Samuel froze. His entire body tensed, and he nearly dropped his phone.Jasmine rushed to steady him. "What’s wrong, Sam? Are you okay?"But Samuel did not even look at her. His grip tightened around the phone as he demanded, "Are you sure?""You know I was part of her extraction once, Chief." The voice on the other end sighed. "During that mission, she took a bullet to the jaw while protecting me. It left a distinct scar on her lower jawbone. The skull we pulled up is completely skeletal, and there’s a small indentation in the same spot. Any officer could tell at a glance it’s the kind of damage only a bullet could leave."The veins on the hand Samuel used to hold his phone bulged from his tightening grip. His brow furrowed deeply, his expression turning more conflicted by the second.But why? Was he not happy? Why wasn't he smiling?"Of course, just to be sure..." The voice trailed off, sensing Samuel’s disbelief. "We’ll run a DNA test…" But Samuel was not listening anymore."I
On the drive to the port, Samuel ran eight red lights. By the time he got there, one of his tires had blown, but he had not even noticed."Chief!" Lucas Cole, the officer in charge of the recovery, rushed to greet Samuel, looking apologetic. "I’m really sorry. I know you’re in the middle of your wedding, but this…this is something you have to see."Samuel did not respond to the apology, simply extending his hand and saying, "Show me the skull.""Right!" Lucas quickly grabbed a bag from another vehicle and handed it over. "I think the killer wanted to erase every trace of her identity," he explained. "Instead of leaving the head in the safe with the other body parts, they put it in an iron cage with rocks and sank it to the bottom of the ocean. That way, the fish would eat away at the flesh and leave nothing but bones. No evidence. But even the best plans have flaws…"As Samuel turned the skull over in his hands, inspecting it, Lucas took a drag from his cigarette. "The killer didn’
Lucas, who was standing by the door, could not hold it in any longer and vomited.I felt the same.When I had my first miscarriage, Samuel merely shrugged and said, "My mom miscarried too after she got married. She drank some tonic water and went right back to work the next day."You’ve taken bullets without shedding a tear, and now you’re acting fragile over losing a baby? That's a bit out of character for you."That was exactly it. While I grieved for the life we had longed for, Samuel thought I was pretending to be weak. Now, with his regretful tears, who was he putting on this show for? For me, who had become nothing but air?Samuel was a joke.Just then, Dylan’s voice boomed down the hallway. "Samuel! What the hell are you doing?! Do you know what time it is?! Jasmine’s been crying her eyes out. Doesn’t that bother your conscience at all?"But Samuel ignored him, carefully placing my remains back into the drawer and closing it gently. It was as if he believed the pieces wou
"No, she didn't," Samuel replied.Jasmine exhaled in relief.Then, Samuel added coldly. "Because she’s already dead."The words went off like a bomb, filling the room with a deafening silence. Marcus and Dylan were stunned, then exclaimed, "Dead?!" Disbelief was etched on their faces.Jasmine’s expression shifted dramatically. Her face paled, and she shook her head frantically, feigning shock. "When? This must be a mistake! Even if she went on the run, Emilia was incredibly skilled. How could she—""She was dismembered five years ago." Samuel’s voice sliced through her excuses like a blade. "A few days ago, a fishing boat dredged up her remains. Her body had been sealed in a safe, her bones shattered, and her system pumped full of high-dose drugs. Her head was deliberately sunk using a cage to make it easier for the fish to eat away at the flesh."Samuel stepped closer, his eyes locking onto Jasmine’s. "And yet you told me she fled in shame?"Jasmine’s control was slipping. Pani
Jasmine put on an unbelievably pitiful expression as if she were the victim in all of this.Marcus, trembling with rage, stomped his foot. "You lunatic! I can’t believe I fell for your lies and wronged Emilia!"Jasmine sneered, her voice dripping with contempt. "That just shows how stupid you all are. Don’t think that by blaming me you can pretend you didn’t play a part. None of you are any better than me. You’re all trash! Hahahaha!""Why you!" Marcus' face turned pale with fury, and suddenly, he fainted. The shock must have overwhelmed him.Samuel, his eyes bloodshot and wild, pulled out his service pistol and aimed it at Jasmine. "Enough! Jasmine Bardot, you are under arrest!"Given the severity of her crimes, Jasmine was sentenced to death just days later.And I was finally laid to rest, next to my parents in the Martyrs' Memorial Cemetery. Our family was reunited, though not in the way I had imagined."This is the least we could do for Emilia." Marcus' voice trembled as tea
The dismembered body parts on the autopsy table were swollen like giant jellyfish, with pale yellow mucus oozing steadily out of them. It must've smelled awful. Not that I could tell. I was dead."The chief's here," said Dylan Hale, the forensic pathologist, glancing up as the door creaked open.Police Chief Samuel Wharton then entered, pinching his nose, his expression tight. "What’s the situation?""The body parts are bloated beyond recognition. No visible tattoos or identifying marks, but we can barely confirm the victim is female. It's pretty brutal. A lot of bones were smashed before dismemberment." Dylan sighed. "But there’s something interesting. The moss found on the safe suggests the body’s been underwater for about five years."Samuel paused, his hand frozen mid-air as he adjusted his face mask. His surprise flickered briefly before he joined Dylan, leaning in to examine the remains.Five years? I had been dead for five years?Hovering above them, I smirked bitterly. Af
A sharp, needle-like pain surged through my heart, threatening to tear me apart. I wanted to cry and scream. Even when Jasmine tortured me day and night, the agony had not crushed me like this.My child… They should have been born healthy, growing up happy and full of life, calling me "Mom" in a sweet, innocent voice. I would have loved them with everything I had. But Jasmine murdered me, and everything ended five years ago in that abandoned factory.Even Samuel, hardened as he was, stayed silent for a long time before finally speaking. "We’re looking at either a crime of passion or revenge."Dylan’s anger flared. "This is definitely a crime of passion! The cuts on the body are uneven, meaning the victim was still conscious when they were decapitated. And the killer knows their way around a body. The perpetrator was probably a woman. Otherwise, why go to such lengths to torture the victim?"I let out a bitter laugh. Dylan, who used to tremble at the sight of a corpse, had grown sha
I could not believe what I was hearing. I wanted the universe to tear me apart right then and there. Hearing those words from the man I had loved most was sickeningly ironic."Exactly! She didn’t deserve to be a cop!" Dylan chimed in with a nod of disdain. "A wolf in sheep’s clothing like her deserved far worse. They should strip her of her title and erase her from the records!""That’ll happen soon," Samuel muttered, his fingers hovering over the door handle before he pulled it and stepped out.My mind went blank. Those records… Every mission I survived, every bullet I dodged, all the bleeding and bruises, all in the name of honor. That was my legacy. It was more precious than my life itself. And because of Jasmine, Samuel was willing to erase it all?I wanted to grab him by the collar and scream at him. Had he ever truly loved me?Halfway down the hall, Samuel’s phone rang, and I was forced to follow as he answered. His voice softened. "Wassup, Jas?" A smile tugged at his lips.