All Chapters of Collateral Damage: Love and Lies: Chapter 1 - Chapter 10

10 Chapters

Chapter 1

I left some materials I was transporting for work at home, but they disappeared overnight.Neil Jackson was out of town at the time. The only other person who had the keys to my house was Lorraine Larsen, who had a suspiciously close relationship with him.Not daring to take this lightly, I reported the theft to the police.Lorraine was called to the police station. She looked visibly shaken when she arrived. "I know you hate me, Sandra," she said tearfully, "but you can't just pin any crime on me."Neil was agitated. "Lorraine has already lost her baby because of you. Why can't you just leave her alone?"Because of me?How could he even say that?A few days ago, I returned from a business trip and found him lying on the bed with Lorraine as they browsed maternity products online.I immediately broke up with Neil, but he refused to make it mutual.Lorraine, on the other hand, disappeared for a couple of days. When she turned up again, her face was pale."I've aborted the baby

Chapter 2

"Sandra, you shouldn't have falsely accused Lorraine in the first place," Neil said, his eyes straying over to Lorraine's stomach. He looked pained. "You brought this on yourself. You'll have to live with the consequences of your actions."He was blaming me for the loss of Lorraine's baby.Did he really love children that much?My heart ached.We once had a child together too.Back then, Neil had gone missing while hiking up a snow mountain. To find him, I had scaled the same mountain but ended up falling off a cliff and landing in a pool of my own blood, losing our child in the process.He had probably forgotten how he had cried while holding me at the time.Just as our standoff grew tense, a man wearing a pair of gold-rimmed spectacles entered the police station."Peter?" I said.Peter Sutton nodded at me. "I've brought the detection equipment from the institute."The police officer immediately made the call. "Good. We have the equipment now. This is a serious matter. Let's

Chapter 3

The whole story was structured like a thesis, complete with precise wording and a catchy title. It soon garnered a lot of attention. Neil and Lorraine remained completely oblivious about this, still basking in the thrill of their success.Before being taken away, I smiled at them. "Don't celebrate too soon. Remember how smug you both feel now, because soon, you'll pay for this with your own lives and prove my innocence."They clearly had a death wish, since they were bold enough to steal Iridium-192.In that case, I would just sit back and wait for them to reap what they had sown.Neil and Lorraine thought I was just bluffing. Cheerfully, they left hand-in-hand.Barely a night had passed before Neil urgently requested to visit me in jail.I was told that he was frantic, but still, I declined all of his requests to meet me.Three days later, Peter posted bail for me. I was released temporarily to await trial.When I walked out of jail, the situation had turned completely upsi

Chapter 4

"She's speaking the truth," Peter said.He towered almost half a foot over Neil. When he leaned in, his commanding presence made Neil instinctively back away."You again?" Neil glanced between us suspiciously. "Is this what you've been keeping secret? Every time you disappear for months, telling me that it's for your job and that it's top secret, you're actually with him, aren't you? "You've already slept with him, right? So, stop pretending to be a victim when it comes to Lorraine. You're disgusting."Peter raised his hand and punched Neil, sending him sprawling.Seeing this, Lorraine finally couldn't continue pretending to be a normal stranger. With a cry, she rushed over and helped Neil up. "How can you be so violent in broad daylight? Aren't you afraid that we'll call the police?"I leaned over and gently brushed my hand against her hair. A few strands stayed in my palm even after I drew away. "You're losing a lot of hair. You should get that checked at a hospital. Then, onc

Chapter 5

Neil's anxious voice sounded off-screen. "Lorraine, are you okay?"A loud buzzing sounded—someone had tripped over the power cord.The livestream ended abruptly.The viewers were stunned, left wondering what happened after Lorraine fainted in her livestream.Her social media accounts went eerily silent after that, adding to the mystery of the situation.Meanwhile, Neil called me. "Sandra, come to the hospital immediately.""Why? Are you dying?" I asked.Neil choked on his anger and began coughing violently. "No, but you'll be the death of me one day! Lorraine is in trouble. If you have a conscience, you'll come over right now!"I hung up abruptly. A conscience? I'd never heard of the thing.However, my curiosity was burning like wildfire.Two minutes later, I got into a cab and headed toward the hospital.Lorraine's hospital room was in chaos when I arrived."I've done my research online. There's no need for an amputation at all! You're just trying to trick me into an exp

