Chapter 1

I'd just taken a bullet for my husband. Before I could even hit the ground, my adopted sister Sienna rammed her Ferrari into me at sixty miles per hour.

Blood filled my mouth. Through the haze, I heard the doctor: "Her baby's dead. Her uterus… ovaries… shredded and need to be removed."

"Elena, hold on! Please!"

My mom was sobbing, but then she was whispering excitedly:"Elena's a perfect match. Finally, we can give Sienna her heart transplant. Finally!"

My husband Julian's voice followed, calm now. "I'll sign the consent forms. Sienna needs a strong heart to live her fast life. "

I couldn't believe my ears.

It was the very man I'd taken a bullet for. Seconds ago, he was roaring at the doctors: "Save my wife! I don't give a damn about an heir!"

Now, he was donated my heart without blinking.

And my brother and dad? They were already discussing how to dump the accident footage into the Hudson.

"Sienna is still young. We can't let her go to prison, and we certainly can't let her live as a criminal."

"Yes, Sienna is innocent. It's Elena's own fault for not being careful."

Something inside me went still.

And just then, a cold, flat voice rang in my head—

[Host. Mission 'Sacrificial Lamb' complete. Heartbreak Value: 100%. Return to real world?]

I laughed, a bloody, wheezing sound.

Their fake love? Their "protection"?

They could keep it.

I was done.

...

I tried to roll off the gurney. I wanted to smash my head against the floor, to die on my own terms before they could strip me for parts.

But the nurses pinned me down like a stray dog in a kill shelter.

They shoved the intubation tube down my throat, and a massive hit of propofol flooded my veins.

Right before the world went black, the OR doors swung open.

Sienna, the brat who'd just mowed me down in her red Ferrari, was being wheeled in on the next table.

Isabella—my mother—was already holding the scalpel. She didn't even look at me as she gave the order.

"Forget the internal bleeding in Elana's uterus. We don't have time. Open her chest. Get that heart out and prep Sienna for the transplant."

I felt the cold bite of the steel sliding through my skin. I felt my ribs being pried apart.

The last thing I heard before the darkness took me was Isabella whispering to the girl who'd tried to kill me.

"Just a little longer, princess. When you wake up, you'll be able to run as far as you want."

...

When I finally opened my eyes again, I was back in a private suite at the Moretti clinic.

No one was there. Dead silence. Of course it was.

I let out a bitter sigh, the I asked, "System. I want to confirm the terms. "

"If this body dies, I'll be back home, right? My heart will be fixed, and that hundred-mil bonus will hit my account?"

[Confirmed, Host.]

[Once you leave, you will be completely severed from this world. No return. No recall.]

"Good."

The word hung in the air, barely a whisper. I let it settle. This was what I wanted...

Say goodbye to the Moretti family. To Julian. To the life.

I pulled the oxygen tube out without a second thought.

And suddenly—nothing. No air. Just... collapsing.

My throat squeezed shut like a fist, tighter, tighter, until I felt it—my own body turning against me, crushing me from the inside.

And then, through the suffocation, something else broke through—memories I'd buried long ago, clawing their way up through the fading light.

I remembered the day my parents and my big brother Dominic came for me, pulling me out of that dingy apartment.

I could still feel the warmth of Dominic's hand in mine—how he squeezed it.

"Elena, we finally found you. From today on, you're back to being the Moretti family's little princess, and we'll protect you forever. Nobody in this city touches you. Not ever."

The words blurred, faded—and in their place, another voice rose.

"Elena, I'll give you all of me—my heart, my future, everything I am and everything I'll ever be. I don't want to be anyone else's—only yours."

Julian—the heir to this city's biggest criminal throne—down on one knee in the rain, telling me I was the only light in his dark, blood-soaked world.

Such pretty words.

I'd been fool enough to believe once—grateful the mission failed, thinking I'd found a perfect family, a loyal husband, a loving home.

All lies. Every bit of it.

There was almost no air left in my lungs. They felt like they were collapsing into a vacuum—empty, shrinking, giving up. But I was smiling.

Just let go. Let it end. I didn't want to spend another second looking at all this fake love.

The heart monitor flatlined, and the alarm shrieked like a banshee. My mom came charging in with a team of residents.

"Elena! Damm it, what are you doing!"