Chapter 3

Chapter 3 - The Truth From Three Years Ago

There was a time when Jared used to look at me with nothing but absolute admiration.

As the youngest lead archaeologist at the university, I had the talent and the charm to win his heart.

We got married smoothly and became a famous power couple in our field.

While our marriage wasn't aggressively passionate, it was incredibly peaceful, and we almost never fought.

That all changed six months before my death.

Jared insisted on adding a rookie to our elite team.

It was his junior from his college days who had just returned from studying abroad: Gia Miller.

But our university's field team always selected members based on strict annual evaluations.

There was zero precedent for backdoor entries, and the selection window had long closed.

We had the most explosive argument of our entire marriage.

I directly asked him if he had hidden feelings for Gia.

He turned it around and called me a paranoid, jealous wife, claiming he was just looking out for an old friend.

That massive fight ended with Jared slamming the front door and walking out on me.

That was the first time I realized he could actually show extreme emotion.

Usually, he was so calm and detached about everything, even me.

Everyone always praised him for being so emotionally stable.

Looking back now, I realize he just didn't care enough about me to get worked up.

In the end, Gia successfully joined the team.

I still don't know what kind of favors Jared pulled with the dean, but I was forced to accept it.

For those six months, the tension between Jared and me was ice-cold.

As for Gia, even though I didn't like her, I never made things hard for her.

When I realized she actually had a knack for the work, I even led her through several major projects.

I honestly thought she was a promising talent worth mentoring.

Then came the discovery of this new site three years ago.

I followed standard protocol, leading the team through an initial sweep and taking a few artifacts back to the lab.

We planned to return a week later for the full dig.

But the very next day, I had a sudden urge to gather a few more samples for my research.

I didn't tell anyone and drove back to the catacomb entirely alone.

I never expected to walk in on a complete nightmare.

Several rough-looking men were packing up the priceless artifacts into heavy crates.

And standing right there, chatting with the gang leader, was Gia.

As a professional, I instantly knew she was working with black-market smugglers to make a fortune.

Judging by how fast and smooth they were working, this definitely wasn't their first rodeo.

For months, I had this nagging feeling that our artifact counts were slightly off, and now I had my sickening answer.

I tried to back away quietly so I could call the police from outside, but my foot snapped a dry twig.

They all snapped their heads toward me.

Gia didn't even hesitate. She and the thugs grabbed me and pinned me down.

She personally stabbed me over twenty times, ripping my life away.

She stripped me of my ID and anything that could identify my body, then rigged the central chamber with explosives.

"Jane, it's a dog-eat-dog world. You got in the way of my payday, so don't blame me for being ruthless."

After spitting those venomous words, she ordered the men to leave.

She triggered the explosives and played the part of a terrified victim who barely made it out alive.

She spun a perfect web of lies, claiming I was the mastermind who had run away.

I was already bleeding out, but the massive shockwave from the blast knocked me into pure darkness.

When I finally woke up, I was a ghost trapped in a collapsed ruin.

My bones were buried deep beneath the rubble.

And it took three whole years for them to finally see the light of day.