Chapter 1
My body was discovered inside an abandoned building.
Struggling to hold back their nausea, the construction workers called the police.
My parents rushed straight from my sister Chloe Vance's celebration banquet to the crime scene.
The crime scene investigator, Arthur Hayes, frowned and motioned for them to put on their masks.
My dad, Robert Vance, was one of the top investigators the police brought in for special cases, and my mom, Margaret Keller, was the leading forensic pathologist in Oakhaven. Even though they had seen countless crime scenes, they still flinched when they saw my body.
In the sweltering summer heat, my corpse had bloated significantly. My face was smashed beyond recognition, reduced to a bloody mess with no identifiable features. My entire body was covered in wounds, and only a sliver of skin still connected my head to my neck. The overwhelming stench of decay hung heavy in the air.
Mom closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and pulled on her gloves to begin the preliminary examination. As she looked down at my body, her gaze held a rare trace of compassion.
In life, she had never treated me so gently.
I watched nervously as she removed the blood-stained ring from my hand.
I had made identical rings for everyone in the family, but when Chloe's didn't fit, my parents had scolded me harshly.
"You're always up to no good, deliberately trying to hurt your sister!"
"Sophie, even though you’re our biological daughter, Chloe has been part of this family for eighteen years. She will always be more important than you!"
Their angry voices still echoed in my ears, but I had always believed my parents loved me. Surely, they would recognize the gift I had given them.
But Mom's expression didn't change. She simply instructed her assistant, Maya Torres, to drop the ring into an evidence bag.
I shouldn't have hoped. In their hearts, I never truly existed, even if I was their biological daughter.
My brother, Julian Vance, once told me that Mom and Dad had adopted Chloe because they couldn't find me after I was kidnapped. He promised I was always their favorite daughter.
But when I finally returned home, there was no place left for me. I felt like an intruder in my own family.
After surveying the scene, Dad sighed and looked over at Mom. "What’s the situation with this body?"
Mom removed her gloves and massaged her furrowed brows. "The victim appears to be around twenty years old. The preliminary cause of death looks like a slit throat, but she was likely tortured for a long time before she died."
"The method is brutal, and the public fallout will be severe. We need to solve this quickly before it blows up in the media." Dad lit a cigarette and took a deep drag, his expression troubled.
Even after death, I was still causing my parents problems.
Arthur spoke up to remind them, "The killer hasn’t been caught yet, so you should be extra careful at home. You have two daughters. Don’t let them go out at night."
Mom's voice turned impatient. "Chloe is always obedient. It's Sophie I can’t control."
As an old friend of my parents, Arthur knew all about our family dynamic.
Dad rubbed his right shoulder. Noticing the gesture, Arthur asked, "Robert, is your shoulder acting up again?"
Dad waved him off. "It's fine. I put on one of those pain relief patches Sophie bought..."
He stopped mid-sentence.
The daughter they called rebellious still cared about their health.
Arthur patted Dad on the back. "You should treat Sophie better. After all, she’s your real daughter."
Dad shook his head. "A couple of days ago, Chloe had a tennis match, and she kept asking for Sophie to come watch. But Sophie just picked up the phone and then ghosted us. Chloe was so worried about her sister that she only got third place.
"Sophie hasn’t been home in days. Who knows if she’s dead out there somewhere. Kids you didn’t raise yourself just never turn out right."
Hearing my parents' complaints and accusations, a deep chill settled in my heart.
Mom, Dad, it wasn't that I didn't want to come home.
I just... couldn’t anymore.
The ungrateful daughter you were talking about died the exact same day you were at Chloe’s tennis match.
And now, my body was right in front of you.