Chapter 1

Two months into my pregnancy, my husband, Justin, asked for a divorce for the hundredth time.

His reason was simple: his first love, Chloe, who suffered from a severe heart condition, had returned to the country. She needed his round-the-clock personal care.

Finally, I said yes.

I didn't want to carry the blame if something happened to Chloe.

I didn't want to spend the rest of my life with a man who didn't love me.

And most of all, I didn't want my child growing up in a loveless home.

On my way to the courthouse to sign the papers, a violent car crash took both my life and my unborn baby's.

Justin never saw me at the courthouse.

Instead, he got the news that an exact heart donor match had been found for Chloe.

As her primary cardiothoracic surgeon, he rushed back to the hospital, thrilled.

He cut into my body with his own hands, harvested my heart, and transplanted it into Chloe's chest.

Only after the surgery was over did he remember our divorce appointment.

But by then, my phone was permanently dead...

I hovered in the air, staring down at my broken body, every joint mangled and twisted.

It felt as though I could still feel that unbearable, blinding agony.

Today was our fifth wedding anniversary—and the hundredth time Justin had demanded a divorce.

In the past, I had always avoided the topic just to preserve the fragile thread connecting us.

This time, though, I had agreed.

Our five years together hadn't been great, but through thick and thin, we had shared a life under the same roof for so long.

Until a month ago, when the girl he had never gotten over, Chloe, returned home because of her illness.

From that day on, Justin stopped coming home entirely. He stayed at the hospital day and night, attending to her every need.

Everyone in our circle knew he had married me solely to spite Chloe after their bitter breakup.

I had been secretly in love with him for years. Even knowing the cruel truth, I had walked into this marriage willingly.

My thoughts snapped back to reality.

I watched the paramedics load my battered remains into the back of an ambulance headed for Seattle First Presbyterian. Compelled by some invisible pull, I drifted after them.

Justin worked there. Years ago, he had already made a name for himself as a brilliant, world-renowned heart surgeon.

Yet as the wife of a top specialist, I couldn't even ask him to look at me when I had a fever or an ache. I always had to see other doctors.

Because on our wedding day, Justin had coldly warned me, "I don't ever want to see you at my workplace."

"And don't you dare bother me over minor inconveniences."

That was why, even after finding out I was two months pregnant, I hadn't found the right moment to tell him.

I looked down and instinctively reached out toward my flat belly. The tiny spark of life that had been growing inside me had vanished in that violent impact.

Tears streamed uncontrollably down my spectral face, a sharp, suffocating ache tightening in my chest.

That was the baby I had prayed for and dreamed of for five whole years...

My mangled body wasn't rolled down to the morgue. Instead, it was taken straight up to an operating suite on the fifth floor.

The doors slid open.

Two people walked in, one behind the other.

"Ms. Stone, harvesting an organ without next-of-kin consent is a federal crime..."

I recognized the speaker. It was Brandon, Justin's surgical resident.

Over the years, whenever I brought meals to Justin at the hospital, Brandon had often shared them with us.

Chloe gave a cold scoff. She crossed her arms, walked over to my bloodied gurney, and looked down. After a single glance, she jerked her head away, unable to conceal the sheer disgust in her eyes.

"I've waited so long to find a matching donor. Do you really expect me to just let this pass?"

She turned to Brandon with an icy, calculating stare. "Call Justin. Tell him to get back here right now."

"I want him to harvest this heart and perform the transplant on me himself."

Brandon hesitated, opening and closing his mouth several times, clearly terrified.

Chloe didn't break a sweat. She unzipped her designer purse, pulled out an envelope, and shoved a certified check for fifty thousand dollars into his hands.

"Nobody knows about this except you and me," she said smoothly. "Even if the family comes looking later, I have more than enough power and money to bury it."

Between the sheer greed and her assurances, Brandon caved. He slipped the check into his coat and dialed Justin's number.

A few automated rings later, Justin's deep, indifferent voice echoed through the speaker.

"What is it?"

Brandon froze for a second, glancing nervously at Chloe before speaking into the receiver.

"Dr. Vance... we found a matching donor heart for Ms. Stone."

"The donor is already in the OR. You need to come back right now."

At those words, the coldness in Justin's tone instantly shattered, replaced by raw, uncontainable euphoria—as if he had just hit the jackpot.

"Are you serious?! I'm on my way!"

"Chloe won't have to live in fear anymore..."

His ecstatic voice pierced my spirit like a serrated blade. Through blurry, tear-filled vision, I looked down at my own body on the cold metal table.

Justin, if you knew the body on that table was mine... would you still sound that happy?