Chapter 8
Damien’s world went black. He stumbled backward and slammed into the wall.
How was that even fucking possible? She’d been alive just minutes ago.
He still remembered her last look–so hopeless, so fucking cold.
“No! That’s impossible!“]
He lost it completely, charging toward the OR. “Let me in! I need to see her! She was fine two seconds ago–how the fuck is she dead?!”
Leonardo suddenly smashed his coffee cup against the floor.
D
“Damien, use your goddamn brain! This is Mount Sinai with the best cardiac team on the East Coast. A simple heart transplant doesn’t just fail!”
“This is probably her manipulative little game!“]]
He glared at Damien with venom. “Aurelia’s been jealous of Helena since day one. She’s probably stalling the surgery, trying to kill Helena!”
“If you lose your shit now and mess with the doctors, you’re giving her exactly what she wants!”
Damien froze, muttering like he was trying to convince himself.
“Right… she’s too stubborn to just die like that. She’s gotta be lying.“[]
The doctor exhaled, shaking his head. “If you can’t accept it, then go in. See for yourself.“]
Leonardo went white–he tried to stop Damien, but got shoved away hard.
Damien stormed into the OR, and the second he saw what was on that table, his legs gave out and he collapsed to his knees.
Even covered in blood, he’d recognize that face anywhere.[]
His eyes drifted down to her chest–split wide open–and something inside him shattered completely. []
“What the fuck did you do to her?“]
The lead surgeon’s voice was barely a whisper. “After we removed her heart, we tried to implant an artificial one, but the patient started hemorrhaging. We did everything we could…“]
Damien exploded. “You told me your procedure was well–developed–so why the hell did it fail?“]
Leonardo tried to restrain him. “It was a freak accident! Calm down![]
But Damien wasn’t hearing any of it. He stared at that gaping chest cavity, screaming over and over:[]
“Who told you to cut her open?! Give me her heart back! GIVE IT BACK!”]
The medical team looked terrified.]]
Finally, Helena came running over after hearing all the commotion.]
She took one look at Damien and burst into tears. “Baby, please don’t scare me like this. I’m so afraid.“]
Leonardo jumped in too. “Look, Aurelia’s surgery failed, but Helena still needs that heart to survive. If you keep wasting time like this, we’re gonna lose them both.“[]
“Damien, come on. Let the doctors finish their job.“]
He practically had to drag Damien out of there.
Damien sat in the hallway, utterly broken, Leonardo’s attempts at comfort nothing more than background noise.[]
Regret gnawed at him–if he had stopped Aurelia, maybe she wouldn’t have died.
But there were no do–overs.
Suddenly his assistant came running up, looking panicked, waving some medical files.
“Mr. Hawthorne, I got the real medical records for both sisters.“]
“Helena’s perfectly healthy. She’s not sick at all.“[]
“The one with anemia and heart disease? That was all Aurelia.‘
