All Chapters of Everyone I Loved Lied: Chapter 1 - Chapter 8

8 Chapters

Chapter 1

"Yes."I clenched my fists until my nails bit into my palms.[Mission suspended. Forty-eight-hour countdown initiated.]Drew Carell reached over and smoothed my hair back, gentle as ever, though his voice stayed flat."You've been punished for six years now. It's time you learned your lesson."Valerie's already brought Asher back into the country. Behave yourself and stop trying to compete with her for attention."I slapped his hand away."Why should I? She stole my son. She's the one who caused all of this!"Drew's brow creased."Don't say things like that. Valerie only wanted a child to keep her company. You've spent years diving for corpses—you carry that kind of negative energy on you. You're not fit to raise a child. Valerie's thoughtful and generous, and she's raised Asher well. You should be grateful, Carrie, not bitter."Cold flooded through me all at once.Six years ago, I'd nearly died giving birth to my son, Asher Carell, and he was taken before I ever got to hold

Chapter 2

Drew locked me in the basement.The moment the darkness swallowed me, it dragged up the old nightmare—being locked in a black little room by traffickers as a child. Phantom pain from a branding iron seared through my limbs, and I screamed."Let me out! I don't want any of it anymore. I don't want anything!"Drew knew perfectly well how badly I feared the dark because of what happened to me as a child. There'd been a time when that knowledge softened him, when he swore he'd never let me face even a sliver of darkness again for the rest of my life. Now, he was using it to punish me.The panic clawing at my chest left me gasping for air. Without thinking, I pulled up the chat window I'd kept pinned at the top of my phone for years.The moment I saw the message history, my blood ran cold.That wasn't my best friend.It had been my brother the whole time, hiding behind a fake account.Every moment of it—my confusion when I first came home, the helplessness of being bullied, the desp

Chapter 3

It was the body-recovery job I'd already taken on—the one I'd once believed would lead me to Asher's remains. All of it had turned out to be a lie, but as a body diver, I had professional principles, so I went anyway.I'd barely stepped toward the boat when someone shoved me from behind with brutal force, straight into the river.The freezing water swallowed me whole, the stench of rot flooding my nose. I fought my way up, gasping.Through my blurred vision, I made out a small figure standing on the bank. The moment his face came into focus, a jolt of shock went through me.It was Asher. My son—the one I'd spent six years aching for."Asher, help me—""Stop yelling."There wasn't a trace of warmth on his young face."I'm the one who hired you for this dive." His voice was flat with contempt. "You're bad luck. My mom got upset the second she came back, and it's your fault. I'm not letting you off easy."Despair sank into my bones along with the river water. I stared at his smal

Chapter 4

By evening, when Valerie made her grand entrance at the banquet, the whole room erupted in praise.I slipped into a corner and quietly hit the button to cast the video onto the big screen.The instant the footage lit up, my blood ran cold.On screen, I was the one attacking her. Valerie was the one cowering and begging for mercy. There were several spliced-together clips too, deliberately faked to make it look like I'd gone insane, harassing her and trying to steal her child. In just a few seconds, I'd gone from victim to a vicious, unhinged lunatic.The room erupted in gasps, ridicule and whispers exploding all around me.I froze. Then I snapped my gaze to Drew.The moment I saw the indifference on his face, everything clicked. He'd swapped out my evidence beforehand."You were willing to go to any length to target Valerie, so I'm going to make sure you understand what it means to reap what you sow. Carrie, I'm doing this to save you."Tears blurred my vision. "Drew, that foot

Chapter 5

The instant I hit the ground, the pain vanished. A second later, my body felt weightless, and I drifted back to Drew's side.The banquet hall had gone completely silent. Every face stared at the spot where I'd jumped, frozen in disbelief. Then someone screamed, and the whole room dissolved into chaos.Drew snapped out of it and bolted for the window like a man possessed."Carrie!"But we were fifteen stories up. All that showed below was solid black."No. This isn't happening. This can't be happening..."He kept backing away, then turned and tore down the stairwell like a madman. I was pulled along with him.The moment he saw the glaring red pooled on the ground below, he froze in place. A few seconds later, he scrambled toward me on his hands and knees, his hand shaking as he reached out to touch my body."Carrie..." His voice came out broken and hoarse, edged with a panic I'd never once heard from him. "Don't scare me like this. Just get up, okay? We never even had our weddin

Chapter 6

Drew didn't move.His suit was already soaked through with my blood, all that polished elegance gone. He just held my body, stubborn and unmoving."It's no use," he murmured. "Carrie is already dead.""Shut your mouth!"Rick's fist slammed into his face."Don't you dare curse my sister like that, you bastard!"Valerie stepped forward, feigning concern."Rick, don't do this. I know how much this hurts, but Carrie is already gone—"Before she could finish, Rick's head snapped up."This is all because of you!"He shoved her to the ground, his eyes flooded red."You're the one who stirred all of this up!"Valerie hit the floor and looked ready to burst into tears."I didn't do anything. Carrie was just too extreme—she couldn't take it and ended it herself..."My grieving parents rushed to help Valerie up the second they saw what Rick had done."Valerie, are you all right?"Their faces twisted with anguish, they turned on Rick."We're grieving Carrie too, but you have no ri

Chapter 7

The man went on to pull out a video.On screen, Valerie showed no trace of her usual fragile act—her face was pure venom. "I don't care how you humiliate her. Just don't let her have a single peaceful moment."She'd assigned me the most dangerous body-recovery jobs and told her hired hands to make trouble for me along the way. Even that time the current had swept me under—that had been Valerie's doing too, an order to finish me off. She'd even had them film it, turning my suffering into her personal entertainment.Pull one thread and the rest came unraveled. Every bit of the bullying I'd suffered back in school got dragged up right along with it.With every clip, Rick's hands shook harder."How could this be..." He'd spent six years believing my work as a body diver was nothing more than a show. When I told him I was exhausted, he'd accused me of being unable to handle hardship. He'd believed I bullied Valerie at school and that Valerie deserved to be defended. He never once r

Chapter 8

My parents happened to walk in just as she said it. My mother stumbled back a step."Valerie, how could you think that? We never once treated you unfairly!""Don't bother pretending. You never said it out loud, but you always favored her." Valerie let out a cold laugh. "While Carrie was alive, every good thing went to her. You claimed these past six years were her punishment, but you still looked out for her at every turn."If she hadn't died, you'd have kept pushing me aside forever, even though I'm the one whom you raised!"My father shook with fury and struck her across the face."Shut your mouth! No daughter of ours has a heart as venomous as yours. You're a murderer!""I'm the murderer?" Valerie looked as if she'd just heard the funniest joke in the world."Weren't the ones who drove her to it the four of you? You're the ones who never believed her—that's what pushed her over the edge. And don't forget who forced her to apologize to me that night. That was you."The words

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