Chapter 1 She's All Yours

Layla White was dead.

She was tortured to death, and all the traces and evidence for the crime were burnt in a fire. Someone saw that the murderer was none other than Everly Pettis.

…

The night sky was dark and starless in the cemetery.

A black car stopped as the rain was falling heavily. Everly was dragged all the way to a tombstone.

"Young Master Baxter, here she is."

A man holding a black umbrella stood in front of the tombstone. He was dressed in a full black suit, and his perfect side profile looked as cold as the night. He turned around and looked down at the woman struggling in the mud on the ground. His eyes were filled with hatred and disgust.

"Carson, I didn't do it! She was dead when I got there. I..." Everly crawled towards Carson Baxter, struggling with an explanation.

"Not you?" Carson pinched her chin so hard as if he was going to crush her jaw. "Someone took a photo of you two together before the incident. When the fire started burning, you were sitting in the cafe opposite of where she was!"

The hatred in his eyes was like a knife. "Her phone’s call log indicates her last call was to you!"

Everly kept shaking her head.

"I did talk to her on the phone, but I left soon after!"

Her face turned pale in the cold rain.

"I do hate her. I don't understand why you would even like her. I wanted her dead!" Her hoarse voice resounded through the cemetery. She looked at the man in front of her with a hint of desperation. "But I didn't kill her. I went to give her a check. She promised me to leave you after. She promised..."

His slap came so fast and unexpected that Everly fell hard into the mud. Blood started flowing from the corner of her mouth.

She covered her face and looked at the man in front of her, shocked.

"You are lying!" The emotion under his eyes was a mix of furious and disgust. "All the evidence pointed toward you, and yet you are still lying!"

"Do you think I will even spare a glance at you after she’s dead?"

"Everly, even if she died, I would never fall in love with you!"

The rain was still falling as droplets of water hit against her pale skin. She was shivering from the cold.

His expression of anger and disgust deeply wounded her. His cruel words cut her heart into pieces.

Tears streamed down her cheeks.

Love…

She had followed him for six years, and she had placed him in the softest spot in her heart throughout all those times.

The woman around him came and went. He never seemed to care about any of them. She thought she was special.

She thought...he was the same as she was. He thought she had a special place in his heart as well.

However…

He stood up, eyes piercing, and commanded in a harsh voice, "Kneel!"

"Carso…ah!" Before she could react, the bodyguards behind her had clasped her shoulders and pressed her down hard on the muddy ground. She was forced to face the tombstone with Layla’s name written on it, the bodyguards grabbed her hair and…

Her head was forced down on the ground and her forehead slammed against the cold tombstone.

He used to stand in front of her and stand up for her, he said he would love her for a lifetime, but now he humiliated her for another woman, for something she had never done!

The cold rain hit her body, and the pain of her forehead hitting the tombstone came in continuous waves. Blood dripped from her forehead, and the pain was tearing her apart. However, all the pain she felt physically could not be compared to the pain she felt in her heart.

"It's not my fault! It's her who asked me for the check. She doesn't love you at all! She said as long as I gave her money, she would leave!"

"I'm just sending her the check. She..."

She screamed and struggled, but he did not move a single inch. He waved his hand, and a tablet appeared in front of her face.

In the video, an old couple was kneeling on the ground crying. They were Layla's parents.

"Young Master Baxter, Layla is dead. Someone saw her being bullied and tortured in a humiliating way to death. In the end, the murderer burned her to ashes..."

"It was Everly! Young Master Baxter, you said you loved our daughter, Layla. If you don't, you can tell us that. We will bring her away and never disturb you again...but you can't do this to her! You can't let her be tortured to death! My poor daughter..."

The video continued with other pieces of evidence to prove that she was the murderer.

How could it be?

It was not her!

She did not do it!

She screamed and knocked the tablet down.

"What else do you have to say for yourself?" His face was as cold as ice.

"Carson, believe me..." She cried and reached out to grab his trousers. He had always been on her side before. He had promised that he would not allow anyone to hurt her and that he would protect her for the rest of his life.

"Ah!"

She was kicked to the ground and her hands and feet rubbed against the cold, dirty ground. She was bleeding and pain ripped through her.

"Lies! You thought you could get away with it!"

Carson stood under the never-ending rain, and the hatred in his eyes was cruel and bone gnashing. "Do you think you can kill an innocent person just because you like me? I loved her, Everly! I was the one who chose her and I was the one who could not live without her! Now, I’ll let you have a taste of what you did to her!"

He stood up straight and said to the bodyguard beside him with a cruel sparkle in his eyes, "She’s all yours."

The bodyguard hesitated but finally nodded and said, "Thank you, Mr. Baxter!"

Her vision was blurry and her forehead throbbed with pain. She looked at the man in front of her through the blurry rain in total disbelief. Never would she have thought that he would treat her like this!

She could never pull his heartstrings. He would never be this angry for her.

Six years of companionship, six years of tenderness had made her think that they could be together for the rest of their lives.

Now, he gave her away to someone else for a woman who did not love him at all and for something she had never done!

"Ca..."

She was pulled back by several men.

"Carson Baxter!"

Her clothes were torn apart.

His eyes contained no emotions. He stood there and watched coldly. He took out a handkerchief to wipe the hand that had just touched her and turned around in complete indifference.

"Brother!"