on,’ Abigail thought. All the suffering she’d endured before would slowly come back to haunt Daniella, thanks to Stephen’s outburst today.

Part of her felt like she should be grateful to Stephen for what he’d done, but she couldn’t forget that he’d been part of the problem when she was the one getting picked on.