Christian’s POV
“Lysander, Orion, Zayden, Christian–please, let me explain! Everything I did… I did it for you!”
Carrie’s voice rang in my ears, that familiar sobbing tone paired with her usual pitiful expression. Once upon a time, I’d fallen for that mask of hers, willingly and completely.
“What happened five years ago… yes, it was my fault,” she said, her eyes flicking over each of us, filled with desperate
pleading.
“I shouldn’t have been fooled by that omega. I hurt you all… but I’ve realized now. I really have.”
Her words made my skin crawl.
She turned to me again, her voice softening, as if afraid to scare me off. “Christian, Lysander, Orion, Zayden… I know you
were always good to me.”
“The only reason you cared about Blair was because of me, wasn’t it? You were just trying to show me what I’d done
wrong–so I’d come back to you, right?”
“This… this is what you wanted, isn’t it?”
She even stepped closer, trying to rekindle the closeness she still believed was there.
“Christian, I’ll treat you better from now on. Let’s just forget everything that happened before, okay? You didn’t love Blair
anyway–she was just a stand–in for me, wasn’t she?”
“Lysander, Orion, Zayden… I’m your sweet little sister. Without Blair, nothing has really changed.”
She spoke with such conviction, like she truly believed we would be moved–like we’d forgive her for everything.
But we didn’t.
I didn’t.
Standing there, listening to her spin lies like they were heartfelt confessions, all I felt was cold.
She kept saying it was all “for us,” but she’d never once really cared about us.
She hurt Blair–framed her, used her, even tried to kill her, all just to make Carrie the center of attention?
I glanced at Lysander and the others. No one spoke. But the look on their faces was enough–dark, unreadable. The only emotion in the room was disappointment, bone–deep disappointment.
I closed my eyes, and somehow, memories of Carrie came flooding back.
Her twelfth birthday–she smiled in that soft white dress, all innocence. The way she stayed calm when a waiter spilled wine all over her, gently comforting him instead.
That was the moment I first felt something. I thought she was different. Gentle. Kind.
But now I knew better. It was all an act.
And the one who actually remembered our favorite foods, who truly saw each of us for who we were–was Blair.
Chapter 14
12.17%
I’d been wrong. So, so wrong.
I’d treated the most innocent girl like she was a substitute.
Carrie was still talking, tears streaming down her face, her voice hoarse and cracking. “No, Christian, I do love you. I really do! And you don’t love her, right?”
I looked at her and finally spoke. “I can’t believe I ever trusted someone like you.”
My voice didn’t even sound like mine–it was pure ice. “If you hadn’t lied and schemed against Blair over and over again… I never would’ve ended up falling for her.”
“Carrie, you disgust me.”
Her face turned pale, her whole body frozen in place. She sat there on the floor, staring blankly like the life had drained
from her.
Her eyes locked onto mine, wild and hollow. I started to turn away, unwilling to look at her for even a second longer–but
then she laughed.
A sharp, cold laugh–piercing, almost manic. It rose higher and higher, like something tearing apart. The sound sliced
through the silence, sending a chill down my spine.
I stopped in my tracks and looked back. She looked completely unhinged.
“What the hell are you laughing at?” I asked through clenched teeth. “After everything, you still have the nerve to laugh?”
She didn’t answer–just stared at me, like she’d seen through everything.
Then she spun around and swept everything off the table with one wild motion. Her lips curled into a twisted smile-
mocking, manic.
“I’m laughing at you. At your selfishness. Your hypocrisy. And how unbelievably stupid you are–and you don’t even know
it.”
