My daughter Mia's congenital heart condition had worsened. She desperately needed the one-of-a-kind miniature artificial heart I'd spent five years developing.

The night before surgery, my wife Victoria stole it from the cold storage unit.

I rushed to the hospital like a madman, only to find her at the bedside of her first love Dominic Forsythe's son, prepping him for surgery.

"Mia can hold on for another six months. Dominic's son can't wait."

"What kind of father are you, being this selfish?"

Victoria stood there, righteous indignation written all over her face.

I looked at my daughter lying in her hospital bed, barely clinging to life, and dialed the overseas number I'd refused a dozen times before.

"Professor Ellsworth, this is Nathan Hartley."

"I'll accept your offer. But I need you to arrange a medical transport—immediately—to bring my daughter to your facility. Her heart needs emergency intervention."

I spent five years developing a life-saving heart for my daughter. Victoria stole it overnight and gave it to Dominic Forsythe’s son.

“Mia can hold on for another six months. Dominic's son can't wait.”

She had no idea I held all the core patents for that heart. That same night, I took my daughter aboard a medical jet and fled the country.

The next time we met, you would be on your knees begging me.

"Victoria, where is Mia's artificial heart?" I demanded.

Victoria frowned, tossing a grape skin into the trash.

"Why are you yelling? You're scaring Leo!"

She stood up, positioning herself between me and Dominic and his son.

"I'm asking you about Mia's heart! Her surgery is tomorrow!"

"Nathan, calm down!" Victoria swatted my hand away. "Mia's condition has been stable. The doctors said conservative treatment could buy her another six months."

"Leo is different. He's in acute heart failure—without the transplant tonight, he'll die."

I couldn't believe what I was hearing.

"Mia is your biological daughter! She was coughing up blood last night, and you call that stable?"

"She coughed blood because you don't take care of her! You're always locked up in that lab tinkering with your parts—when have you ever been a real father?"

Victoria shot back, her eyes dripping with contempt.

"I developed that heart. The patents are in my name. What gives you the right to hand it to someone else?" I said through clenched teeth.

Dominic walked over with that fake sympathetic look of his and sighed.

"Nathan, don't blame Victoria. I begged her. Leo's had it rough—growing up without a mother. She just feels for the kid."

"Shut up! Nobody asked you!" I roared.

"Nathan! Talk to Dominic like that one more time!" Victoria shoved me hard. "That heart was developed with company funds. I'm the CEO—I decide who gets it!"

"Are you really going to stand by and watch a child die?"

"When did you become so cold-blooded?"

Victoria jabbed her finger in my face.

I looked at this woman I'd been married to for seven years and felt like I was staring at a stranger.

"Leo's life matters, but Mia's doesn't?" My voice was raw.

"I told you—Mia can wait! Just go make another one. It's not that hard for you!"

Victoria rolled her eyes impatiently.

Make another one?

She had no idea how many sleepless nights it had taken, how many hundreds of failed attempts, just to build this one heart matched to Mia's physiology.

The imported core materials alone had a three-month lead time.

"Mia can't wait three months." I locked eyes with her.

"Stop being dramatic! You're just jealous that Dominic is back, using Mia's illness to get attention!"

Victoria sneered.

"It's settled. Leo goes into surgery now. You go back to the regular ward and keep Mia from wandering off." She turned to help Leo with his hospital gown.

I stood there, feeling the blood freeze in my veins.

"Victoria, you'll regret this."

I dropped those words and charged out of the VIP suite.

"Nathan, you've got some nerve!" she screamed after me. "Walk out that door and don't expect a single dollar of R&D funding approved tomorrow!"

I didn't look back.

Back in the regular ward, six-year-old Mia lay with an oxygen mask on her chalk-white face.

"Daddy, where's Mommy? How come she didn't come see me?" Mia's eyes cracked open, her voice barely a whisper.

I fought back tears and held her ice-cold little hand.

"Mommy's busy with work. Daddy's right here."

"Daddy, I had a dream. I dreamed my heart got better and I could ride a roller coaster."

Mia managed a weak smile.

"You will, sweetheart. You're going to get better very soon."

I buried my face in her palm, and the tears wouldn't stop.

Victoria, since you won't even fight for your own daughter's life, I don't need this family anymore.

I pulled out my phone and called the number I'd turned down countless times.

"Professor Ellsworth, it's Nathan."

"My God, Nathan! You're finally calling! The doors of our institute are always open for you!" The voice on the other end was electric with excitement.

"I'll accept. But I need you to arrange a medical jet immediately to bring my daughter over. Her heart needs emergency intervention."

