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Home / She Didn't Know the Body Was Mine / Chapter 1 - Chapter 10

All Chapters of She Didn't Know the Body Was Mine: Chapter 1 - Chapter 10

11 Chapters

Chapter 1

My body was found three days after I disappeared, in the alley behind a produce market controlled by the Romano Family.It was not yet dawn. A stray dog nosing through the trash caught an unfamiliar scent and began barking wildly. The market guard on night patrol followed the noise. Behind several black garbage bags, he saw a hand protruding from beneath a stained tarp.When he lifted it, he found the body of a young woman whose face was gone.The NYPD sealed the alley within the hour. Because the corpse had been dumped on Romano territory, and because the method resembled an earlier killing linked to the rival Calderone Family, Don ordered his Head of Security to cooperate with the police. She was to identify the victim and determine whether the murder was a declaration of war.The woman he assigned was my mother, Veronica Romano.She arrived looking irritated. Ethan hurried beside her, apologizing before she even reached the tape."Sorry, Boss. I know you took today off for your daug

Chapter 2

The police sealed my body inside a black bag and transported it to the private forensic laboratory that regularly worked with the Romano Family.Whatever held my spirit to the world held me to my body as well. I followed the van through the city and into the cold white room where strangers began the work of giving my death a name."Identification will be difficult," the examiner told Mom. "No documents, no usable face, and no fingerprints. DNA results will take several days. Unless a relative reports her missing and provides a sample, the database may not give us an immediate match."Mom nodded and removed her gloves.Ethan watched the body disappear through the doors of the morgue. "Her family must be frantic. A girl this young doesn't vanish without somebody looking for her."Then he glanced at Mom with open admiration."At least you're handling it. If we prove the Calderones did this to provoke us, the Don will have to give you that Inner Council seat."Mom barely reacted to the pra

Chapter 3

By then, I had been away from home for a week.Mom showed no sign of alarm. Celeste was the first person to mention my absence."Aunt Veronica, Emilia hasn't come home in days. What if something really happened to her?"She stood in a white dress with her hands folded at her waist, fragile and anxious enough to make anyone want to comfort her.Mom smiled at her in a way she had not smiled at me for years."Don't worry about her. She skipped your induction to punish us. She's probably hiding somewhere and waiting for me to beg her to come back."She tucked a strand of hair behind Celeste's ear."You have me. Your mother placed you in my care before she died, and I promised I would protect you."Tears filled Celeste's eyes. She stepped into Mom's arms."I knew you loved me most."Mom held her tightly. "You're the child I worry about most."I stood beside them. I no longer had a living heart, yet something inside my chest seemed to split.My father, Daniel, died from illness only months a

Chapter 4

For the next two days, no one in the Romano security office slept for more than a few hours.An unidentified woman had been tortured and dumped on family territory. If the Calderones were responsible, the body was more than evidence of murder. It was a warning before war.Mom barely went home. Celeste had left on an academic retreat, so she could not bring the dinners that had made everyone in the office believe she was Veronica's daughter.Near midnight, Ethan brought coffee to Mom's desk and paused over the latest forensic report.“One thing still bothers me,” he said. “She was held for hours. If she was conscious for even part of that time, wouldn't she have tried to contact someone?”Mom looked up from the file.“Most victims do. When people know they're in danger, they don't stop to think through every option. They reach for whoever they trust to come for them.”“A parent?”“Maybe. A partner, a sibling, anyone they believe will answer.”She pulled the timeline closer and studied i

Chapter 5

Mom shot to her feet. Her chair struck the floor behind her."No," she whispered. "It isn't her."She knew the necklace. No second pendant like it existed. Dad had drawn every curve himself and ordered my initials engraved on the back.Before anyone could question her, Mom grabbed her phone and called me again.Once. Twice. A third time.Each call ended in voicemail. She bit her lip until the skin split, as if stubbornly waiting would force my familiar voice to answer and prove that the dead girl belonged to somebody else.But I could not answer anymore."Boss," Ethan said carefully, "do you recognize it?"Mom spun toward the examiner."How long for the DNA?""The standard database returned nothing. Without a relative's sample—""Use mine." Her voice broke into a shout. "Take it now. Run an emergency kinship test."She swayed and caught the desk."It can't be Emilia. She gave the necklace to somebody. This is one of her tricks. She wants to see whether I'll panic."The louder her denia

