“You’re out of line! Jaylene didn’t even do any harm and what did you do? You actually broke the bracelet! Have I been to kind that you’ve lost all sense of boundaries?” he said sharply.

I stood there, stunned, my hand covering the stinging side of my face.

A thousand words caught in my throat, but in the end, I only managed to say through tears, “So you trust her, not me?”

Stefan’s expression turned cold. “I trust what I see with my own eyes.”

***

Stefan left with Jaylene, heading to his private hospital.

Maisie Weller, the head maid, quietly applied ointment to my cheek. Her voice was low and apologetic. “Miss Nadine, I actually saw what happened earlier. I’m sorry I didn’t say anything to Mr. Slade…”

She hesitated. “But Jaylene is clearly the one he treasures most. I didn’t dare speak up.”

I forced a bitter smile. “I don’t blame you. Even if you had, it wouldn’t change anything. He already said it, he only trusts what he sees.”

Maisie sighed and fell silent. The villa was oppressively quiet, every second dragging on.

After the medicine was applied, I felt like I couldn’t breathe and needed fresh air, even just for a moment.

But the bodyguard at the door blocked my path. “Mr. Slade said you’re not allowed to leave.”

“I just want to stand in the yard for a bit…” I pleaded.

“Miss Ashby, without Mr. Slade’s permission, you can’t step out of this house.”

His firm tone left no room for argument. A deep wave of helplessness washed over me. My chest tightened with grief and frustration.

I bit back my tears and raised my voice. “Why is Stefan locking me up? I just want to go out!”

As I spoke, I shoved the bodyguard aside and made for the door, but before I could reach it, he grabbed a fistful of my hair from behind.

Pain shot through my scalp. I was yanked backward and crashed to the floor.

Just then, the villa door swung open. Stefan stood there.

Our eyes locked. His expression froze; shock, then pain.

My lips trembled, heavy with hurt, but I stayed where I was, letting the bodyguard drag me without resistance.

Stefan’s gaze turned icy. “Let go of Nadine. Who gave you permission to touch her?”

The bodyguard flinched and let go immediately, then reached out to help me up.

I didn’t hesitate. I threw myself into Stefan’s arms like someone drowning.

“Stefan, please,” I pleaded, choking back sobs. “Leave Jaylene. What happened abroad is over. Life is too short. Let’s start again, please don’t…”

“Nadine.” His voice cut through like ice. “There’s ten years between us. What happened before, it was a mistake. You should forget it.”

I froze, stunned. The words hit me like a slap. I stared blankly, then slowly let go of his sleeve.

But just as my hand dropped, Stefan grabbed it again.

His voice was firm, leaving no room for argument. “I’m taking you to the hospital for a physical.”

A cold sweat broke out on my back.

I had heard what he and his friend said. This wasn’t just a check-up. They were planning something horrifying, maybe even taking my heart while I was still alive.

I shook my head frantically and bolted for the door.

But before I could escape, a bodyguard caught up to me and struck the back of my neck hard. My vision went black and I collapsed on the floor.

When I woke up, I was already lying in a hospital bed. The room was eerily quiet, except for the low hum of machines. Stefan and Jaylene stood at the foot of the bed, watching me.

The moment I opened my eyes, a group of doctors immediately closed in, checking my vitals and murmuring medical terms I couldn’t follow.

However, I reacted like a cornered animal; hair bristling, nerves tight, I rolled off the bed in a panic.

“Get out! Get out!” I snatched the water cup from the bedside table, hurled it to the floor and pressed a jagged piece of glass to my neck. “Come any closer and I’ll end it. I swear I will!”

Jaylene's expression darkened with irritation.

Stefan’s face drained of color, his eyes wide with panic. “Nadine, please! Don’t do anything rash!”

I stared at him, heart breaking, tears streaming down my face. “You know how scared I am. You know! Ten years ago, you were the one who saved me from that operating table. How could you... how could you send me back?”

I couldn’t form a coherent thought anymore. My voice shook. My chest ached.

The fear clawed up my throat, memories flooding in like a dam had burst.

In his trembling eyes, I saw her again, that helpless eighteen-year-old girl, bound to a hospital bed.

I never want to go through that kind of horror again…

In truth, I only had one heart. The second was a fake, a heart-shaped foreign object my father had someone implant inside me.

Before the company collapsed, he already knew there was no saving it. So he found another way.

He had something shaped like a heart implanted in my chest, just to make it look like I had two hearts on the scan.

No matter how badly my body reacted, no matter how sick or feverish I became from the rejection, he didn’t care.

He just spent millions on rare drugs to keep me alive, because the lie needed to hold. He told the world I was born with two hearts and set my price at ten million.

Just like that, I became a product, wheeled into the operating room like an object on display.