"Done! With your expertise, the board would green-light a private jet overnight! When can you leave?"

"Three days. I have some garbage to take out first."

I hung up and looked at Mia in her hospital bed, silently swearing she'd never suffer again.

The next morning, Leo's surgery went perfectly.

Victoria swept into Mia's room, glowing.

She carried a fruit basket—filled with the cheap leftovers Leo hadn't finished.

"Mia, look what Mommy brought you!"

She dropped the basket on the nightstand with a thud.

Mia glanced at it, said nothing, and burrowed deeper into my arms.

"What's wrong with this kid? Getting ruder by the day." Victoria frowned, glaring at me.

"You bring your daughter someone else's scraps and expect her to be grateful?" I said coldly.

"Scraps? Leo couldn't finish them, so I brought them over. Ever heard of not being wasteful?" Victoria shot back without missing a beat.

"Where did the money for Leo's surgery come from?" I ignored her deflection and threw out the real question.

Victoria's expression flickered. Her eyes darted.

"Company account. So what?"

"The company account has been broke for a long time."

"Did you touch Mia's education fund?" I stepped closer.

That fund was $1,000,000 I'd saved dollar by dollar from freelance consulting—every cent earmarked for Mia's future.

"You went through my accounts?" Victoria bristled.

"That's Mia's money!" I shouted.

"What do you mean, Mia's money? We're married—your money is my money! Leo needed the best imported medications. Dominic just got back and is short on cash. I lent it to him—so what?"

"Lent? What's he going to pay you back with? That fake degree he bought?"

"Nathan! I won't let you disrespect Dominic! He's talented—just hasn't had his break yet!" Victoria pointed at me, fuming.

"Talented? Great—then let him develop an artificial heart!"

"Enough with the sarcasm! I came here to inform you: Dominic is joining the company. He's replacing you as Director of R&D." Victoria crossed her arms, looking down at me.

I froze. I couldn't believe my ears.

"A man with a business management degree—replacing me in R&D?"

"The department's on track now. We don't need a rigid lab rat like you anymore. Dominic understands management. He'll take your patents to market better." Victoria spoke as if it all made perfect sense.

"So you're stripping my position and handing my research to him?"

"What do you mean, stripping? The company is mine. These are work-for-hire inventions—I assign them to whoever I want! Hand over the encrypted data now. Tomorrow you'll do the handover with Dominic!" Victoria snapped.

"And if I don't?"

"Then get out! And don't expect a cent for Mia's treatment ever again!"

She thought that would break me.

She had no idea that I'd registered the core patents under my own name overseas years ago.

What remained at the company was peripheral scraps.

"Fine. I'll hand it over." I looked at her calmly.

Victoria blinked, surprised I'd agreed so easily.

"Good. Come to the office this afternoon for the announcement. And don't make a scene—don't embarrass Dominic." She shot me one last look of disdain, then clicked away in her heels.

"Daddy, are you not going to work anymore?" Mia tugged at my sleeve, worry swimming in her big eyes.

"Daddy's getting a better job. We're going somewhere far away to treat your heart. Okay?"

"Somewhere without Mommy?"

My heart ached.

"Yes. Somewhere without her."

That afternoon. Mercer Medical headquarters. Conference room.

The executives were all assembled. The atmosphere was tense.

Dominic sat in my chair, wearing an ill-fitting designer suit.

Victoria took the head of the table and cleared her throat.

"I've called this meeting to announce an important personnel change. Due to personal and family circumstances affecting his performance, Nathan Hartley is being relieved of his duties as Director of R&D."

The room erupted.

Everyone knew the company had survived this long on my technical work alone.

"Ms. Mercer, this doesn't seem right. Nathan just cracked the miniature heart problem—" the VP couldn't help but speak up.

"What's not right about it? The world doesn't stop turning for anyone!" Victoria cut him off sharply. "Dominic Forsythe studied abroad and brings extensive management experience. He will assume the role of R&D Director. Please welcome him."

Dominic stood and gave an exaggerated bow.

"Thank you, Ms. Mercer. I'll lead the R&D team to even greater heights."

"Nathan, you'll work under me as a regular engineer now. Anything you don't understand, just ask." Dominic smirked at me.

"If the new director is this capable, I'm sure he's already reviewed the core data?" I leaned back in my chair.

Dominic's face stiffened. He looked to Victoria for help.

"Nathan! Are you deliberately making this difficult? Hand over the encryption key—now!" Victoria slammed the table.

I pulled a USB drive from my pocket and tossed it on the table.

"Password is six eights. Everything you need for the handover is on there."

