Everyone knew that Lucas Ryan only married me out of spite because he couldn’t have the one he truly loved. For five years of marriage, he was the perfect husband in public—a renowned cardiologist adored by many. But behind closed doors, he was cold, distant, and had asked for a divorce more times than I could count. Then his first love, Evelyn Snow, returned to the country due to illness. Lucas devoted himself to her care, never leaving her side. He even warned me repeatedly: “Eve’s heart condition is delicate. If you dare show up and stress her out, we’re done for good.” Finally, during his hundredth demand for a divorce, I agreed. What Lucas didn’t know, however, was that I was already carrying his child. On the way to the courthouse to finalize the divorce, I was in a car accident. Both my life and my unborn child’s were lost in an instant. Lucas didn’t get the divorce papers that day, but he did get the news that Evelyn had found a perfect heart donor match. Excited, he rushed back to the hospital and performed the surgery himself, taking the heart from my lifeless body and placing it into hers. It wasn’t until later that he remembered our divorce—but by then, my phone would never ring again.
The pain finally disappeared the moment my soul left my body. I hovered above the scene, staring at the mangled car smoking in the rain. The driver’s seat was crushed beyond recognition, and the body slumped inside was twisted and broken in every way imaginable. Today was supposed to mark our fifth wedding anniversary. Ironically, it was also the day Lucas asked for a divorce for the hundredth time. Over the years, I had tried to ignore the cracks in our fragile relationship, hoping that somehow, we’d make it work. But this time, I finally agreed to let go. Five years is a long time, even if most of it was marked by distance and tension. Regardless of how things were, we’d spent a significant part of our lives together. But everything changed a month ago when Evelyn returned from abroad, her health deteriorating. From that moment on, Lucas never came home. He stayed at the hospital, tirelessly caring for her. Everyone knew he had married me out of anger and heartbreak after Evelyn rejected him. But I had loved him for years, long before he even knew my name. So, even when I found out the truth, I stayed. Loving him was as natural as breathing, no matter how much it hurt. My thoughts returned to the present as I watched the ambulance from St. Mercy’s Hospital load my broken body into the back. I followed instinctively. Lucas worked at St. Mercy’s, where he was a legendary cardiologist. Patients and staff worshipped him. Yet, as his wife, I couldn’t even go to him for a cold. On our wedding day, he had made it clear: “I don’t want to see you at my workplace.” “And don’t bother me over trivial things.” That’s why I never told him I was pregnant. As I floated above the ambulance, my hand drifted to my stomach. The life I had carried, the one I had dreamed of for years, was gone now—just like me. Tears streamed down my face, silent and endless, as an ache settled deep in my chest. That child was supposed to be my miracle, my hope after five long years. My body wasn’t taken to the morgue. Instead, it was wheeled into the operating room on the fifth floor. The door to the operating room opened, and two figures stepped inside. “Dr. Ryan, this isn’t legal without the family’s consent…” The voice belonged to Mason, Lucas’s protégé. I knew him well; over the years, he had eaten countless meals I’d brought for Lucas. Evelyn scoffed and crossed her arms as she walked toward my lifeless body. She glanced at me before quickly turning her head, unable to hide the disgust in her eyes. “I’ve waited far too long for a compatible heart. I’m not about to let this opportunity slip away,” she said coldly. Then, without hesitation, she turned to Mason. “Call Lucas. Tell him to come back and perform the surgery himself.” Mason hesitated, shifting uncomfortably on his feet. He opened his mouth as if to protest but said nothing. Evelyn pulled out a card from her purse and handed it to him. “There’s fifty grand on this card. This stays between us. No one has to know.” Mason stared at the card, torn between guilt and greed. Finally, after a long pause, he took it and dialed Lucas. The phone rang a few times before Lucas’s voice filled the room. “What is it?” he asked, sounding impatient. Mason glanced at Evelyn before answering softly. “Dr. Ryan, we found a suitable donor for Evelyn. The body is in the operating room. You should come back.” The indifference in Lucas’s voice evaporated, replaced by palpable excitement. “Are you serious?! I’ll be there right away!” “Eve won’t have to worry about this anymore…” His voice was jubilant, overflowing with relief and joy. Each word felt like a dagger to my chest. My tears blurred everything as I looked at the operating table where my body lay. If Lucas knew it was my heart he was about to take, would he still sound so happy?
