The Betrayal of a Ghost Bride

Six years ago, I saved a girl named Scarlett in a remote mountain village.

I sponsored her education, and we became the best of friends.

Yet, because she fell in love with my husband, Ethan Miller, she drove a car and ran me over.

To escape responsibility and prevent my body from being identified, she crushed my head with the tires.

She framed me as a fugitive wanted for highway robbery.

Ethan Miller, the city's top forensic expert, protected Scarlett.

He personally fabricated the scene, intending for me to take the fall for her.

The police launched a massive manhunt, determined to apprehend me.

But no one knew.

My body lay right there, before all of them.

After I died, Scarlett immediately called Ethan.

He rushed over.

Upon seeing the death scene, he instinctively frowned.

"How did it end up like this?"

Even a seasoned forensic expert rarely encountered such a gruesome scene.

The body lay twisted there.

The entire head was gone.

The road was covered in bloodstains and bone fragments.

Faced with Ethan's question, Scarlett chose to answer with tears.

She sobbed, throwing herself into his arms, and after a long moment, managed to say, "I'm scared..."

That one sentence melted Ethan's resolve.

He sighed softly.

While comforting Scarlett, he began examining the crime scene.

My death was truly hideous.

Ethan had to first collect my bone fragments.

He put on gloves and, with tweezers, painstakingly pieced together what remained of my skull.

He frowned, examining it closely.

"The victim's head was run over multiple times, and her limbs are twisted."

"Her fingernails are torn from extreme force; she must have endured immense pain before death."

Based on his professional forensic skills, Ethan immediately sensed something was wrong.

His frown deepened.

"This death wasn't just an accident."

I nodded frantically, wanting to scream and tell him.

Scarlett deliberately ran me over.

She was jealous of my happy life and tortured me brutally before I died.

She then crushed my head to prevent my body from being identified.

Alas, the dead cannot speak.

But Scarlett's tears easily won Ethan's trust.

She looked up, sobbing and gasping for air.

"I didn't mean to, it was this robber. Lily paid him to threaten me."

"I was so scared, I accidentally stepped on the gas instead of the brake."

Ethan silently watched the bone fragments in his hands, speaking in a calm tone.

"Involuntary manslaughter usually carries a sentence of three to seven years in prison."

"Given the victim's initial aggression, it could be argued as self-defense, potentially reducing the sentence to around three years."

Scarlett's body trembled, and she shook her head vigorously.

"No, I don't want to go to jail, I don't want to be separated from you."

"Ethan, please help me, won't you?"

"Don't let my unborn child lose its mother!"

Ethan's frown deepened further, as if in contemplation.

Scarlett started crying again.

Her hands tightly gripped him, her last hope.

Her flowing tears ultimately pierced Ethan's heart.

He remained silent for a long moment.

Then, he gave my body a profound glance.

"I'll reconstruct the scene and make Lily take the blame for you."

"From now on, you need to remember every word I tell you."

I was stunned.

Years ago, when Ethan and I first started dating, I accidentally took a photo of a crime scene.

Usually composed, Ethan had a furious outburst at me.

He said it was a desecration of the deceased, a disrespect for the body.

"Lily, you're a doctor, you should understand my professional ethics."

"These poor victims deserve respect, just like anyone who puts their trust in a medical professional."

"I won't allow anyone to challenge my professional boundaries, not even you."

It took me a long time to calm Ethan down.

From then on, I was cautious, never daring to cross that line.

But now, he had met Scarlett.

He not only abandoned all his professional ethics for her but was also willing to risk his entire future.

Scarlett lowered her head, desperately trying to hide the smirk on her lips.

Her voice was still so innocent.

"But wouldn't that be unfair to Lily?"

Under the moonlight, a surgical scalpel glinted with a cold, menacing light.

Ethan changed gloves.

He took a scalpel from his car.

"There's nothing unfair about it. Lily is different from you."

"She has a successful career and a loving family."

"She can still live a good life after getting out of prison."

"You've come so far from that mountain village, it hasn't been easy. I absolutely won't let you fall back into the struggles you escaped."

"Lily... let's just say I owe her. I'll do my best to make it up to her when she gets out."

My shattered heart, though long ceased to beat, still felt an agonizing pang.

A tear slipped in the night.

I closed my eyes and silently said,

Ethan, I admit you have the cunning to pull off such a deception.

But this time, things won't go your way.

I won't take the blame for Scarlett, as you wish.

Because I'm already dead.

Ethan didn't speak again.

He lowered his head, intently focusing on my body.

When he got to my hands, he suddenly paused.

My heart lurched; I thought he'd seen the diamond ring on my finger.

But he just calmly looked at Scarlett.