Victoria snatched it and handed it to Dominic.

"Smart choice. Starting tomorrow, Nathan, you're on the factory floor supervising the assembly line. Stay out of the lab." Victoria delivered the decree.

"That won't be necessary." I stood and straightened my jacket.

"What do you mean?" Victoria narrowed her eyes.

"I quit."

Dead silence.

Victoria shot to her feet, pointing at me.

"You think you can threaten me with quitting? Where would you even go? No one else would hire a money pit like you!"

"Victoria, don't make promises you can't keep." I stared her down. "The handover is done. I owe you nothing."

"Stop right there!" She rushed to block my path. "Fine, quit. But you signed a non-compete—two years, no setting foot in the medical device industry!"

"I remember." I pushed past her hand. "I wish your company, under Director Forsythe's brilliant leadership, a speedy bankruptcy."

I walked out without looking back.

Behind me came Victoria's screaming and the sound of a glass shattering.

"Let him go! Without me, he can't even afford Mia's medication! He'll come crawling back in three days!"

In the parking garage, I pulled out my phone.

"Professor Ellsworth, does a domestic non-compete hold up against an overseas lab?"

"Ha! Nathan, you're hilarious. That kind of paper? Our legal department would shred it in sixty seconds."

"Your jet's already cleared for takeoff. Day after tomorrow, pre-dawn."

"Thank you."

Back at the hospital, I quietly packed Mia's things.

There wasn't much. Mostly toys and clothes I'd bought her.

The only things from Victoria were a few clearance-rack outfits that didn't even fit.

That evening, Victoria showed up at the hospital—not to see Mia, but to berate me.

"Nathan, you humiliated me in front of the entire company today. Satisfied?" She stood in the doorway, arms crossed.

"Quitting is my right. You already put Dominic in charge, didn't you?" I didn't even look up.

"Don't think I don't know what you're doing—playing hard to get so I'll take it all back!"

"You overestimate yourself." I stuffed Mia's picture books into a bag.

"Why are you packing? Where are you taking Mia?" Victoria finally noticed something was off.

I made up a random lie.

"Checking her out. Taking her to the countryside for fresh air."

"The countryside? Are you insane? She can't go off her medication!"

"You said her condition was stable. You said she could wait."

"Staying in the hospital is just burning money anyway. Fresh air might do her good." I looked her dead in the eyes.

"Stop throwing my words back at me! The countryside is fine, actually—you can vacate the house while you're at it." Victoria pivoted without missing a beat.

My hands stopped.

"What did you just say?"

"Leo's starting school soon, and Dominic doesn't have a place. That house is sitting empty—I'm transferring the deed to Dominic. It's close to the school. Convenient for Leo."

That house was the only thing my parents left me when they died.

"Victoria, have you completely lost your mind? That's my premarital property!" I was shaking with rage.

"What's yours is ours! We're married! Besides, it's temporary—once Leo finishes school, we'll transfer it back. What's the big deal?" Victoria waved dismissively.

"Absolutely not. You're not touching that house."

"Nathan! How can you be so selfish? Leo lost his mother—isn't that sad enough? Now you want to leave him without a roof over his head?" Victoria jabbed her finger at me.

"His mother leaving has nothing to do with me! Mia has a mother—and her mother is right now trying to give away her medicine money and her home to some other woman's kid!" I exploded.

Crack.

Victoria slapped me across the face.

"Watch your mouth! Say one more word about Leo, and I'll cut off every cent of Mia's medical funding!"

I touched my stinging cheek and looked at this woman who'd gone completely mad for her first love.

"Fine. Very fine." I let out a cold laugh.

"What are you laughing at?" My laughter unnerved her.

"I'll sign the property transfer. But I have one condition. Tomorrow is Mia's seventh birthday. You come and celebrate with her. Cut the cake, and I'll sign."

Victoria frowned.

"Tomorrow? Can't do tomorrow. Leo's being discharged—Dominic booked a restaurant to celebrate. The day after, maybe. I'll pick up a cake."

"Tomorrow. If you don't show up, I'll burn the deed."

Victoria clenched her jaw.

"Fine. Tomorrow night, eight o'clock. I'll spare half an hour. Don't try anything."

She stormed out in her heels.

I watched her leave, then picked up my phone and texted my lawyer.

"Graham, is the divorce agreement ready?"

"Ready, Mr. Hartley. As per your instructions: you waive all company claims, but demand sole custody of your daughter. The property transfer includes a hidden debt lien—non-transferable, non-mortgageable."

"Good. Bring it tomorrow night."