Chapter 1

Adrian Stephens took the heart my mother donated to me on the night she died and rerouted it to his childhood friend's daughter.

The other doctors pressed him hard.

"Then what happens to Irene Winfield?"

"She's in severe heart failure. Without this match, if she can't find a compatible heart in time, she'll die!"

Adrian was quiet for a long moment. When he finally spoke, his voice was low.

"Georgina is Rosamund's daughter. She's still a child, and she needs this heart more than Irene does."

Someone still found it cruel.

"But Irene is five months pregnant now. You know better than anyone what the risk is if she doesn't get a transplant. If her heart stops, it's two lives lost, not one!"

Adrian didn't even lift his head.

"It won't come to that."

I stood in the hallway, and it was like a bucket of ice water poured straight over me.

The Adrian who once studied medicine for my sake, who looked at me with nothing but tenderness, who swore he would cure me.

That same man could now toss my safety aside like a worn-out shoe, all for Rosamund Fox's daughter.

I pressed a hand to the dull ache in my chest, and all at once I wanted to know—

Seven years together, and when exactly had Adrian let his heart drift toward another woman?

I walked slowly to the door and closed my hand around the handle.

……

Inside the office, the argument hadn't stopped.

"How can you say it won't come to that!"

"Dr. Stephens, think about this. Irene is your fiancée. And that heart was left to her by her mother, who died last night. You can't just sign it over to Georgina Fox—"

Adrian cut him off before he could finish.

"I don't need you telling me how to do my job."

He pushed the signed approval form across the desk. "As far as anyone outside is concerned, there was a problem with the heart. The surgery can't go ahead."

There was a pause, and then, to smooth things over, he spoke again.

"Irene has always been sensible. She'll understand."

My raised hand froze in midair.

Understand.

With my life, was I supposed to understand?

For one moment the sheer absurdity of it swallowed me whole.

The world spun, my vision blurred.

I leaned against the wall for a long time, and in the end I sank down, dizzy and dim, right there in the hallway.

Three hours after the nurses carried me back to my room, Adrian finally came to see me.

"You're awake so early?"

I looked at him. "The pain woke me up."

His movements stilled. A few seconds passed before he reached out and ruffled my hair.

"I'm sorry, Irene. There was a problem with the heart match. Your surgery this afternoon can't go ahead for now."

I looked at him for a long time, searching for even the faintest trace of guilt.

There was nothing there.

He met my gaze and said gently, softly, "Take your medicine soon and rest properly. If it gets to be too much, press the nurse call button."

I tugged at the corner of my mouth. "Was it a problem with the match, or did the heart go to Georgina Fox?"

Adrian went silent.

A long time passed before he set the chart in his hand down, his voice dropping a little.

"You already know?"

He drew a deep breath.

"Irene, I wasn't trying to hide it from you. Georgina's condition has gotten much worse. She's still a child, and she needs this heart more than you do. You can afford to wait. She can't."

"Severe heart failure. Five months pregnant. Carrying twins."

I looked at him, calm. "Adrian, tell me. What exactly makes you think I can afford to wait?"

Adrian looked away from me.

And in that single moment, I understood the answer completely.

It wasn't that I could afford to wait.

It was that no matter what, he would always save Rosamund Fox's daughter first.

I asked him, "So what happens to me?"

He seemed to catch the tone in my voice. He was quiet for two seconds, then lowered his own.

"Don't make this more complicated than it is. Even without this heart, there will always be another compatible match sooner or later."

"Is that so?"

Adrian rubbed the space between his brows, his voice a little worn.

"What else do you want me to say?"

"Irene, stop this."

"Don't hold a grudge against a child. All right?"

Stop this.

Hold a grudge.

I repeated the two words back to him softly.

Then reminded him, my voice hoarse, "Adrian, that was the heart my mother left me on the night she died. The heart that could save my life. Did you think for one second about what your choice would do?"

Adrian's voice suddenly rose a notch.

"The heart's already been used. There's no way to take it back now. Irene, what do you want me to do, cut it out of her!"

After a brief silence, he pressed at his brow again.

"Irene, be good. Calm down. Severe heart failure means you have to avoid getting worked up. I'll come see you later."

Adrian knew I couldn't let myself get too worked up.

He knew what the risks were for severe heart failure, twins, five months along.

He knew that heart was my mother's last wish, the chance at life she had wanted to leave me with tears streaming down her face.

He knew, better than anyone, how hard it would be to wait for another match once this one was gone.

He knew all of it.

And still he stripped away my only hope of living, with his own hands.

After he left, I stared up at the blank white ceiling, and in the end I signed the voluntary refusal-of-treatment form.

I checked myself out alone, and at the front desk I booked an induced-abortion procedure.

On my way to the operating room, I happened to pass Georgina Fox's room.

My steps stopped before I could help it.

I looked in.

Inside, Adrian was reading a storybook aloud, telling the little girl a story until she was giggling, and Rosamund Fox pressed a gentle kiss to her forehead.

Rosamund was smiling as she wiped her tears. "After the transplant, Georgie finally gets a new life. Adrian, thank god I have you beside me."

Adrian raised a hand and very tenderly wiped the tears from her face.

Sunlight wrapped the whole scene in warmth.

I touched my swollen belly.

And all at once the bitterness in my mouth was almost too much to bear.