As the baby in my belly was about to be taken out, my husband was elsewhere, preoccupied with purchasing gifts. Not for me, but for a woman he called his lost, everlasting love.

His last words to me were dripped with hatred as he shouted, "What is it this time? Enough with your games! Stay away from me! Even if you’re dying, don't you dare to bother me!"

Just a week later, a horrifying case landed on his desk. A pregnant woman had been dismembered in a shocking act of violence. The investigation revealed a murderer with a twisted mind, someone who seemed to understand police tactics and took satisfaction in cruelty. The deliberate taunt to the police, the calculated brutality, it all pointed toward a revenge killing. Unfortunately, the truth was far more horrifying. The victim, the woman who was cut into pieces, was the very wife he shouted at with such hatred.

Part 1

After dismembering my body, the murderer heartlessly threw the pieces into the police station's sewer system. Clad in protective gear, the police started a tough search in the smelly sewers. They searched for a whole day and night before finding the scattered remains.

My body parts were carefully emptied from the evidence bags, one by one. It took several forensic doctors three days and three nights to piece them together before finally reconstructing the form of a human figure. My head was badly damaged, beyond recognition. Several body parts were missing, some flesh having been washed away, while my left ear and a leg bone were gone.

The only part that remained relatively intact was my uterus. However, even that held a horrifying truth. It had been brutally cut open and crudely sewn back together. During the examination, unidentified powder spilled out from the uterus, its purpose a mystery.

After conducting a test, the police believed that the incident was a deliberate act of revenge by a drug cartel. In that case, they informed the anti-narcotic team for a collaborative investigation. This just so happened to be my husband, Jayden Williams' specialty. He was the youngest captain in the unit, known for solving tough cases.

Even the police did not have iron stomachs. The sight of my remains sent shivers and nausea through both teams. Jayden frowned deeply as his face turned pale with disgust as he fought back the urge to vomit.

My husband looked at my body with eyes full of disgust.

Jayden hated people involved with drugs more than anything. Perhaps, a fleeting thought crossed his mind that I might somehow be involved with drugs.

The forensic doctor provided them with the details and started to explain his findings. "The victim," he began, "is a woman, likely between twenty-two and twenty-five years old. She bled to death after suffering horrific abuse. There are marks on her wrists and ankles from being restrained. Also, her body was bruised and her head was repeatedly whacked with a blunt object. Moreover, we found traces of drugs in her bloodstream."

"The most disturbing part," the doctor continued, "is that the victim was pregnant. Her uterus was cut open, not cleanly but with signs of struggle and infection. That means, while she was still alive, the murderer performed a crude forced surgery. They cut open her belly, removed the fetus and replaced it with a mysterious powder."

"After sewing her back up, somehow, she managed to survive for at least seventy-two hours after this ruthless act. Then, they beheaded her while she was still conscious and dismembered her body."

"The powder left inside her for those seventy-two hours," the doctor explained further, "caused unimaginable suffering, inhumane torture."

The captain of the criminal investigation division, Zac Miller, slammed his fist on the table in anger and disbelief. "This is crazy! A brutal murder!"

Disgust and fury filled the officers' faces. "Such cruelty, especially to a pregnant woman! It was most likely to be a revenge killing!" one yelled. 

"How much hate can one person have to be this ruthless to a pregnant woman?" another echoed.

"And the audacity!" someone else growled. "Throwing the dead body in the police station's sewer? That's a direct challenge to us!"

Amidst the uproar, Jayden remained silent as his gaze fixed on the lab report detailing the unknown powder. His jaw clenched as he saw the drug identified and its purity listed.

A single, chilling sentence came out of his lips, "It’s them. It’s The Death Reaper."

A heavy silence fell over the room. The name mentioned hung in the air, a chilling reminder for every anti-narcotics police officer. Every year, countless comrades’ lives were reaped by a drug known as ‘The Dark Reaper. This highly addictive drug developed by a transnational criminal organization boasted the highest purity on the market, making it the most popular and deadliest choice among similar substances.

However, after ten years of relentless police work, there was finally a breakthrough. Three months before, this transnational drug cartel was finally dismantled. The leader was taken down in a shootout, and all their stock of drugs was destroyed.

Now, here they were, staring at the dismembered remains of a woman. This gruesome case likely involved members of the group that evaded capture in the past.

They were back and this attack seemed like a deliberate act of revenge against the police.

Part 2

An officer entered the room, carrying a shoebox-sized package. "Captain Williams," he called, "your wife sent something again...."

Jayden's expression turned cold at the mention of my name. "From now on," he ordered with a disgusted tone, "throw away anything she brings."

Sensing his colleague’s frustration, Zac sighed and patted his shoulder. "Look, it's been a while now. What happened to your father... wasn't Samara’s fault. She's a victim too here."

With that, he opened the box, revealing a transparent jar inside.

A collective gasp filled the room as everyone saw something inside the jar. My husband's hand went slack and the jar tumbled from his grasp, shattering on the floor. Inside was… a perfectly formed fetus preserved in formalin.

But what truly sent shivers down everyone's spine was the disturbing, almost eerie, smile stretched across its tiny face. Even crashing to the floor, the fetus remained eerily still. It even bounced a little on impact.

A forensic doctor reacted swiftly, securing the tiny body in an evidence bag. One look was all it took for them to form a conclusion. "Fake," he declared.

Jayden's face burned red with fury. "This is just another one of her crazy tricks to get my attention!" he roared, accusing me after hearing just a single word.

But I had never sent that.

The officers were clearly shocked by the gruesome display and remained silent. Perhaps, they too thought it was a prank gone too far by me.

