Chapter 240

---- Chapter 240 After getting the location , Donovan drove there alone at full speed. The thought of what he might be about to face left him lightheaded and dazed. Several times on the way, he almost rear -ended other cars, and at one point, his fender scraped against a roadside railing. He was completely out of it throughout the drive. It took him an hour to reach the destination. It was a remote village, 31 miles downstream from where the kidnappers had thrown Giselle into the river.

When he pulled over, he spotted a small group of uniformed detectives and forensic officers by the riverbank, examining the scene. Tony was crouching beside them, glasses in hand, wiping at his eyes. Donovan stumbled toward them, ready to push past anyone in his way to see what was happening, but Tony stopped him short. "Don, you'd better not look," he choked out with teary eyes. " She's barely recognizable. You won't be able to handle it. Just .. don't look." Donovan stood still for a few seconds before wrenching free from Tony's grip.

Pushing past the cops, he walked right up to ---- the body. The forensic team was still taking pictures, so the blue sheet hadn't been placed over her yet. Donovan looked down at the waterlogged body, and in less than a heartbeat, he almost blacked out. The body before him was grotesquely swollen, foul-smelling, and decayed beyond recognition. It barely looked human anymore. The sheer horror of it pushed the limits of what he could handle. Ropes were still tied around its torso, and though the clothes were tattered, discolored, and falling apart, he recognized them.

It was the same biker outfit Giselle had worn when the kidnappers threw her into the river. The sight and the stench hit him so hard that he turned away, collapsing to the ground and retching until his stomach was empty. Even after seeing it with his own eyes, he refused to believe it was Giselle. The woman in his memory had always been breathtaking, radiant, and enchanting, like a princess who had stepped out ofa painting. How could she have ended up as this horrifying, unrecognizable heap?

Even if she had turned to ashes, to drifting smoke, or toa stray cat or dog, it would have been so much better than this. At least then, she would have stayed lovely forever in his mind. ---- After puking his brains out, Donovan sat slumped with his head buried in his hands, fingers pulling at his hair. For a long while, he felt disconnected from everything, as if another raw, bleeding hole had been torn through his already battered heart. Even breathing was agony.

He wanted to see her body with his own eyes, but now, standing here in front of her remains, any fragile thread of hope he'd been clinging to snapped in an instant. There was no closure, only the cold, brutal truth. Giselle was gone. There would be no miracles. Everything they had shared had turned to smoke. Meanwhile, Tony kept tearing up. Even though his relationship with Giselle had been strained for years, she was still his flesh and blood. Looking at what his child had become... the agony of outliving her was more than he could bear. His head buzzed, and his chest felt ready to cave in.

After completing the on-site investigation , the cops bagged the body to transport it to the forensic center for a full autopsy . Tony was asked to come as well, to provide a DNA sample so they could confirm the body's identity.