Amara had indeed heard that Mrs. Grace Everly was especially fond of Liliana. She recalled the incident three years ago, when a child from the Everly family had pushed her into the pond.
It had happened one day in the dead of winter, when the pond water was nearly frozen over. Falling in was unbearably cold.
But that wasn''t the worst of it. Not only could she not swim, but after being pushed
into the water by Elowen as a child, she had developed a profound fear of drowning. That day''s ident was deeply traumatic for her—an experience she still remembered vividly.
It was because of that incident that she''d grown to resent Celeste. She never expected that it was actually Liliana who orchestrated the whole thing from behind the scenes.
"That day, the Everly family was throwing a party, right? Tons of rtives were there -so many people, it was impossible to keep track of everything going on. Liliana was there too, but at that point you didn''t know her at all. You probably didn''t even know what she looked like," Celeste continued.
"Liliana is a master socializer. She just handed a few pieces of candy to one of the more scheming kids in our family and got him to push you into the water when you weren''t looking."
"I happened to be passing down the hallway while she was saying all this, so I heard every word."
Amara listened to Celeste''s story in silence, her brows knitting together.
Thinking back, it did seem like someone had once said that Celeste wasn''t actually behind that incident. But at the time, the only people in the Everly family who really disliked her were Celeste and Hogan. Hogan wasn''t there that day, so when Amara was pushed, everyone instinctively believed it had to be Celeste.
Amara said, “I really didn''t know her back then. In fact, it was only four months ago that I found out who Liliana was."
To be precise, she always knew that Finnian had dated someone before, but they broke up not long after, and she''d never known anything about the girl—not her name, not her appearance. So it wasn''t wrong to say she only learned about Liliana four months ago.
These thoughts ran through Amara''s mind when, all of a sudden, the room fell silent. Instinctively, she looked up to find Celeste staring straight at her, eyes turning red as if she was about to cry. Amara was surprised: "What''s the matter?”
With a small plop, a tear rolled down Celeste''s cheek.
She wiped it away with the back of her hand, her voice trembling with grievance. "I''ve had a miserable time abroadtely. My parents wouldn''t let me out of the house at all. always heard people say how sincere and kind my parents were, but I never imagined they''d be like this..."
"They did so many things behind the scenes that hurt the Everly family. If all that
came out, Grandpa would be furious with them—I just know it."
"They were afraid I''d talk and let the secrets slip, so they controlled every aspect of my life. They wouldn''t let me go anywhere or meet up with friends and they even froze my bank cards. I tried to reach out entre to friends back home for help, but when they found out, they banned me from using the inte..."
Tears welled up in her eyes as she spoke, and soon she was sobbing again. “I felt like I was going crazy being stuck at home, and I''m terrified about what would happen if Grandpa found out about all of this. If he knows, what would I do?"
"I couldn''t take it anymore so I ran back home Now Liliana''s fake pregnancy has been exposed, too What if one day Liliana decides she has nothing to lose and tells
ve
everyone about our family''s secrets?
That would be the end of us What
us. What
will I do then...?"
Celeste sobbed, devastated. Hogan wrapped his arm around her shoulders, trying
tofort her. “Don''t cry. You still have me, don''t you? I''ll always be here for you."
If something really happened to the Martin family, Hogan could only promise to take care of Celeste. As for Martin and Andrea, he couldn''t help them.