Zac sighed as he tried to intervene. "Samara doesn't strike me as someone who would joke like this," he said. "Maybe there's been a misunderstanding? You've been away for a while. Why not head home and sort things out?"

Jayden scoffed. "Huh! What's there to misunderstand? This is a threat! Her sending this over is a clear threat to have my child aborted!"

My husband sneered. "She's a liar," he spat. "She'd make up anything to avoid all blame, even children!"

"Even if she is pregnant, I will never let her have it. Someone like her doesn't even deserve children!"

"I feel so sick every time I see her face! Now, we need to focus on the victim. We need more clues, an identified body, and a closed case. As quick as possible."

I hovered in the air, tears flowing down my face as his words were like a knife in my invisible heart. Apparently… in his eyes, I was not even worthy of carrying his child. 

Who was, then? His perfect past love?

Perhaps, he recalled the moment I told him that I was pregnant. My husband shoved the doll into the nearest trash can.

He then took out his phone and pulled my number out of his blacklist. His voice dripped with ice as he spoke, "Now you’re threatening me with a fake fetus? That only makes you a monster in my eyes.

“You better stop being a crazy liar! Even if you’re dead, you won't get my attention."

But I was already dead... 

…and I never lied. 

That broken corpse ... was me.

Part 3

My husband joined the detectives from the criminal investigation team in a huddle. The whiteboard displayed pictures of my body, along with notes about what they found. Important details were circled.

"The DNA test results are in," one officer announced. "It doesn’t match any criminal’s identity. This woman clearly doesn't have a criminal record."

"We also checked missing persons reports, but no pregnant women are matching her age and description."

An officer furrowed his brow, finding it odd. "The victim has been missing for a couple of days. Why wouldn't anyone report a pregnant woman missing?”

"Didn't she have any family?"

My husband clicked his pen, circling the word ‘child’ on the whiteboard.

"We can't identify her yet," he said. "But if we can find the baby the murderer cut open and run a DNA test, the results might lead us to the father and then to her identity."

Tears welled up, blurring my vision as I crouched by the trash can. My invisible hand, desperate and trembling, reached for the fake fetus, but it passed right through.

I could never touch it.

Our child was exactly right there….

The child you once desired the most….

This doll, this cruel prank you believed it to be, held the very clue you sought, but you tossed it aside like garbage….

Next, my husband wrote down the words ‘dismemberment scene’ and circled them. There was not much blood in the sewer, indicating the murderer just left the body there as a dumping site.

Most murderers took their victims apart in a place they knew well, somewhere they felt safe. They might even go back there later. Finding where the body was cut up would be a huge break in the case.

He then circled the words ‘left ear’ and added a question mark.

"We checked the sewer high and low," an officer said, "but no sign of the victim’s left ear or the other pieces. Looks like the murderer didn't dump everything here."

"Why get rid of them separately? Maybe there's something on that ear, a mark that could tell us the victim’s identity."

Upon hearing this, my husband stopped short and frowned in confusion. He stared intently at the words ‘left ear’ written on the board.

I subconsciously reached up and touched my left earlobe. There, a small red mole. Jayden used to love pinching them, so he'd definitely recognize this mark.

"The murderer performed a brutal, forced surgery, removing the fetus," someone said, “but didn't kill the victim right away. Instead, they inserted some kind of powder and tortured her for days before mercilessly ending her life. This points towards a deep-seated hatred for the victim or her family."

"Drug powder... revenge..."

One officer's eyes shifted toward my husband. "Captain Williams, could this be revenge? Maybe a drug dealer we arrested is holding a grudge and getting back at us? That’s why they tortured the victim and dumped the body in our sewer system to taunt us...."

"That doesn't make sense," another officer interrupted. "No one in the station has a pregnant wife who's missing. Plus, wouldn't a family member report her missing?"

A flicker of realization crossed my husband’s widened eyes but then vanished just as quickly as brushed it off with a shake of his head.

Jayden, did something just click for you? Remember when I told you I was pregnant? Back then, you dismissed it as a ploy to win you back. You thought it was just a lie fueled by my jealousy of your past love.

Too bad, you missed another crucial clue. Who in the entire police station would drug dealers hate the most? Jayden, my husband, it was you.

Had your heart not been made of ice, the clues that scattered like breadcrumbs might have led you home. A simple visit home, that was all it took.

He was stunned for a moment before returning to focus on his work. He split the officers into teams, each with a specific job. One team rushed to check on missing pregnant women, another team searched for the first crime scene and the missing body parts and the last team went to hospitals to look for records of pregnant women matching the description.

In addition, they even called in experts to put my head back together. It was crushed so badly that it did not even look human anymore. These experts could use things like soft plastic and details from my bones, age, and leftover tissue to reconstruct my face, kind of like a mold based on science. Once they fixed my skull, they could use it to figure out my identity by matching it with ID records in the police computer system. However, it would take some time to put the pieces back together.

My husband rubbed his temples, looking exhausted. At that moment, his phone buzzed and a soft smile played on his lips as he saw the caller ID.

"Jay, I'm so scared…."

"Where are you? Alright. Stay put and lock the windows. If you're scared, turn on all the lights and wait for me. I'm on my way back," Jayden gently reassured.

He hung up and glanced at the clock. It was almost 10 p.m.

"Alright everyone, head home and get some rest. We can pick things up tomorrow."

A wave of despair crashed over me. My husband, a notorious workaholic, would often disappear for days on end during investigations. I never dared to interrupt him. Yet, a single call from her, and he would drop everything to be by her side.

It was painfully clear that… in his heart, I would never measure up.