Chapter 1He Spared My Parents’ Killer

The first autopsy I performed as a forensic pathologist was on my murdered parents.

I completed the procedure, closed the final incision, and collapsed. A burning fever consumed me, leaving me bedridden and delirious for three days.

But my fiancé, Richard, the lead prosecutor on the case, did the unthinkable. In court, he argued for a reduced sentence, securing a lenient involuntary manslaughter conviction for my parents’ killer.

After the trial, he approached me, gently holding the killer’s daughter’s hand. He looked at me with sickly-sweet tenderness.

“Sylvia, Jillian will live with us now. We’ll sponsor her education.

She was just accepted into a top university. She’s severely depressed after losing her father—we can’t take away her will to live.”

Behind him stood nineteen-year-old Jillian, her cheeks glistening with delicate tears. But the look she gave me over his shoulder was pure provocation and triumph.

I stared at his hypocritical face and let out a hollow laugh.

“And my parents? They were stripped of their right to breathe!”

Richard clutched my cold hands, speaking like a condescending saint.

“Sylvia, be the bigger person. Your parents spent their lives sponsoring students. Taking Jillian in is what they’d want from heaven.”

I snatched my hands away. “Oh? So you do remember!”

Richard’s face went pale. A sharp flicker of guilt flashed in his eyes.

He remembered perfectly well: the first student my parents ever sponsored was him.

…

"Sylvia, I have never forgotten everything they did for me. I know it is hard for you to accept their sudden passing, but this is not Jillian's fault."

Richard stepped protectively in front of Jillian. His defensive posture made it look as though I was the monster in the room.

Jillian peeked out from behind his broad back, her voice trembling with manufactured sobs. "Sylvia, please! Just give me a chance to survive!"

"I promise I won't be a burden. I will do all the chores, I will study hard, and I will spend the rest of my life repaying you and Richard."

She kept repeating his name with such breathless adoration. It was as if Richard was her personal savior.

"Sylvia, you need to calm down. I am taking Jillian out to get something to eat."

Like a frightened little rabbit, Jillian scurried after Richard.

My phone started buzzing relentlessly in my coat pocket. Forcing down the grief and rage threatening to choke me, I opened the screen.

It was my college alumni group chat.

[Richard is a saint. Repaying hatred with kindness. Truly a man of the people!]

[Seriously. The man gets a light sentence for the guy who killed his fiancé's parents, and now he is taking in the killer's daughter. I could never reach that level of enlightenment.]

[Honestly, do you guys think Richard has other intentions with this girl? Sylvia's parents haven't even been dead a week, and he is already moving her into their house. If you tell me nothing is going on, I call bluff!]

Someone immediately tagged the last speaker. [Delete that! Do you not realize Sylvia is in this chat?]

Seconds later, those messages vanished from the screen.

But the invisible knife twisted in my chest refused to disappear.

My fingers flew across the keyboard.

[My engagement to Richard is officially canceled. Please spread the word. From this moment on, he and I are completely severed!]

I hit send and permanently left the group chat.

By the time I gathered my shattered emotions and returned home from the forensic institute, my blood boiled over all over again.

I pushed the front door open. Jillian was sitting on the plush sectional my late mother had specially picked out, happily watching television while digging into a massive bag of chips I had bought for myself.

And Richard was in the kitchen, wearing an apron, boiling pasta.

Something inside me snapped. A blinding wave of fury severed my last nerve. I marched over, snatched the bag of chips right out of Jillian's arms, and hurled it into the trash can.

"Why are you in my house? Get out!"

Richard immediately rushed out of the kitchen, pulling Jillian behind him.

He furrowed his brow, confronting me with a look of deep disappointment.

"Sylvia! We already discussed this this afternoon. Are you still throwing a tantrum?"

My voice shook with absolute rage. "I never agreed to anything! Do you even remember who bought this house? Have you completely forgotten the entire purpose of this place!"

He answered with infuriating calmness. "I haven't forgotten. Your parents bought this for us to use as our bridal home."

I stared at the tall, imposing man standing in my living room and let out a chilling laugh. "So you do know! My parents bought this! They died before they ever got the chance to stay here, and you have the audacity to move their killer's daughter in!"

Richard's eyes darkened, a swirl of conflicting emotions surfacing in his gaze.

Right on cue, pathetic little whimpers drifted from behind his back.

"I am so sorry! Sylvia, please have a little mercy. Just give me a corner to sleep in! Treat me like a stray dog or a rescue cat. I truly have nowhere else to go!"

She reached out, trying to grab my hand while sobbing hysterically. I instinctively swatted her away.

But Jillian exaggerated the motion entirely, throwing herself violently onto the hardwood floor. Richard snapped out of his daze and immediately rushed to help her up.

"Richard, I am fine. If she really hates me this much, I should just leave!"

I watched her cheap little theatrical performance with dead eyes. It baffled me how a brilliant prosecutor who could instantly spot a suspect's lie couldn't see through a teenager's pathetic manipulation.

I grabbed her fluffy pink tote bag from the entryway and threw it at her feet.

"If you are leaving, then hurry up. You are not welcome here."

Tears spilled down Jillian's cheeks in dramatic streams. She clutched her bag, her eyes red and puffy, pretending to walk toward the door.

A large hand grabbed her arm, stopping her in her tracks.

"Sylvia, enough is enough! Jillian is staying here, and my promise to fund her education remains completely unchanged!"

I grabbed a glass water tumbler from the coffee table and smashed it right at his feet.

"On what grounds!"

He glared at me with absolute ice. "On the grounds that my name is the only one on the deed. You have absolutely no right to kick her out!"