It didn’t even take thirty minutes for Lucas Ryan to return to the hospital. Out of breath, he rushed down the hallway and pulled Evelyn Snow into his arms. His voice was filled with relief and joy as he said, “Evelyn, you’re finally going to be okay.” Hearing this, Evelyn’s eyes welled up with tears, and she leaned into his chest, her voice trembling as she whispered, “Lucas, if it weren’t for you, I wouldn’t even want this heart… I’d rather give up.” Lucas tightened his embrace, gently placing a kiss on her forehead. His voice was full of unwavering promise: “Don’t worry. I’ll divorce Claire soon.” “I only married her because I was angry with you.” Even though this was something everyone seemed to know, hearing it from Lucas’s own lips still sent a sharp pain through my heart. So, this was how deeply he loved Evelyn Snow. So, even after five years, I hadn’t been able to melt the ice around his heart. The ache in my chest deepened as Lucas comforted Evelyn, telling her to prepare for surgery. He then walked into the operating room with Mason to scrub in. Performing a heart transplant was nothing more than routine for Lucas. It was the kind of procedure he could do with his eyes closed. But when he saw the bloodied body lying on the operating table, he couldn’t help but frown. “Mason, why wasn’t this cleaned up before it was brought in?” he asked, his tone sharp. Mason hesitated, his nervous gaze avoiding Lucas’s. He stammered, “Dr. Ryan, Evelyn’s match is so rare… And, well… keeping the heart fresh was the priority.” Lucas didn’t respond right away. Instead, he took the scalpel from Mason’s hand and prepared to begin. But just as he was about to make the first incision, he paused. I followed his gaze and realized he was staring at my left hand. There, on my ring finger, was the diamond wedding ring I had designed myself. The blood that covered it only made it more striking. I had even made Lucas a matching band for our wedding, but he had hated it. On the day of our marriage, he locked it away in a drawer and never wore it again. “What’s wrong, Dr. Ryan?” Mason asked, confused by his hesitation. Lucas shook his head but spoke with a faint trace of regret in his voice. “She was unlucky. Her husband must be devastated.” As he said this, he made the incision, opening up my chest. Mason stood beside him, passing him tools as needed. At one point, he added, “And… after running the tests, we found out she was two months pregnant.” “Really tragic when you think about it.” This time, Lucas didn’t reply. The atmosphere in the room grew heavier, like an invisible weight pressing down on everyone. I watched him from a distance, memories flooding back. Last winter, I fell terribly ill. My fever was so high that I couldn’t even get out of bed. Lucas was home that night, but he barely noticed. He was too busy working on a paper for some medical journal. I spent the entire night shivering and burning up, too weak to call for help. By the time I was rushed to the hospital, the doctors said I had narrowly escaped death. When I finally woke up, the first thing Lucas did was scold me. “You’re an adult. If you’re feeling this bad, why didn’t you say something?!” His eyes were cold, filled with anger. “Or was this your way of getting my attention?” I didn’t have the strength to argue with him. I wanted to remind him that he had always told me not to bother him, even if I was sick. I had been nothing but obedient, so why was he still angry? Now, standing in this operating room, I couldn’t help but wonder: How could Lucas show compassion for a stranger but be so heartless toward me, the woman who had been by his side for five years?
