The Rejected Luna (Avery and Kaden) novel Chapter 24

24 /135

**Between Then and Now by Mark Twain**

**Chapter 15**

**Christian’s POV**

Carrie forced herself upright, each movement laced with agony. She swiped at the tears that streamed down her cheeks, a bitter laugh escaping her lips. When her gaze met mine once more, it was as if a winter chill had settled in the air—her eyes glinted with a sharpness that cut deeper than any blade, brimming with a toxic mix of disdain and mockery.

“Christian, you dare to call me malicious?” she spat, her voice tight with anger. “Do you really think you’re any better than I am?”

I stood there, paralyzed, unable to muster a response. It felt as though the mask she had worn for so long had finally slipped away, revealing the bare, unvarnished truth beneath. No more pretenses, no more tears for show; what stood in front of me was her unrefined essence, raw and unfiltered.

“When I walked away five years ago, you turned to Blair. Why? Because we share a resemblance,” she continued, her voice steady as she held my gaze with unyielding intensity. “Be honest with yourself. Wasn’t she merely a substitute for me from the very beginning?”

Each word she flung at me hit like a hammer, striking the wounds I had tried so desperately to keep hidden.

“You spent five long years refusing to bond with Blair,” she continued, her voice dripping with scorn. “Yet, it took only a handful of my lies for you to mark me without a second thought. That’s your idea of loyalty?”

My throat constricted, a lump forming, but still, I remained silent, unable to articulate the turmoil churning within me.

She stepped closer, her voice dropping into a chilling whisper, “You’re not furious because you love Blair. No, you’re angry because you can’t bear the truth—that someone like me played you for a fool.”

“Everything you’ve done—it wasn’t for Blair. It was merely to ease your own guilt,” I thought, but the words remained trapped in my mind.

Her words sliced through the air, sharp and unyielding. “You’re the selfish one here. You’re the hypocrite. You’re the reason I feel sick.”

“A self-righteous bastard,” she added, her voice a venomous hiss.

I felt the heat of rage rising within me, my fists clenching at my sides as I fought against the urge to recoil, to break under the weight of her accusations.

Then she turned her ire toward the others—Lysander, Orion, Zayden.

“And what about the rest of you?” she sneered, her disdain palpable. “Just as selfish, just as fake, just as stupid.”

Her gaze swept over them, cold and piercing. “We lived together for over twenty years. You’re telling me you had no idea what I was doing to Blair? Was it ignorance, or did you simply choose not to know? Deep down, you all know the answer.”

With each word, my chest tightened, the truth of her accusations settling heavily upon me.

“I wasn’t even that clever about it,” she laughed bitterly, her voice rising in pitch. “Honestly, my tricks were sloppy, yet I had you all duped for decades.”

“And Blair,” her tone twisted with irony, “your precious Blair. If any of you had cared about her even a fraction… do you really think I could have done what I did right under your noses?”

Then, she completely unraveled. The laughter that erupted from her was wild and unhinged, a manic sound that seemed to want to drag every one of us into her chaos.

“My dearest brother,” she turned her venomous gaze on Lysander, “you control the entire Bloodstone Pack. Nothing escapes your notice. So tell me—did I personally whip her? Was I the one who dangled her over a cliff, leaving her to perish?”

It felt as if she had reached into my chest, gripping my heart tightly, squeezing until it could no longer beat.

“Yes, I am cruel. I am calculated,” her voice crescendoed into a scream, “but don’t pretend your hands are clean. Blair didn’t die because of just me. We all killed her—together.”