That day, I cried out to the heavens, but no one answered. I was strapped to the table, completely helpless.

The knife had already broken skin. Greedy eyes surrounded me, watching without a flicker of sympathy, no matter how much I screamed or pleaded.

Then Stefan burst through the doors. He ran to me, threw his coat over my body and used every connection, every ounce of power, to shield me.

To me, in that moment, he was a god, my savior, the hand that pulled me from the edge.

For ten years, he gave up his overseas business to stay by my side.

But I never imagined that a decade later, he would be the one to shove me back into the same nightmare.

He knew how terrified I was of hospitals, how I avoided them even when I was sick.

But he still brought me here for her.

I broke down, shattered. The glass in my hand sliced my neck and blood streamed down.

Stefan’s face twisted in horror. He shoved Jaylene away and rushed over, gripping my wrist.

His voice was hoarse with fury. “Nadine, you’ve gone too far!”

I clutched the glass shards, refusing to let go, ready to die at any moment. "Stefan, I know what you're trying to do. I heard everything you said to your friend that day."

His expression froze. He held my hand, tightening his grip without realizing it.

Fear and anxiety surged in me, I was about to tell him the truth: that I only had one heart.

But then he spoke, his voice low and bitter. "I was wrong, Nadine. Let’s go home."

Sunlight spilled through the window. My heart raced as I stared at him in disbelief. Behind him, Jaylene stood motionless, her eyes filled with resentment.

Then, suddenly, I felt weightless. He lifted me into his arms and carried me out of the ward.

The whole way, I buried my face against his chest, just like that day. I wore his coat and held onto him tightly, arms wrapped around his waist.

The fear inside me slowly faded, giving way to calm. In the car, he tightened his lips and quietly said he would find another way to treat Jaylene’s illness.

Looking at his profile, I felt both fear and joy. That bittersweet feeling of being protected… tangled with the sting of betrayal.

But happiness won. I forgot I had once wished to leave the Slade Family for good.

I only remembered how safe those large hands made me feel. And just like that, my punishment came.

On the second night, Jaylene had a heart attack. She couldn’t find her medication, until she finally found it, tucked under the pillow in my room.

Stefan’s eyes were filled with disbelief and disappointment. I had never seen him like that.

He grabbed my neck, stared into me and hissed, “I told you I’d find another way. Why would you do this? After ten years, Nadine, this is what you’ve learned?”

Before I could explain, Jaylene clutched her chest and murmured weakly, “Stefan… I feel awful…”

Instantly, he released me and cradled her. “Don’t worry, I’ll take you to the hospital. Nadine has two hearts, you’ll be okay.”

A chill ran through me. Dread coiled in my stomach. I turned to run. But his bodyguards caught me and dragged me into the car like a sack of flour.

The car didn’t stop until we reached the hospital. Stefan dragged me inside, forcing me down onto the cold operating table and strapping me in place.

Under the harsh surgical lights, I was shaking, terrified, helpless.

At last, I couldn’t keep it in any longer. “Stefan, I have only one real heart, the other isn’t! My father had something else implanted in me. Taking it out won’t save Jaylene!”

Stefan stood beside me, expression hidden behind his sterile mask, eyes cold. A smirk tugged at the edge of his lips.

“You expect me to believe that? After everything?” he scoffed. “You’ve learned to lie well, Nadine. But not well enough. That heart is coming out tonight.”

I thrashed against the straps, screaming. “Help! Please! Somebody!”

But no one came. They were all his people. No one was going to save me, not like he did ten years ago.

The doctor hesitated. “We’re nearly out of anesthetic, sir... this could be—”

“She can’t move. Do it,” Stefan said, his voice ice. “She won’t die from one heart being removed. Just don’t mess it up.”

Then the scalpel touched my chest.

“Ah!” I screamed, my vision blurring from the pain as white-hot agony shot through me. Stars danced behind my eyelids and sweat soaked my skin.

Stefan frowned and turned away, unable to bear watching any longer.

One incision, then another. My chest was laid open.

The only sounds in the operating room were my screams and the sickening slice of the scalpel through flesh.

The agony was so intense I passed out, only to wake again moments later.

Still, Stefan never once looked back.

Then the doctor’s blade struck something hard. He hesitated, then began cutting away the flesh around it, slowly, precisely.

Bit by bit, he freed the object, something that resembled a heart.

Stefan gasped sharply. That was the last thing I saw before everything went dark again.

And just before I lost consciousness, I heard the doctor’s trembling voice say to Stefan...

“Mr. Slade, that isn’t a heart. It’s a foreign analgesic. Miss Nadine only has one heart… and it’s been severely corroded. This drug is the only thing keeping her from feeling pain.”