In the third year after my best friend went missing, eighteen skeletons were found buried under Fairview.

Among them, one was the most tragic, one hundred and eighty stab wounds, each deep enough to reach the bone.

In her cold hand, she held a wrinkled piece of paper. “Don’t be afraid, I’m just going home. If you can’t keep going, come back too.”

A loud system alert sounded in my mind. “Family and romance strategy values have dropped to ten percent. Host, please die soon to return to your original world.”

That night, I put on a wedding dress and sent my suicide note to the family group chat.

My foster sister’s fiancé, the man who once stood by me, replied, “Are you insane?”

My actress mother kept calling, her voice shaking with anger, demanding I take off the wedding dress and go back to apologize to my foster sister.

My brother, who worked as a police officer, also shouted in anger. “You know Heidi lost her memory and can’t handle you marrying Atlas Miller. Yet you still wear a wedding dress to upset her. Are you trying to make her worse?”

No one cared about my suicide note.

They didn’t know I wore that wedding dress not to marry Atlas, but to draw out the serial killer who had murdered my best friend and to finally escape the world that had trapped me for twenty-five years.

Only my younger brother, the lawyer, sent me several voice messages.

“Sister, do you know something?”

“Was that body Tessa Briggs’s? Was that note she left for you?”

I didn’t answer anyone. I just held my best friend’s photo and walked toward the hotel, watched by several undercover officers.

——

I sat quietly in the wedding car while the officers, disguised as the “best man” and “bridesmaid,” looked uneasy.

“Are you really sure about this? To catch the ‘Bride Butcher,’ you might not come back alive.”

“This case could decide whether Captain Carpenter loses his position, but you don’t have to risk your life…”

I spoke calmly. “I’m doing this; it has nothing to do with Scott.”

They exchanged looks, thinking I was still angry with him.

Someone whispered, “Let me call the Captain. At a time like this, he should be here to protect you.”

I watched him start to dial, the corner of my lips lifting slightly. When the call connected, he said, “Captain Carpenter, Sienna is about to act as bait to lure out the Butcher. It’s dangerous, she might not make it…”

Before he could finish, the line cut off. Then my phone started ringing.

Without any expression, I answered. On the other end, Scott’s angry voice came through.

“I used to think you were just spoiled and selfish because we spoiled you too much.”

“I didn’t expect that now, just to force a marriage, you’d lose all sense of shame.”

He clenched his teeth, breathing heavily as he forced out each word. “You not only made your sister’s condition worse, but now you even have the nerve to make my coworkers lie for you, saying you’re acting as bait. You want to trick us into pitying you so we’ll let you marry Atlas, isn’t that it?”

“Sienna, you’re just like that foster mother of yours, cheap, shameless, and obsessed with men. You dare use such a serious case just to feed your pride!”

He spoke clearly, his voice cold and cutting. “Get over here right now and kneel before your sister to apologize!”

“In front of everyone, make it clear that Atlas has nothing to do with you. You’re just a disgusting woman trying to steal your sister’s man!”

As I listened, my hand slowly tightened. When he compared me to my foster mother in that tone, my mind went blank.

He had once read the investigation file and knew how my foster mother, just to keep my foster father, Stephen Hayes, pleased, could watch without a word as he came into my room at midnight.

And when I cried and fought back, saying I would call the police, she hit me with a vase, leaving a scar on my forehead that would never fade.

Back then, his hands shook and his eyes turned red as he gently touched the scar on my face.

He swore to me in that same tone, “Sienna, anyone who has ever hurt you, I won’t let a single one of them go.”

I let out a faint laugh and spoke calmly. “My adoptive mother is Heidi’s real mother.”

“By what you said, she’s the one who should’ve inherited her mother’s bad side.”

“After all, she’s the one who pretended to be crazy and acted pitiful just to steal her sister’s marriage.”

“Aren’t all of you part of it too?”

There was silence on the other end of the call for a few seconds before I heard my foster sister crying in panic.

“Sister, I really didn’t mean it… I’m sick and can’t remember some things. I didn’t know about you and Atlas…”

“Mom, Brother, Atlas. I didn’t know my illness would upset Sienna. I might as well just die…”

Then my mother’s angry voice came through.

“Enough, Sienna! If you still have any conscience left, come and apologize right now! Otherwise, from this moment on, we’ll cut all ties with you!”

I heard a commotion, then the phone was snatched away.

It was Atlas. His voice was calm but impatient. “Sienna, cancel the wedding now and go kneel before Heidi to apologize, or I’ll break off the engagement.”

I looked down and answered without a fight. “Okay.”

Then I hung up.

The police officers exchanged looks, and nobody offered to have my brother come with me again.

