Seeing Jason's distress, Larry quickly advised, "She’s just having a little tantrum. Just try to calm her down."

"We need to remind her to be extra cautious when we get back. This case is horrific. If the murderer turns out to be a serial killer, it could be very dangerous."

Jason's eyes suddenly hardened, and his tone became icy. "A selfish woman like Caelie is the one who values her life the most.

"If it weren't for her, my sister Freya wouldn't have died so tragically!"

Larry's expression grew complicated. He hesitated for a moment before speaking carefully, "You can't blame Caelie for what happened back then. Besides, Caelie is the daughter-in-law approved by your parents, and now, she’s your only family."

Jason turned away, his eyes suddenly reddening. "That's why I wanted to give us a chance to start over, but when I went to get the marriage certificate with her, I found that I really... couldn’t do it!"

He punched an iron pole by the roadside, scraping his knuckles and making them bleed.

Hearing this, Larry continued smoking silently, then said goodbye to Jason and walked towards his home.

Thinking of Freya, I couldn’t stop my tears from falling.

She was always so cheerful and bright, calling me dearly since she was a child. She loved sharing everything fun and delicious with me.

Her death will forever be a painful wound in my heart.

At that moment, Jason picked up the phone again, this time calling Ebby.

The call didn’t go through.

Jason panicked and redialed repeatedly, muttering, "Where is she? Why isn’t she answering?"

He drove quickly towards Ebby’s place.

On the way, Jason ran three red lights and overtook several cars. After parking, he was still on the phone.

"Ebby, where are you? Answer the phone..."

He rang the doorbell frantically, but there was no response from inside.

In desperation, Jason pulled out a key and unlocked the door, shouting, "Ebby!"

His voice was trembling.

But I floated at the door, looking at the house number in surprise.

This was Jason’s parents’ house.

We used to live here together, but after Freya’s death, he moved out with me.

A few months ago, I heard Jason was helping Ebby find a place, but I never imagined he would bring Ebby here.

It turned out, in Jason’s heart, Ebby had long been more important than me.

I wanted to cry, but the tears fell silently, and my heart ached.

Jason searched the entire house for Ebby, with a look on his face I had only seen when Freya went missing.

At that moment, Ebby emerged from the bathroom, her hair wet and carrying a faint scent of jasmine.

"Jason, why are you so out of breath?"

Jason’s eyes were red with tears. "You didn’t answer the phone. I was scared to death."

Ebby slowed her hair-drying and lowered her head shyly, "I was in the shower and didn’t hear it ring. Jason, don’t worry so much."

Jason looked exhausted but still managed to speak urgently to Ebby, "There was a particularly brutal murder in the city recently. The victim was tortured and dismembered. It was horrific.

"You need to be extra careful right now. Let me accompany you wherever you go."

Ebby nodded and poured a glass of water for Jason, then added, "Since something so terrible happened, you should hurry back to be with Caelie. She must be terrified to be alone."

Jason leaned back and snorted coldly, "Don’t mention her to me!"

Then I heard him mutter under his breath, "She doesn’t deserve it."

I stood in front of Jason, feeling sorrowful. "Jason, do you hate me that much?"

"It's just that we didn't get the marriage license the day before yesterday, and now she's throwing a tantrum and refusing to answer the phone. She's so annoying."

Ebby's eyes were filled with worry. "Is she angry because I called you today and interrupted your plans?

"I'm sorry, Jason. It's all my fault.

"If I hadn't insisted on calling you then, Caelie wouldn't be upset.

"I'll call her and apologize."

She said she wanted to apologize, but she didn't actually call.

Ebby looked lost, like a little girl who had been wronged. She claimed she wanted to apologize, but it was clear she was just seeking comfort.

Jason felt guilty seeing her like this and kept blaming me. "It's not your fault, Ebby. It's Caelie who's being unreasonable."

"Just wait. If I ignore her for a few days, she'll come over and apologize."

But Ebby frowned and advised him, "Jason, don't be like that. There have been terrible murders recently. You should remind Caelie to be careful."

This was the second time someone reminded Jason to be careful, but he didn't take it seriously.

"She has nothing to worry about. You're the one who needs to be cautious."

I looked at Ebby coldly, but she appeared genuinely concerned, showing no flaws.

She knew I was dead.

Yet, she deliberately pretended to care about me in front of Jason.

It was a shame she wasn't an actress.

A long time ago, I noticed that Jason, my junior schoolmate, paid special attention to Ebby.

But Jason said, "Ebby is the same age as Freya. I just see her as a little sister."

After Freya died unexpectedly, he began to resent me but directed all his care for his sister towards Ebby.

He loved and spoiled her, even letting her sleep in the room we once shared.

If Jason knew that Ebby, this seemingly innocent person, wasn't as kind as she appeared, how would he react?

Noticing Jason was in a bad mood, Ebby tried various ways to cheer him up. "Jason, Kittie has been very well-behaved today. Do you want to go see her?"

