My Dad’s Criminal Ended My Life and I Was Autopsied Novel by Cora Seals

Tears welled up in Chester’s eyes as well. “David, Stella, why don’t you both head back to the station? We’ll contact you if there are any updates,” he said softly.

But my mom did not seem to hear him. Her gloved hand gently touched the bloodstains on the ground.” How much pain did Emily have to endure?” she whispered.

Even some of the more emotional officers in the unit were quietly sobbing.

My parents, devastated, got into the car. Watching their dazed expressions made my heart ache.

From the time I was brought back home to the moment of my death, I had never once heard my parents call me Emily.

Just then, Leo from the forensic lab appeared and handed the test report to my dad. He then cast a sympathetic glance at my dazed mom.

“David, I’m sorry for your loss,” he said.

My dad’s pupils tightened as he carefully examined the report, repeatedly checking the name written on it. After a long silence, he forced out through clenched teeth, “How is this possible?”

Leo sighed and gently patted my dad’s shoulder. “David, you’ve already seen the crime scene. The body is in the morgue. It’s real, there’s no mistake.”

Suddenly, my mom lunged forward and ripped the report to shreds. Then, she remembered something and pulled out the ring that had been removed from the body earlier.

Her tears fell onto the transparent evidence bag as she stared at the faintly engraved initials “EL” inside the ring.

The team had initially speculated that the letters were the initials of the victim’s name. But in reality, those were the initials of the name I had once dreamed of having when I returned to the Lambert family.

My dad helped my mom to her feet. They slowly and painfully made their way into the morgue.

When they saw my broken and mangled body, my dad let out a low roar.

I watched them in confusion. Why did they seem so heartbroken?

Wasn’t my death what they had always wished for?

My mom’s trembling hand touched the burn scar on my back. Her voice shook as she spoke.

“Emily, how could I find you in a place like this?

“When you first came home, you were so dark and skinny. I told your dad we needed to fatten you up.

“But then everything changed. I hated your sneaky ways, how you bullied Lily behind our backs. If only you’d never been kidnapped.

“And now you’re gone, leaving your dad and me to live in the agony of losing our daughter forever!”

Even though men rarely cry, my dad’s eyes were red with unshed tears. His hands were clenched tightly into fists.

“Emily, it’s not that I didn’t love you. I was strict with you so you’d learn from your mistakes, so you’d change those bad habits.

“If I’d known that was our last phone call, I wouldn’t have forced you to go to Lily’s tennis match. Didn’t you have a math competition? Your mom and I would’ve gone with you. Please, wake up.”

I took a deep breath, trying to hold back the tears that threatened to fall.

If only they had talked to me like this while I was still alive.

But no matter how much they said now, I could never call them Mom or Dad again.

Because each time they blindly believed Lily’s lies, the bond between me and this family was already severed.

From the moment I was brought back, Lily did not bother hiding her hatred for me.

She manipulated the students at school to isolate me.

Bugs in my desk, glue on my chair–those were just some of the tricks she used against me.

But in front of our parents, she would put on a pitiful face and complain, “Emily is so distant at school, she doesn’t talk to anyone. Do you think she doesn’t like me?”

And my parents would sigh and tell me, “Emily, you’re her elder sister. You should take care of Lily.

“She’s been with us all these years while you were missing. You two need to get along.”

But they seemed to forget that while I was missing, I spent those years in rags, beaten and starved.

Being found and brought home was supposed to be my greatest blessing. I should not have expected fatherly or motherly love that was not mine to begin with.

Eddie noticed my unease and suggested that our parents let me change my name.

But Lily intervened. “I saw Emily in Mom and Dad’s room yesterday, and she took something.”

When Dad found Mom’s diamond necklace in my backpack, his veins bulged with anger. “You don’t deserve to be a Lambert.”

No one listened to my explanation.

From that moment on, things only got worse for me at home.

I won an award in a math competition, and for once, I saw a glimmer of pride on my parents‘ faces.

The next day, Lily came home drenched. She cried into Mom’s arms while shooting careful glances in my direction.

That night, I was beaten for hours.

If it weren’t for Eddie speaking up for me, I would not have been allowed back into my room. Seeing that I could never threaten her place in the family, Lily became more, and more brazen.

When she practiced tennis, she made me play ball girl, deliberately hitting the ball hard at me. Then she would complain to our parents that I was not trying.

To them, I was the biological daughter they had found but could never be proud of.