The wedding car stopped at the hotel. When I opened the door, a foul smell hit me, eggs, fruit peels, and spilled drinks covered my wedding dress. I was shoved back and almost fell.

“Slut! You stole your sister’s boyfriend, forced a marriage, and used the Butcher case to play the victim! We’ll teach you a lesson today!”

“Her movie-star mother is so kind, and she still made her cry! A daughter like this should be beaten to death!”

Only then did I realize my family call had been broadcast live by my movie-star mother.

They pulled my hair, kicked me, and forced me to kneel and bow. Someone ripped at my wedding dress while another raised a camera to record my shame.

“Kneel and apologize to your sister and the actress!”

“And that wedding dress! Does someone like you deserve to wear it? Tear it off! Let her see how you steal a man!”

The pain made my hands shake, but I still lifted my head and shouted, “I did nothing wrong. Why should I apologize?”

The crowd grew restless, and my brother and mother’s bodyguards rushed in, pushing everyone back.

My brother’s voice shook with anger. “You still dare say you did nothing wrong? I told you not to provoke Heidi about Atlas, so why are you holding a wedding in a dress? Why make this mess just to force a marriage?”

But when he rushed over and saw me clearly, he froze.

My wedding dress was already torn, barely covering me, and bruises marked my skin. My forehead and body were smeared with dirty liquid.

He moved closer, wanting to wipe it away. Then he turned to my mother, his voice low and shaking as he tried to stay calm.

“How could you stream those words live and attract those crazy fans here?”

“What if this drags Heidi into it?”

Guilt flashed in my mother’s eyes, but after hearing that, she snapped, “Who told her to do wrong? She brought this on herself.”

I stepped back, avoiding his hand, and spoke calmly.

“I didn’t come here to force a marriage. Atlas's canceling the engagement with me to marry Heidi has nothing to do with me. I came here to act as bait, to lure out the Butcher.”

Mom’s face instantly went pale.

Before she could speak, my brother slapped me hard across the face. His face was tense with both anger and panic.

“I told you not to use a serious case that took the lives of so many girls as some way to get sympathy!”

He took a deep breath, his eyes cold, his voice cutting with anger. “You’re just like that best friend of yours, selfish and heartless!”

“She betrayed Spencer and ran off with the money.”

“Afraid of being hunted, she forged evidence, put that note in the victim’s hand, and faked her own death.”

“I already said that person wasn’t that woman, Tessa, but that fool Spencer still believed it and drank himself half to death, refusing to keep looking for the truth!”

The crowd started mocking.

“Wasn’t Tessa the gold digger who ran off with money back then? Her nude photos were all over those second-hand sites, right? You could see them for free!”

“A woman like her ruined the murder case. She got what she deserved.”

I clenched my hands, my heart twisting in pain.

Three years ago, Tessa had found proof that Heidi was faking her memory loss and madness, but before she could give it to me, she vanished.

Before she disappeared, her nude photos were posted for sale on second-hand websites for only 0.9 dollars.

At that time, Tessa cried and begged my younger brother, her fiancé, to help her sue them.

But my famous lawyer brother, who had never lost a case, sat lazily in the plaintiff’s seat during the trial, silent the entire time, and the case was dismissed on the spot.

When leaving the courtroom that day, Spencer gave a cold laugh. “This is the price for bullying Heidi.”

“This time, it’s just your nude photos. Next time, wait until you’re sold off in some black market auction to serve as someone’s plaything.”

That day, Tessa cried in my arms for a long time. The next morning, she disappeared without a trace.

I spent three years looking for her while Spencer mocked me every chance he got.

“She’s just playing hide and seek. She wants me to chase after her, huh? Let her play. Let’s see how long she can hide.”

Until one day, the dismembered victims from the “Butcher’s Brides” case were found in an abandoned basement in Fairview. At that moment, the system confirmed Tessa’s death.

My Tessa had been killed by the Butcher, and with her death, the system also declared my own ending.

The family and love I had spent ten years building all fell apart. It told me to end my life and leave this world.

But instead, I chose to use my death to bring justice to those poor girls who had suffered.

……

Atlas walked toward me, his face dark and cold. “Since you insist on going against us, then fine, I’m calling off our engagement.”

I nodded calmly, took out my phone, and typed a message. [Atlas and I have canceled our engagement.]

I lifted my phone to show them. “Is this enough?”

The three of them froze in place, stunned by my action. Atlas stared at me in disbelief, his jaw tightening as he gritted his teeth.

“Fine. Then you’d better get rid of the child in your belly, too. Who knows what you’ll do later using that kid?”

I placed my hand over my stomach, a faint, bitter smile appearing on my lips. “The child is already gone.”

As soon as I said those words, Atlas rushed forward and grabbed my shoulders.