Chapter 3

"Tell us, who is the owner of that body?"

Mom and Liam sat opposite Dennis Black, their eyes filled with intense disgust for the killer.

"I've been a medical examiner for so many years, and I've never seen such a brutal method of killing. Who ordered you to do this?"

Mom stared at Dennis's hardened face.

"I've told you several times! It's your daughter, your assistant's fiancée. When I was hammering her bones, she kept screaming 'Mom'... 'Mom'... 'Liam'... 'Liam'... Her voice was just delightful."

Dennis spoke, gesturing with his hands.

Everyone present couldn't bear to listen.

"A lying bastard."

Liam's eyes were filled with impatience.

"If you curse my fiancée again, I'll feed you to the wolves."

"Dr. Hayes, Dr. Vance, for all your sharp eyes, you've searched the entire city and couldn't find whose body it was, yet you can't even recognize the person once closest to you. I truly pity that unloved woman."

Dennis clicked his tongue a few times, looking at Liam and Mom's faces with a smile.

"Think about it, who is it?"

I stood by, watching the scene, and heard Dennis's next words.

"Chloe Vance, remember her?"

Mom and Liam's eyes widened instantly. Someone hearing that name immediately stepped forward and slapped Dennis hard twice.

"How dare you say such nonsense!"

"Why would I lie? I won't live to spend the money anyway."

Dennis's lips were bleeding, but he smiled triumphantly.

"She begged me for so long, begging me to spare her life and let her see her mom and fiancé one last time. I just poured hot water down her throat, so she couldn't scream anymore."

Liam and Mom's faces turned grim.

"Shut up, now!"

Someone punched Dennis twice and dragged him away.

"Dr. Hayes, Dr. Vance, Chloe couldn't have been harmed."

"What could possibly happen to her? Fifty thousand goes missing from her card every month. What could happen to such a selfish person?"

Mom said directly,

"I wish she'd die out there. I wish I'd never given birth to that daughter."

I felt like I'd been plunged into an ice cellar, chilled to the core.

"I'll never forgive what she did to Ashley back then. Selfish and utterly irresponsible."

Liam's face was filled with disgust when he mentioned my name.

"Ashley's life is far more important than hers. If she thinks she can use this method to get our attention, she's delusional. She's not even worth a single strand of Ashley's hair."

Every single word pierced my ears.

I gave a bitter laugh, my heart aching with a dull pain.

That kidnapping two years ago, everyone believed I was selfish and wicked.

But I was a victim too.

Liam and I were supposed to get married two years ago, but I was kidnapped on our wedding day. Ashley was beaten within an inch of her life, yet I was returned unharmed.

Everyone concluded that I had pushed my stepsister forward to save myself, but I knew nothing of that night.

Everyone naturally sided with the perceived victim, and I became the worst kind of criminal.

Driven out of the house, I was then locked in the basement by Ashley for two years, and all because she was jealous of me.

"Why do you get all the love while I have nothing? Chloe Vance, if you hate, then hate that you brought me home."

Liam and Mom returned home, both looking distressed.

"Mom, Liam, what's wrong?"

Ashley sat beside them, asking with a worried expression.

"Ashley, you won't believe it, that killer was bribed by Chloe Vance. She faked her death to make us pity her. She'll stop at nothing, even playing with human lives."