Killed by His First Love, Replaced as Their Favorite

Chapter 4

Until Ana showed up.

She was the girl next door from Sean's childhood, transferred into the department as a criminal profiler.

Only after she appeared did I realize that Sean's patience and tenderness had never belonged to me alone.

One phone call from Ana, saying she was scared after staying up all night analyzing a case, and he would drive two hours in the middle of the night just to bring her a cup of hot milk.

When she came down with appendicitis, he left me alone at the movies, letting me walk home in the pouring rain.

On our anniversary, all it took was her saying she was in a bad mood for him to ditch me and take her to the beach instead. We fought over it again and again.

Every time, he shut me down with the same impatient tone. "Lila, can you be a little more mature? She has no one. What's wrong with me looking out for her? I've been working cases all day. I'm exhausted. I didn't come home to argue about this. I don't feel anything for her. If I did, we would have been together a long time ago. If you insist on overthinking this, I've got nothing more to say."

His words were like needles, pricking into my heart over and over.

I was tired. Truly exhausted. So I asked for a breakup.

And the whole world turned against me. My friends said I was making a big deal out of nothing. My mentor told me not to be childish.

My parents went even further. "You'll never find a better man than Sean in this lifetime!"

Even Sean, eyes red, asked me what he had to do to make me stop talking about breaking up.

I was surrounded, isolated, with nowhere to turn.

And then, Ana came to me. She asked to join the Red Dress serial killings case I was in charge of, as a consultant.

She promised me, "Once this case is over, I'll apply for a transfer and disappear from your lives completely."

I didn't agree.

But somehow, she figured out the pattern of our fieldwork. She always showed up nearby at just the right moment, using one excuse after another to slow us down.

I had no choice.

For the sake of the case, I gave in, only to be brutally murdered.

Back in the autopsy room, Dr. Grant leaned closer, his gaze fixed on my bones.

Suddenly, as if he had noticed something, he pulled on his gloves and carefully ran his fingers along the fractured edge of my rib.

There was a tiny mark there. So small it was almost worn away.

"Sir, we've got something at the burial site!" A young officer burst in without knocking, his voice filled with excitement.

Dr. Grant immediately led the team to the scene.

At the bottom of a deep pit, the technicians had cleared a section of soil. A small black object, sealed in a vacuum waterproof bag, came into view.

"Sir… this is an old model micro recorder from seven years ago!"

Dr. Grant staggered slightly.

He stared at the recorder, his eyes reddening instantly.

It was the same model he had given me years ago. He said it was discreet, ideal for covert evidence collection.

If the recorder was here...

Then Lila Hayes never betrayed anyone.

Then where was she?

In his mind, the image of the skeleton on the autopsy table flashed through his head. The one covered in cut marks.

The world spun around him. He could barely stand.

With trembling hands, he dialed the homicide unit.

His voice was hoarse as he gave the order. "Get Sean and his father to the department. Now. Tell them there's new evidence in the case from seven years ago."

The moment he hung up, a technician shouted in excitement.

"Sir! The recorder still works!"