The heart was successfully transplanted. Six hours later, it beat again—this time inside Evelyn Snow’s body. The moment Lucas Ryan stepped out of the operating room, he went straight to Evelyn’s recovery ward. He stood by her bedside, watching her sleep peacefully. Only then did he let out a long sigh of relief. Once he was sure Evelyn was stable, Lucas returned to his office. He sank into his chair and pulled out his phone, only to find the screen blank—no messages, no missed calls. It was strange. I used to text him endlessly every single day, sharing every mundane detail of my life—what I ate, what I was working on, how my day went. But Lucas never responded. Not once. He stared at his phone for a few moments, then opened his contacts. His thumb hovered over my name before he hesitated, but eventually, he made the call. The line rang and rang, the mechanical tone echoing in the silence, until it automatically disconnected. On the other end, there was no one to pick up. Frustrated, Lucas put the phone down, opened our old chat thread, and recorded two voice messages, his irritation unmistakable: “Claire, you already agreed to the divorce. Whether you answer your phone or not won’t change my decision.” “And don’t think playing hard to get will make me reconsider.” I watched him angrily send the messages, a faint smile tugging at my lips. It was bitter and hollow. “Lucas Ryan,” I murmured softly, “if you hated me this much, why did you marry me in the first place?” But it didn’t matter anymore. The wife he despised had died in today’s storm. He wouldn’t have to deal with me ever again. For the first time, Lucas’s messages disappeared into the void, unanswered. I faded from his world, quietly and without a trace. And yet, he didn’t look for me. He assumed I was being difficult, hiding away because I didn’t want the divorce. He was so certain of it that he didn’t bother to question my absence. Meanwhile, my body lay unclaimed in the hospital morgue. It wasn’t surprising. After all, I was an orphan. Growing up in a group home, I had no family to call my own. My only real accomplishment in life was earning a spot at one of the country’s top design schools. And, of course, marrying Lucas Ryan. Back in college, Lucas wasn’t just the star of the medical school—he was the star. Top of his class, impossibly handsome, and untouchable, he was the dream of every girl on campus. Even at my school across town, everyone had heard about the perfect love story between Lucas Ryan and Evelyn Snow. The first time I saw him was at a joint event between our universities. He stood tall in the crowd, dressed in a custom-tailored suit that screamed wealth and elegance. He spoke with effortless charm, surrounded by people who seemed magnetically drawn to him. His presence was so dazzling, it was almost blinding. That night, I was cornered by a drunken guy who wouldn’t leave me alone. Lucas was the one who stepped in, pulling me out of the situation. My quiet, reserved heart raced for the first time. But I knew better. Lucas Ryan was a world apart from me. He was untouchable, and besides, he already had Evelyn. So I buried my feelings deep inside, content to admire him from a distance. It was a foolish dream, I thought. People like me—those who clawed their way out of the dirt—had no business reaching for stars like him. I thought that would be the first and last time our paths crossed. But fate had other plans. Lucas and Evelyn eventually broke up. I wasn’t sure why, and it wasn’t my place to ask. One sunny afternoon, I happened to be delivering custom cufflinks to one of Lucas’s friends. Lucas was there, standing by the window, bathed in golden light. He looked up at me, his gaze calm and detached, and asked a question that would change everything: “Do you want to marry me?”
“Claire still isn’t answering her phone?” In the hospital room, Evelyn Snow’s pale face grew even more ashen. Her eyes reddened, and tears spilled over as she looked at Lucas Ryan, her voice trembling. “Lucas, in the five years you were married to her… did you really never feel anything for her? Not even once?” Her voice cracked as she continued, her emotions unraveling. “Is she really missing, or are you lying to me? Was this all a trick because… you never actually wanted to marry me? Because you never forgave me for leaving you back then?” By the time she finished, Evelyn burst into heart-wrenching sobs. I stood by the window, quietly leaning against the frame, watching them. My emotions had oddly settled over the past few days. I wasn’t even angry anymore. I had expected this. I guessed Lucas would pull her into his arms, soothing her like he always did. And sure enough, a second later, he frowned, stood, and wrapped the trembling Evelyn in a comforting embrace. See? I guessed right. “Claire agreed to the divorce,” he said calmly, patting Evelyn’s back as if to reassure her. “I don’t know why she suddenly disappeared, but don’t worry. I’ll go through with the divorce.” “And then I’ll marry you.” Just as those words left his mouth, hurried footsteps echoed down the hallway. Before Lucas could react, two uniformed police officers walked into the room. Lucas froze, his brow furrowing in confusion. “Officers, is there a problem?” Before the police could respond, the door burst open again. Mason stumbled in, panting heavily, his face pale as he stammered, “Dr. Ryan… C-Claire… Claire is dead.”
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