The Rejected Luna (Avery and Kaden) novel Chapter 23

**Between Then and Now by Mark Twain**
**Chapter 14**

**Christian’s POV**

“Lysander, Orion, Zayden, Christian—please, let me explain! Everything I did… I did it for you!”

Carrie’s voice echoed in my mind, a haunting melody laced with desperation, her familiar sobbing tone intertwining with that ever-present, pitiful expression that had once ensnared my heart.

There was a time, not so long ago, when I had been utterly captivated by the facade she wore, entranced by her charm, and I had willingly fallen into her web, believing every word she spoke.

“What happened five years ago… yes, it was my fault,” she continued, her gaze darting nervously between us, her eyes wide with a frantic hope that we might still care. “I shouldn’t have let myself be deceived by that omega. I hurt you all… but I’ve realized now. I truly have.”

The mere sound of her words sent a shiver down my spine, a visceral reaction that I couldn’t suppress.

She turned her attention back to me, her voice lowering to a near whisper, as if she feared that any sudden movement might send me fleeing. “Christian, Lysander, Orion, Zayden… I know you were always good to me.”

“The only reason you ever cared about Blair was because of me, wasn’t it? You used her to show me my mistakes, hoping I’d come crawling back to you, right?”

“This… this is what you wanted, isn’t it?”

She took a tentative step closer, as if trying to rekindle the connection she believed still flickered between us.

“Christian, I promise I’ll treat you better from now on. Let’s just put everything that happened before behind us, okay? You didn’t really love Blair anyway—she was just a placeholder for me, wasn’t she?”

“Lysander, Orion, Zayden… I’m still your sweet little sister. Without Blair, nothing has truly changed.”

Her conviction was unnerving; she spoke as if she genuinely believed we would be swayed, that we would forgive her for all the pain she had caused.

But we didn’t.

I couldn’t.

As I stood there, absorbing her words, her attempts to weave a tapestry of lies disguised as heartfelt confessions, I felt nothing but a chilling emptiness.

She kept insisting it was all “for us,” but deep down, I knew she had never truly cared about any of us.

She had hurt Blair—framed her, manipulated her, and even tried to extinguish her light, all to cast herself as the center of our universe.

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