Chapter 1

Flames engulfed the abandoned warehouse that my stepson, Lucas Lincoln, was trapped in. I quickly phoned the fire brigade before repeatedly calling Jasper's number.

Jasper Lincoln was Lucas' father as well as the leader of a search-and-rescue team. But right now, he was Lucas' final hope.

Jasper rejected all my calls before finally answering one. I immediately asked him for help. "Your son is stuck in a fire, Jasper! You need to come and save him!"

A cacophony of noise filled the background over the phone. I could hear cheers of congratulations and laughter being exchanged by people.

Jasper's voice held a clear hint of irritation as he said, "Noah deserves what he's getting for always picking on his brother. If he's gone, I no longer have to deal with him wasting my money and framing Lucas for theft."

Jasper then hung up the call.

Everything seemed to turn silent as I gazed at the roaring flames.

So Jasper thought it was Noah Green, the son I had with my ex-husband, who'd been caught in the fire.

The fire brigade was slow to arrive on the scene. Thus, it took them a long time to quell the flames completely.

By the time they pulled Lucas' charred body from the rubble, it was already too late.

"Our son is dead," I texted Jasper.

Jasper called me the moment he received the message. There was a strange enthusiasm in his voice instead of the sorrow I'd expected.

"Summer, Yvonne just so happens to be missing a body for her dissection demonstration tomorrow during her public lecture.

"Noah just died in the fire, didn't he? We can use his body for the demonstration. Send the body over to me right away. Yvonne's lecture will surely become a success with its help!"

I was trembling with anger as my hand tightened around the phone.

So my son's body was nothing more than a tool Jasper could use to woo his ex-wife?

It was a good thing it was Lucas who died, not Noah.

I sneered and said, "Alright. I'll send it over right away."

I immediately arranged for Lucas' body to be delivered to the lecture building at the Department of Forensic Studies, where Yvonne was. Lucas had been Jasper and Yvonne's son, born during their marriage to each other.

The large lecture hall was filled with attendees by the time I arrived. There were students, media reporters, and even some well-respected figures in the industry.

A small body covered in a white sheet lay on the operating table onstage. Jasper stood to the side, gently straightening out Yvonne's doctor's coat for her.

He gently ran a finger along Yvonne's collar, his eyes filled with a tenderness I'd never seen before.

"Your public lecture is going to be straight out of the textbook now that you have this specimen," Jasper said.

Yvonne raised her head coquettishly and gently tapped his chest. "You're always so nice to me, always able to satisfy everything I need. By the way, have you seen Luke? Didn't you say you were going to get him, and that the three of us would celebrate my achievement together?"

"I'd got something urgent to deal with, so I had someone else pick him up instead. It's no big deal."

As Jasper spoke, his eyes scanned the audience before finally landing on me. They immediately filled with disdain.

He walked off the stage and came over to where I was sitting. "How can you still be in the mood to dress up after losing your own son? You truly are a cold-hearted woman."

The hatred in Jasper's voice was apparent as he eyed me. "That son of yours has always been a thief and a liar. He was probably caught red-handed while stealing something, which led to him being burnt alive. That's just how karma works, you hear?"

I looked at Jasper, who was a highly-respected search-and-rescue team leader.

He'd chosen not to save someone dying within a raging fire, all because he thought that the victim was my son, Noah.

Yvonne gracefully walked over at this moment. She gently peeled back a corner of the white sheet above the body with her gloved hands and examined it closely. There was an expert-like scrutiny on her face as she did so.

"The body is severely charred. It's formed some unique structures too," Yvonne said. She then looked up at me and smiled lightly.

"The only question is whether the inside of this cadaver is just as rotten as its previous character."