After My Death, He Regretted Madly

Chapter 3

The dead silence of the office made Bianca's voice ring out far louder than it should have.

To my ears, it hit like a c***k of thunder, booming so loud it rattled my skull.

'Javier... he's getting married?'

I watched as a soft smile spread across his face in an instant, his tone warm as he replied, "I'll go with you once I wrap up work here at the station."

Then he added, carefully and gently, "Don't forget to take your medicine on time, okay?"

In that single moment, it felt like I'd been dropped straight into a pit of frozen ice.

That familiar, soft tone of his? It turned into a thousand tiny knives in my chest, each one stabbing right into the softest, most vulnerable part of my heart.

So all the love and hate Javier had for me could vanish that fast, huh?

Three years...

I'd clung to the title of "Javier's fiancée" like a lifeline, dragging myself through three whole years of hell.

Every single night, I'd daydream about the day it was all over. I'd walk up to him, light and unburdened, wrap my arms tight around him and say, "Your fiancée didn't let you down."

Or maybe I'd just bury my face in his chest and spill every last bit of misery and fear I'd carried through those years.

But all those hopes? They popped like fragile soap bubbles in that one second, gone forever.

Three years had passed, and he already had a new fiancée. I was the only i***t still stuck in the past, clinging to what was long gone.

A sharp, stabbing pain flared in my chest, spreading fast until it burned through every inch of my body.

Captain Morgan's voice cut through my haze, laced with concern. "How's Bianca's health holding up?"

Javier shook his head, clearly not wanting to talk about it, and switched topics right away. "The body in freezer 36 still hasn't been claimed."

Captain Morgan frowned slightly. "There haven't been any missing person reports filed in New York City lately. What about the test results on your end?"

I shook my head almost at the exact same time Javier did.

The second my dead body had been brought into the station, Javier had drawn a blood sample to run a DNA test.

Of course, he hadn't found any matches.

Frederico had wiped all my records from the system the day I started my undercover mission three years prior.

The undercover op had dropped out of the blue. Captain Morgan was already too well known to the public, and Javier had appeared in front of the media even more times. I was the obvious best pick for the job back then.

When Frederico had told me about the mission, I'd agreed without a second thought.

As a child of the Carmona family, it was my duty to uphold the honor our family stood for.

Just like my dad had said all those years ago, "For the nation, I'd give my life without a single regret."

I'd run straight into Javier right as I walked out of Frederico's office that day.

For the first time ever, I didn't care who was watching. I threw myself at him and wrapped my arms tight around his waist in the middle of the hallway.

His face had flushed bright red, but he hadn't pushed me away.

A dull, tight ache twisted in my chest. Back then... I'd really, truly believed I'd make it back alive to marry him.

But three short years was all it took for everything to change beyond recognition.

Once Frederico passed, there was no one left who could prove my innocence.

Just then, a flicker of hesitation crossed Captain Morgan's face. "This body... could it be Jennifer?"

Javier's eyes turned icy cold in an instant. "Captain Morgan, it looks like you're still clinging to some delusional, useless hope for her."

Awkwardness flickered across Captain Morgan's face. "I'm just saying if she'd died earlier, the guys wouldn't have to go through all the trouble of hunting her down!"

Listening to their exchange, every word hit me like a thousand steel needles driving into my flesh. Even the tiniest twitch sent searing, unendurable pain lancing through every inch of my body.

I clutched at my chest, lungs tightening so badly I could barely draw a breath.

By the time I snapped out of my daze, Captain Morgan was already gone, and Javier was heading straight for the cold storage.

He stopped in front of freezer number 36 and stood there for a long moment. Then he pulled a pair of gloves from his pocket, slipped them on, and slowly hauled the freezer door open with a low screech.

A frost-crusted corpse stared back at him. Its face was mangled beyond recognition, its skin crisscrossed with brutal burns and raw abrasions.

I couldn't bear to look and turned my head away. Every single one of those wounds was burned into my soul like a brand; I could still feel the exact, agonizing fire I'd gone through when I got them.

Javier stared at the body, no flicker of emotion in his eyes at all.

After a long beat, I heard him murmur under his breath. "She has a red mole on her right waist."

I froze for a split second before it hit me... he was talking about a distinguishing mark on my body.

I watched him pull the zipper of the body bag down, inching it all the way to the waist.

That vivid blood-red mole stood out starkly against the pale skin, impossible to miss!