Chapter 3

3.

While I was packing my belongings at the house, a message popped up on my phone from Austin.

【Celeste told me today that boring, stiff men like you make her skin crawl. She won't even let you touch her.】

【Thanks to your dead parents, we unlocked a brand new venue! Making out right over their corpses was such a rush~】

Attached was a photo of Austin and Celeste tangled together on top of the autopsy table in the morgue.

A wave of nausea washed over me.

A moment later, the lead detective called, asking me to transfer the victims' remains to the county medical examiner's office.

I didn't want to look at Celeste again, but I complied with the police request and drove back to the station.

Inside the morgue, my in-laws' bodies had been mangled further by Austin's clumsy hands.

Their fractured limbs were folded randomly, treated with less dignity than roadkill.

Seeing me enter, Austin beamed a bright, arrogant smile.

"Wyatt! Thanks to your parents for their contribution to science!"

"With this practice under my belt, I'm definitely going to ace my board exams."

Celeste stood beside him, dutifully handing him surgical tools like a submissive assistant.

Austin was deliberately trying to get a rise out of me, but I remained stone-faced.

"Celeste gave you the bodies, so do whatever you like."

"Just remember one thing: when the detectives get here, don't try denying that you're the one who butchered them."

Celeste's brow furrowed, her voice turning icy.

"Austin is a medical intern! He needs practical hours to get certified, so stop using the cops to intimidate him!"

"Being dissected by Austin is the greatest honor your peasant parents could ever receive!"

An honor?

Anyone with eyes could see Austin was simply venting his sadistic urges on the corpses.

Yet Celeste blindly enabled him, completely oblivious to who was lying on the steel table.

"Think whatever you want," I said evenly. "Hurry up and finish so I can transport them."

Austin's eyes darted around before a vicious smirk crossed his lips.

"You can't take them. Our squad is up for a state commendation this month. If the public finds out we failed to rescue a couple in our jurisdiction, it'll ruin our rating."

"Celeste, I say we just cremate them in our back burner right now to save time."

Celeste wrapped an arm around his waist, agreeing without a second thought.

"Great idea! Wyatt, you should be thanking Austin for saving you thousands in funeral costs!"

Austin winked at me.

"No need to thank me, buddy. Just make sure to present me with an appreciation banner during our squad meeting tonight!"

I folded my arms and chuckled.

"Celeste, when I called for help that day, I only said our parents were in danger. I never specified whose."

"Are you genuinely that certain these bodies belong to my parents and not yours?"