Chapter 6

My father, Daniel, died of illness a few months after I was born. Mom buried her grief beneath work for the Romano security division, leaving Grandma and me alone in the house most days.Grandma rarely spoke. She sat beside the window for hours, staring beyond the glass as if someone were waiting outside. Sometimes she forgot the time. Sometimes she forgot to feed me.Hunger and silence became the most familiar parts of my childhood.Once, I complained to Mom. I was small enough that my feet did not touch the floor when she pulled me onto her lap. Back then, she still listened."Grandma isn't trying to neglect you," she said, smoothing my hair. "She misses Grandpa. When she feels better, everything will go back to normal."I did not understand bereavement. I did not know that grief could become an illness requiring treatment. I only understood that Grandma was not bad. She was sad, and a good granddaughter ought to make her happy.So I begged her to play with me outside.She refused fo

Chapter 7

No one in the security office knew what to say after hearing the identification.Ethan finally cleared his throat."Boss, we need to find whoever did this. We can't bring Emilia back, but we can give her the truth."Mom stared at the crumpled DNA report. Shock, terror, and grief moved across her face before hardening into denial.Then she laughed."I understand. You're all helping her. Emilia is hiding somewhere, waiting to see whether she can make me lose control. She has always used scenes like this to force me to surrender."Ethan closed his eyes briefly."Her body is in the forensic lab. You're her mother. DNA may feel impossible, but there may be marks only you can identify."Yes, Mom.I wanted to know too.Could you still recognize me?She stumbled into the examination room. Under the white lights, my ruined body lay on a metal table. Acid had taken my face, but it had not erased the evidence of restraint or the wounds left by my struggle.Mom remained in the doorway until the ex

Chapter 8

Mom returned home close to dawn.Celeste opened the door in pajamas, rubbing sleep from her eyes."Mom, why haven't you been home? Is something happening with the family?"She used the name easily now, as if it had always belonged to her.Mom paused. Her eyes were swollen, and the sterile smell of the forensic lab clung to her suit. Even so, she lifted one hand and touched Celeste's cheek."There is a difficult case. Why are you awake? You have school tomorrow."Celeste leaned into her."I can't sleep when you don't come home. And Emilia has been gone for a week. What if something happened to her?"Mom stiffened. She crossed the room and sank onto the sofa, staring at the ceiling."Your sister may never come home."Something changed in Celeste's eyes. It was not sorrow. It looked more like relief after a dangerous question had finally been answered.The expression vanished quickly.She knelt beside Mom and took her hand."Don't be too upset. You'll solve the case of the woman whose fac

Chapter 9

An hour later, Celeste sat in an interview room at the Romano security office. She had not been allowed to change. A coat covered her pajamas, and her hands shook around the bottle of water Ethan placed before her."The surveillance image is blurred," he said, taking the opposite chair. "But the vehicle belongs to you, and your phone records place you inside the West Side garage on the night Emilia disappeared."Mom had been silent since entering the room. She sat across the table and watched Celeste without moving.The look on her face frightened even me.In the past, no matter what Celeste did, Mom first searched for a reason to excuse it. There was no indulgence in her eyes now."I am not your aunt in this room," she said, pushing the recorder to the center of the table. "I am Head of Security for the Romano Family. Tell me why you were at the primary crime scene on the night Emilia was murdered."Celeste bowed her head and began to cry."I don't know. I went there with a friend. I

Chapter 10

The man who killed me was Logan Vescovi, a fringe Calderone associate and the most persistent of Celeste's many admirers.He had a history of violence. Celeste did not love him, but she enjoyed what his obsession gave her. Whenever he became too demanding, she soothed him with promises vague enough to keep him loyal. She never accepted him, and she never firmly refused him.On my birthday, Logan demanded that she meet him.Celeste did not want to go, but she feared what he might do if she rejected him. Then she thought of me.She told Logan she had an older cousin who was prettier, lonelier, and easier to control. If he agreed to stop pursuing Celeste, she would send me to him instead.She wrote the bookstore message while Logan watched.When I reached the West Side, the store was already closed. Logan waited near the garage entrance. He told me Celeste had been hurt inside.I followed him because, despite everything, I believed she might need help.On an upper level without cameras, h

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