"Did you two fight?"

"Yes."

Scarlett nodded.

She lowered her eyes, as if deeply wronged.

After a long moment, she spoke with reluctance.

"She said Lily told her to ruin my face."

"I was too scared, so I had no choice but to fight back."

A flicker of disdain crossed Ethan's stern face.

He scoffed, his doubts vanishing instantly.

"So many years have passed, and Lily's spoiled princess attitude hasn't changed a bit."

"It might do her good to suffer a harsh lesson in prison."

"Maybe then she'll wise up."

Saying this, he used forceps to pry open my stiff fingers, one by one.

He was looking for any lingering traces hidden within the body.

The nail on my index finger was gone.

The other fingers were twisted to varying degrees.

The diamond ring on my ring finger was caked in dried blood.

If Ethan had paid a little more attention.

He would have seen that the ring was engraved with our names.

He had personally placed it on my finger.

But he didn't.

His complete focus was on Scarlett.

He carefully removed the skin tissue from beneath my fingernails.

As if handling a work of art.

Piece by piece, erasing Scarlett's traces.

I watched his focused, patient profile.

Suddenly, I remembered our wedding day.

That day, he had also looked so serious as he placed the ring on my hand.

And together, we had vowed to be with each other through life and death.

Now, to exonerate Scarlett.

He broke his vows, abandoned his ethics.

And personally desecrated my body.

The skin tissue from beneath my nails was quickly cleaned.

Ethan then turned his gaze to my slightly swollen abdomen.

"Repeatedly driving over the victim goes far beyond the scope of self-defense."

"I need to re-examine the victim's internal organs."

"Scarlett, if you're scared, just close your eyes."

Scarlett nodded timidly.

But her eyes held an unmistakable excitement.

I sighed helplessly, marveling at Ethan's naivety.

Why would she be scared? She's the one who killed me!

She was the one who smashed my head with a roadside stone.

And when I was barely clinging to life, she drove over me.

I believe that with Ethan's professional skill, it wouldn't be hard to imagine the scene of my death.

But he didn't care.

He didn't care if the dead felt pain.

He didn't care how heartbroken I was when I found out about his affair.

The evening breeze swept through.

Clouds drifted, obscuring the moon.

Scarlett held up her flashlight.

Ethan positioned the scalpel toward my lower abdomen.

At this moment, I stared wide-eyed, shaking my head repeatedly.

"Ethan, no, don't do it!"

"You'll regret this, you'll definitely regret this!"

I screamed at the top of my ethereal lungs.

But no one could hear the cries of a soul.

The blade sliced, and Ethan cut through my skin.

The standard Y-incision, the very one I had personally taught him.

After eight years together, Ethan had memorized all my habits.

The way he held the knife, the decisiveness of his cuts.

Even the details of the sutures were indistinguishable from mine.

He truly was the genius forensic expert his professors always raved about.

But... such a brilliant man.

He failed to recognize that the body beneath his hands was me.

Processing internal organs required utmost concentration.

Ethan held his breath, the knife gliding over my body.

Fat layer, muscle layer...

Finally, the uterine wall.

When the last cut was made.

Ethan, who had been so calm and composed, finally broke.

His hand trembled, and the knife skewed slightly.

Ethan quickly regained his composure.

But his voice was filled with shock.

"She's pregnant."

"How could a wanted fugitive be pregnant?"

I closed my eyes in despair, unable to watch.

"Ethan, because that was your child."

Our little life, expected for so many years, dreamt of day and night.

Finally conceived.

This morning, I wasn't feeling well.

I went to the hospital for a check-up and found out I was three months pregnant.

I placed the ultrasound report on the bedside table and prepared a candlelight dinner.

I wanted to surprise Ethan when he came home from work.

After dinner was ready, Scarlett called.

She said she had something important to tell me.

As soon as I arrived, I was hit by her car and sent flying.

Scarlett, wearing high heels, stepped out of the car.

She grabbed my hair and dragged my barely clinging body to the side of the road.

She cursed through gritted teeth.

"Lily, I know you were good to me."

"But only if you die can I become Mrs. Miller."

"Blame your bad luck for getting in the way of Ethan and me!"

Only in my dying moments did I realize.

My beloved husband had long been having an affair with my best friend.

While I was working tirelessly, putting in endless overtime for our future.

He was with Scarlett, having an affair in our bed.

While I was pulling strings and calling in favors to help Scarlett find a decent job.

She was lying in Ethan's arms, laughing at my stupidity.

I wanted to cry.

But the pain in my body overshadowed the agony in my heart.

The primal instinct to survive propelled me to crawl forward.

I wanted to find a glimmer of hope for myself, for my unborn child.

