Chapter 1
My parents rushed over from Chloe’s victory celebration.
Detective Bell, the forensics expert, frowned deeply, motioning for them to put on masks.
My dad was one of the best criminal investigation captains, and my mom was the top medical examiner in the city.
Even for them, seasoned veterans of countless crime scenes, seeing the body made them falter.
The oppressive summer heat had caused the body to bloat horribly, her face caved in, a pulpy, bloody mess where features used to be. It was impossible to make out any features.
Her body was covered in injuries, and her head was barely clinging to her neck by a thread of flesh.
A sickening, putrid stench, the foul odor of advanced decomposition, hung heavy in the air.
Mom closed her eyes for a moment, took a deep breath, and put on her gloves, beginning the preliminary examination.
Her gaze held a rare flicker of pity as she looked at my body.
In life, I had never once received such gentleness from her.
I watched nervously as she removed the blood-stained ring from my hand.
I’d made several identical rings, planning to give them to my family. But when Chloe’s didn’t fit, my parents had flown into a rage at me.
“I knew you had bad intentions! You just wanted to bully your sister!”
“Aubrey, even if you are our biological daughter, Chloe has lived in this house for eighteen years. She will always be more important than you!”
Even though their angry words still rang in my ears, I clung to the belief that my parents still loved me.
They had to recognize the gift I gave them!
But Mom merely signaled her assistant, Maya, to put the ring into an evidence bag, her face utterly expressionless.
I shouldn’t have hoped. My parents never had a place for me in their hearts.
Not even for their biological daughter.
My brother, Liam, used to tell me that Mom and Dad adopted Chloe because they couldn’t find me after I was abducted, and that I was their truly beloved daughter.
But after I came home, there was no longer a place for me in the house.
I felt like an intruder, a cuckoo in someone else’s nest.
After surveying the crime scene, Dad sighed and asked Mom, “What’s the situation with this body?”
Mom pulled off her gloves, rubbing her furrowed brow. “The victim is estimated to be around 20 years old. Preliminary assessment suggests the cause of death was a slit throat. She likely suffered prolonged torture before dying.”
“The brutality is extreme, and the social impact will be terrible. We need to crack this case quickly before public opinion explodes,” Dad said, lighting a cigarette and taking a deep drag, looking troubled.
Even in death, I was nothing but a burden to them.
Detective Bell warned, “The killer hasn’t been caught yet. Remind your family to be careful. You have two girls at home; it’s best they don’t go out at night.”
Mom irritably waved a hand. “Chloe is always obedient. As for Aubrey, I can’t control her.”
Detective Bell was an old classmate of my parents, so he knew our family situation well.
Dad lightly massaged his right shoulder.
Detective Bell noticed his action and asked, “Still bothering you, Miller? Your shoulder?”
Dad waved it off. “It’s nothing. Just some pain relief patches Aubrey bought…”
As he spoke, he froze.
The unruly daughter they complained about was the one who genuinely cared for their well-being.
Detective Bell patted Dad’s back. “Go easy on Aubrey. She is your biological daughter, after all.”
Dad shook his head. “A couple of days ago, Chloe had a tennis match. She kept saying she wanted Aubrey to come watch. But Aubrey? She played dead after I called her. Chloe was so disappointed that Aubrey didn’t show up, she only got third place because she was worried about her sister.”
“Aubrey hasn’t been home for days. Who knows where she’s died out there. Guess that’s what you get when they’re not raised by your own hand. Just useless.”
Hearing my parents’ accusations and complaints, I felt a bone-chilling cold.
Mom, Dad, it wasn’t that I didn’t want to come home.
I just… couldn’t anymore.
That ‘thankless creature’ you called me died the very day you were cheering on Chloe at her tennis match.
My body was right there, in front of your eyes.
During the case discussion, after Mom’s autopsy report, the police officers present looked grave.
Because of the horrifying state of my death, facial identification was impossible.
The abandoned building where my body was dumped wasn’t the primary crime scene, significantly increasing the difficulty of the investigation.
Dad assigned officers to search the area around the dump site for suspicious individuals.
“Please conduct another autopsy, Dr. Davis, see if there are any new findings. Get the DNA samples to the lab as quickly as possible.”
With that instruction to Mom, Dad hurried out with his team.
My parents seemed more concerned about the corpse itself than they ever were about me.
Mom used to stroke Chloe’s beautiful hair, telling her how being a forensic pathologist was a noble profession, giving a voice to the dead.
I watched Chloe nod in agreement, but when Mom turned away, Chloe would discreetly wipe her hair as if disgusted.
That time, I slapped Chloe, and Dad punished me by shaving my head.
And now, Mom touched my hair on my corpse with a pained expression, softly saying, “To die so horribly… how heartbroken her family must be.”
I gave a self-deprecating smile. My family should be happy about my death, I thought. Perhaps only Liam would be sad for a moment.
Mom’s gloved hand moved across my back.
There was a large patch of burn scars there, from when I was abducted.
When I was first brought home, as I changed clothes, Mom looked surprised, then slightly disgusted. “How did you get that on your back? It’s repulsive. Don’t scare Chloe.”