Chapter 6

The conspiracy-laden comment was logical enough to satisfy most people's curiosity. It was quickly copied and shared widely throughout the Internet."The logic checks out. Case closed!""Oh my God, that's terrifying. She must be super smart to be able to pull that off!""Lorraine might be in the wrong morally, but did Thesis Lady really have to kill her?""I think I can understand her boyfriend now. It must be terrifying, living with someone like her."Public opinion quickly turned against me. My name soon became synonymous with crime and murder.Even Neil's affair with Lorraine was quickly spun into a redemption story. Neil was recast as a pitiable man forced to endure my tyranny and finally found the courage to escape from my grasp after meeting his angel, Lorraine. The creative twist they managed to weave into the story was truly awe-inspiring. As a STEM nerd, I was left completely speechless."Maybe you two should write a novel together," I marveled."You're the reason I'

Chapter 7

After her skin graft surgery, Lorraine went back to her normal life.After many days of absence, she finally reappeared online. The first thing she did was launch a livestream, positioning herself as the victim while openly supporting the most popular conspiracy theory that was spreading across the Internet."It's just as everyone guessed—my boyfriend and I were almost killed by Sandra," she lamented. "But even so, she's still at large and allowed to continue stirring up trouble. I don't understand what is wrong with the world."Her words were laced with helplessness, a perfect picture of the downtrodden and persecuted proletariat. It gained her a lot of sympathy, and her livestream went viral almost instantly.But just as she was about to capitalize on her victimhood and monetize her content with product promotions, a connection request appeared on the screen."Hey, I recognize that username. It's Thesis Lady!""Shit, she actually showed up?""This is going to be epic. Accept t

Chapter 8

This time, Neil stopped covering for Lorraine.According to what he said in his testimony, the police, along with Peter, put on radiation suits and dug up the stolen Iridium-192 in Lorraine's garden.The material looked just like a normal metal keychain.Peter carefully resealed the Iridium-192 and took it back to the research lab for proper handling."We only opened the container once and left it out in the living room for two hours," Neil said. Those two hours were enough to expose both of them, who had been in the same room, to significant amounts of radiation.Now that the case was finally resolved, the police released an official statement.Lorraine's reputation was beyond salvaging now.She lost a lot of followers, and in turn, the products she had previously endorsed saw a drop in sales as well.The brands that had worked with Lorraine suffered heavy losses because of this and began filing claims against her.The three of us were called to the police station again to

Chapter 9

The absurdity of his ignorance made me laugh."Yes, I know a lot about radiation. That's why I warned you two from the start," I said. "Back when you were trying to send me to prison, I told you that you'll prove my innocence with your life. You didn't care then; why are you talking to me about love now? Do you think you deserve my help?"Neil lost it. "Why am I suffering like this while you continue your carefree life as if nothing happened? If it weren't for you, Lorraine wouldn't have come up with that stupid idea, and I wouldn't have ended up in the hospital with an incurable disease!"As he screamed, he pulled out a knife from behind him and lunged at me, a glint of mad desperation in his eyes.I threw my popcorn bucket at him and bolted down the stairs.However, Neil, completely crazed now, grabbed the hem of my shirt and slashed my arm.I gasped in pain and kicked at his trembling legs.Weakened by his radiation sickness, Neil couldn't hold his balance. He slipped, tumbli

Chapter 10

When the police arrived to take Neil away, he suddenly snapped back to his senses and began struggling wildly. Pointing at me, he screamed, "You should arrest her! She's the one who planned all this! You're a murderer, Sandra! You should've died on the mountain all those years ago!"I watched him coldly as the police forcibly pushed him into the car in his frenzied state. The car door slammed shut, cutting off his desperate screams.A gust of cold wind swept through, stirring up the thin layer of snow on the ground.It reminded me of the blood-streaked snow from that mountain, a weight I had carried in my heart for so many days and nights. But now, the wind had finally blown it away.The case of the stolen Iridium-192 finally came to a close.Apart from theft, I also sued Lorraine for defamation and Neil for physical assault.Not that either of them had the energy to face any legal proceedings.Their conditions deteriorated rapidly, and alarmingly so.At first, they were pu

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