Jason finally smiled. "Okay."

Ebby trotted off to the cat's nest, calling, "Kittie, Daddy's here to see you."

Kittie was a stray cat she and Jason had adopted.

Jason called himself Kittie's dad, and Ebby was Kittie's mom.

I had expressed my dissatisfaction with this.

But Jason retorted, "It's just a nickname. Why are you so fussy about it? Look how kind Ebby is, rescuing stray animals. And you're always fixated on these little things."

Jason once gave me a puppy, saying we should raise it as our child.

But the puppy died of an illness.

I was so devastated that I couldn't eat for days, and I never kept another pet after that.

Because I was afraid of the pain of losing someone I loved.

On the day I died, Jason and I had planned to go to the city hall to get our marriage certificate.

But as soon as Ebby called, Jason left without looking back.

"We can get married any day, but Ebby's cat is having a difficult birth today. If we don't help, she might die!"

"You can take a taxi back later."

To Jason, marrying me wasn't as important as saving a stray cat.

At that moment, Ebby walked out of the room with an apologetic look on her face. "Jason, I accidentally broke something a few days ago."

She was holding a large photo frame.

But Jason just glanced at it and said, "It's not important. Just throw it away."

The photo frame contained pictures of Jason and me from our teens to our twenties.

On the day we started dating, Jason said, "These photos capture our journey from our youth to now, when we are in love. We'll add to them every year."

"When we're old, we can sit in rocking chairs, flip through them, and reminisce about the past."

But tonight, he told Ebby that these photos weren't important at all.

The relationship between Jason and me was like that broken photo frame. Deep cracks now blocked all the beauty that once existed.

Ebby said, "Oh? There are so many photos in there. It would be a shame to lose them."

But she kept walking, carrying the photo frame out the door.

"No!" I shouted desperately, floating forward to block her.

But Ebby passed right through me and threw the photo frame into the trash can without a second thought.

With a loud bang, my heart shattered.

That night, I watched Ebby get drunk with Jason and heard him say he didn't want to face me anymore.

But now, I didn't even have the chance to explain.

I know he had always blamed me for Freya's death.

On the day of the accident, I suddenly felt dizzy, nauseous, and unwell.

Freya said she had to go out for something and would bring me some medicine.

But that night, Freya didn't come back, and I didn't learn she had been murdered until noon the next day.

Freya was found stripped of her clothes, lying on the ground covered in blood, with no part of her body left unharmed.

During the investigation, the police found that she had sent me a message before she died.

"Caelie, the mangosteen you wanted is out of stock. Can you choose something else?"

Based on this message, Jason was convinced that I had deliberately sent Freya out late at night to buy fruit, leading to her death.

I tried to explain that she had gone out on her own to get me medicine and that something was off about the message.

But Jason wouldn't listen.

He grabbed my shoulders and yelled, "My parents are gone. Freya was my only family. Why did you kill her?

"Why, why wasn't it you who died?"

After venting his rage, he stormed out, slamming the door behind him.

I collapsed to the ground, helpless, with a large pool of blood beneath me.

The day Freya's body was found, I lost our child.

Back at the police station, everyone was still busy with the headless female corpse case.

Larry asked Jason, "Did you make up with your wife last night? Don't think I'm nagging, but couples quarrel at the head of the bed and make up at the foot. Don't be like me. I ignored my wife for years. Now that I want to treat her well, it's too late."

Larry's wife had died of cancer years ago. Seeing the tension between Jason and me, he kindly tried to persuade us to resolve it.

Hearing this, Jason walked outside and called me again.

But the call still didn't go through.

Jason sighed heavily and sent a text message.

"Stop being difficult. Call me back now, and we'll find another time to get married."

At that moment, the DNA matching results came back. The officer in charge handed the results to Larry in a panic.

He glanced down at the paper, then suddenly looked up and fixed his gaze on Jason.

Jason was confused. "Why are you looking at me? There's no clue on my face."

Larry looked at Jason, choking up as he spoke, "Jason, the DNA results are in.

"The headless female corpse that was tortured and killed is Caelie..."

Jason opened his mouth, then punched Larry lightly on the shoulder.

"Larry, I know you want me to reconcile with Caelie, but you can't joke about this.

"Did she call you to set this up?"

He slammed the documents on the table, his face cold. "This is not funny at all."

Larry's eyes turned red as he handed the report to Jason. "I'm not lying to you... Look for yourself."

Jason leaned back in his seat. "You guys put on a good act, but I'm not buying it.

"Have Caelie call me now, or we'll never have a chance to be together again."

Bart, standing quietly in the corner, murmured, "How could such a good girl meet with such an awful fate?"

Only then did Jason pick up the report.

He stared at it, his eyes scanning every word, afraid to miss anything.

Slowly, the nonchalant expression on Jason's face disappeared, replaced by growing tension.