Even as my fingernails tore and bled, I dared not stop.

Like a cat toying with its prey, she savored my agony.

She drove her car, closing in on me.

Slowly, she tortured my very soul.

"Did you know, Ethan and I were already together in college?"

"We were together for six years; I gave him my virginity."

"He told me he only loved me, and that he was with you to gain your family's connections."

"Now that his career is stable and successful, he no longer needs you."

"So let me be the one to make this decision for him!"

The car ran over my legs.

I could distinctly hear the bones shattering.

Then, my body, my head...

After I was finally released from the pain.

All I saw was my gruesome corpse.

I desperately wanted to rush forward and take Scarlett down with me.

I wanted to ask Ethan why he betrayed me.

But I could do nothing.

A helpless, ethereal soul.

A pathetic woman betrayed by her husband.

Could only drift alone in the silent night, weeping.

I watched Ethan desecrate my body for Scarlett.

Watched my closest, most trusted people conspire to frame me.

Watched my poor child exposed to the air.

Perhaps it was the unspoken bond of blood.

I saw a flicker of hesitation in Ethan's eyes.

Scarlett's lies were full of glaring inconsistencies.

This blood-related child finally sparked a subtle doubt in him.

The next second, Scarlett grabbed Ethan's hand, her voice agitated.

"If the victim is pregnant, will that extend the sentence?"

"Ethan, this child can't be discovered."

"Lily taking the blame for me is already sad enough."

"We can't let her entire life be ruined in prison!"

Worry overshadowed doubt.

Ethan's attention returned to Scarlett.

He composed himself, nodding gently.

"You're right."

"Three years in prison is already long enough for Lily."

"I'll take care of this child."

He carried the tiny embryo to the riverbank.

Silently, he let go.

The swift current instantly swept it away.

I tried to reach out and stop him, but my hand passed directly through Ethan's body.

And that tiny life was gone, leaving no trace.

It was so small.

So small it had no discernible weight.

So small it couldn't leave any lasting impression on Ethan's heart.

My tears were nearly spent.

I thought at the end of my life, at least I would have this child by my side.

Now, it had been brutally torn from my womb.

With the body dealt with.

Ethan continued his finishing touches.

He cleaned the bloodstains, rearranged the body.

He placed a scalpel I often used near the corpse.

After ensuring everything was perfect, he calmly dialed 911.

"Chief Miller, on my way home, I discovered a hit-and-run case."

"I've already examined the scene."

"Preliminary assessment suggests the time of death was 9:30 PM, near Greenwood Lane."

"The hit-and-run perpetrator... could very likely be my wife, Lily Miller."

After the crime scene photos were sent, they immediately drew high-level attention from the senior officers.

The police promptly issued an arrest warrant.

The continuous wail of police sirens echoed throughout the city.

My photo, as the top suspect, appeared on the news headlines.

Alongside mine was Ethan's.

Facing the interview cameras, he was composed and articulate, handling the situation with ease.

"I love my wife very much, but I have my principles and unwavering professional ethics."

"After she's released from prison, I will steadfastly stand by her side for the rest of our lives."

"But as a forensic expert, I will never distort or conceal the truth for anyone!"

His striking appearance and emotional performance earned Ethan widespread praise.

People expressed sympathy and regret.

Such a good man, yet he was married to such an unworthy woman.

Ethan called me many times, but there was no answer.

He thought I had gotten wind of the investigation and fled.

He didn't realize I had been dead for quite some time.

Suddenly, public outrage quickly escalated.

The hospital where I worked immediately revoked my medical license and fired me.

My parents published a notice disowning me.

Saying I was a disgrace to our family, a stain on our name.

Unworthy of their years of upbringing.

Everyone around me condemned and reviled me.

Wishing they could instantly distance themselves from me.

Only Ethan was pleading for me.

He gathered information on the robber Scarlett claimed to have encountered.

He compiled it into new evidence and submitted it.

"Chief Miller, while a hit-and-run is inexcusable, Lily's actions were not without cause."

"The victim was a wanted fugitive robber; Lily acted in self-defense."

"Based on this, shouldn't she receive a lighter sentence once she's found?"

The recipient took the information and looked it over, raising his head in confusion.

"Professor Miller, could you be mistaken?"

"That particular robber was apprehended three days ago and is currently serving time in our county jail."

"How could that be?"

Ethan looked at the sheet-draped body in disbelief.

His voice trembled with fear.

"If the deceased isn't that robber, then who could it be...?"

Just as he spoke, the office door was pushed open.

A junior officer rushed in with a file.

"Chief, the DNA match results are in."

"The deceased... the deceased is Professor Miller's wife, Lily Miller!"