Chapter 3 · When My Brothers Found My Bones

Charles had just gotten back to the police station when he heard that something had happened to Emily at home.

He dropped my dismembered remains and rushed back, only to find out that his lively, adorable Emily had just learned a new piano piece and wanted an excuse to play it for him.

"Emily, you're such a troublemaker. Don't scare your brother like that again, okay?"

After he'd calmed Emily down and was about to head back to the station, the family butler, Owen Lewis, mentioned that I hadn't come by to deliver flowers in quite a while.

That was when it occurred to him to check the ledger for my living expense withdrawals.

He sneered, "As long as this gold digger is still collecting her money, there's nothing to worry about."

Owen looked uncomfortable, and after Charles kept pushing, he finally pulled out a ledger that tracked my expenses over the years.

"Why's it so thin?" Charles frowned.

If he opened that ledger, he'd discover that from the moment I was kicked out, I'd only been getting three hundred dollars a month for living expenses.

The original arrangement had been thirty thousand dollars monthly, but Emily had been taking twenty-nine thousand seven hundred of it to buy purses, and I hadn't even bothered coming back to collect my allowance since last year.

Charles was just about to open it when Emily came running from the living room and threw herself into his arms. She snatched the ledger right out of his hands and tossed it on the floor, then clung to Charles with a coy smile.

She said, "Charles, when's the case gonna be over? Can you buy me a bag when it's done? I love bags so, so, so much."

She pulled out her phone and showed him a bag she'd already picked out. "This one's a great deal—only 90 thousand dollars. Come on, buy it for me."

Charles looked at Emily's expectant face and forgot all about the ledger. "Sure. Emily's such a good girl. Just don't go out these next few days, okay? It's too dangerous out there."

He added, "Once we've got a lead on the case, I'll go to the store myself and get it for you."

The ledger lay discarded on the floor, just like I had been all those years ago—something anyone could step on and humiliate.

Even after death, my heart still ached.

Back then and now, Emily always showed up at precisely the right moment during anything that involved me.

She used her excellence and fragility to make me look like some calculating country bumpkin from the sticks who had no manners and only cared about money.

After Emily forced me to move out of the Grant family home when I was only fourteen, I had to figure out how to save up tuition from the three hundred dollars and learn how to scavenge fresh vegetable scraps from the market to cook my own meals.

With half a finger missing, I couldn't grip the spatula properly, and I burned my arms so many times in my panic that I ended up covered in horrifying scars.

"Any progress on that Heritage District murder case?" Emily's sweet voice cut through the silence, and the question made Charles' nerves snap to attention.

The case was being covered up publicly as a gas leak investigation, so how did Emily know the real details?

"What murder? Who told you about that?" he asked.

She never cared about his work before, but today she'd brought it up multiple times. Something felt off.

Seeing Charles' frown deepen, Emily quickly changed the subject. "I don't know, just saw people talking about it online."

That made sense—the internet spread everything these days, so it was normal for Emily to have seen something.

He pulled her into his arms protectively. "Did it scare you, my little princess? Nothing happened in Heritage District, just a gas leak. Stay off the internet for a while so you don't have nightmares, okay?"

Emily nodded, playing innocent, but her hands had retreated into her sleeves, and she kept rubbing the bracelet made of teeth.

I stared miserably at my own body, now almost transparent, and the despair hit hard. The truth had been right there, so close, and then it was just tossed aside like garbage.

If this lead was dead, did that mean I was running out of time? Was I going to end up as a wandering ghost forever? My teeth ached, and my eyes stung with tears I couldn't cry.

Chapter 3

Charles had just gotten back to the police station when he heard that something had happened to Emily at home.

He dropped my dismembered remains and rushed back, only to find out that his lively, adorable Emily had just learned a new piano piece and wanted an excuse to play it for him.

"Emily, you're such a troublemaker. Don't scare your brother like that again, okay?"

After he'd calmed Emily down and was about to head back to the station, the family butler, Owen Lewis, mentioned that I hadn't come by to deliver flowers in quite a while.

That was when it occurred to him to check the ledger for my living expense withdrawals.

He sneered, "As long as this gold digger is still collecting her money, there's nothing to worry about."

Owen looked uncomfortable, and after Charles kept pushing, he finally pulled out a ledger that tracked my expenses over the years.

"Why's it so thin?" Charles frowned.

If he opened that ledger, he'd discover that from the moment I was kicked out, I'd only been getting three hundred dollars a month for living expenses.

She said, "Charles, when's the case gonna be over? Can you buy me a bag when it's done? I love bags so, so, so much."

She pulled out her phone and showed him a bag she'd already picked out. "This one's a great deal—only 90 thousand dollars. Come on, buy it for me."

Charles looked at Emily's expectant face and forgot all about the ledger. "Sure. Emily's such a good girl. Just don't go out these next few days, okay? It's too dangerous out there."

He added, "Once we've got a lead on the case, I'll go to the store myself and get it for you."

The ledger lay discarded on the floor, just like I had been all those years ago—something anyone could step on and humiliate.

Even after death, my heart still ached.

Back then and now, Emily always showed up at precisely the right moment during anything that involved me.

She used her excellence and fragility to make me look like some calculating country bumpkin from the sticks who had no manners and only cared about money.

With half a finger missing, I couldn't grip the spatula properly, and I burned my arms so many times in my panic that I ended up covered in horrifying scars.

"Any progress on that Heritage District murder case?" Emily's sweet voice cut through the silence, and the question made Charles' nerves snap to attention.

The case was being covered up publicly as a gas leak investigation, so how did Emily know the real details?

"What murder? Who told you about that?" he asked.

She never cared about his work before, but today she'd brought it up multiple times. Something felt off.

Seeing Charles' frown deepen, Emily quickly changed the subject. "I don't know, just saw people talking about it online."

That made sense—the internet spread everything these days, so it was normal for Emily to have seen something.

Emily nodded, playing innocent, but her hands had retreated into her sleeves, and she kept rubbing the bracelet made of teeth.

I stared miserably at my own body, now almost transparent, and the despair hit hard. The truth had been right there, so close, and then it was just tossed aside like garbage.

If this lead was dead, did that mean I was running out of time? Was I going to end up as a wandering ghost forever? My teeth ached, and my eyes stung with tears I couldn't cry.