The man who once swore to protect me from all harm would not even spare me five minutes to explain.

I stared at the massive wedding portrait in the living room before taking it down.

It was a portrait of Chance holding me tenderly.

Tears streamed down my face. I could not believe how unworthy all those years of love had been.

I smashed it with a hammer, strike after strike. It tore and vanished slowly like fragments of my memory.

"Nora, you're the one I love most in this world. I'll only ever love you. We'll be together, till death do us part," he had vowed.

What a laughable vow.

What a laughable love.

All of it, nothing but empty words.

Chance looked angry when he came back.

He grabbed my hand without warning and dragged me to the door. He said, "You're coming with me to the hospital."

"For what?" I asked.

I struggled to pull away, but he slammed me against the entryway cabinet.

"Jenny needs surgery. Your heart is a compatible match."

I froze, unable to register the fact that he wanted my heart.

"Are you out of your mind, Chance? I am your wife!"

"Ex-wife."

He pushed me away and took out a document from his suit.

"You'll do the paperwork tomorrow, and sign the organ donation agreement while you're at it," he said.

The words were printed in bold on the cover, 'Voluntary Heart Donation Application.'

The signature space for the first party was filled with Jenny Young's name. The signature space for the second party was left blank, waiting for me to take the bait.

My reflection in the glass showed how pale I was, like I was a corpse.

We had been married for eight years. I had spent the best years of my life in the Hart household to repay what I owed.

The day I carried my suitcase into the villa, I had learned how to take care of him, leaving a night-light on when he came home late from social dinners.

The fingers that had once been able to play world-class music were coated with kitchen grease.

I had done all of that.

It seemed that to Chance, I was not only a toll to repay debts, but also a 'living warehouse' from which organs could be harvested at will.

He knew that Jenny did not come back because she loved him, but he still wanted to give her my heart?

"And if I don't sign?" I asked.

He scoffed and took out his phone to play a video.

I then saw it: my parents pinned to the ground by several men in black. My mother had hair matted with blood, and my father's glasses lay shattered at his feet.

"I can make them stop anytime for the money they owe," he said.

He grabbed my chin and forced me to look at the brutal scenes.

"You don't have a choice, Nora," he said.

My body trembled with rage.

My parents were finally able to live a normal life after so many years, yet they were dragged into this nightmare!

"Chance Hart, you brute! It was your grandfather who saved me back then! How could you do this to them?!" I yelled.

He looked at me coldly, his gaze indifferent.

He knew where my softest weakness lay the whole time.

Mr. Hart had used that debt to bind me to his side back then, and Chance had used my parents' lives to force me to give up my heart.

"Alright," I said with an abrupt laugh, my tears spilling, "I'll sign."

I added, "But I want to see my parents first."

Chance squinted and stepped closer to kiss my forehead.

"That's better. I'll remarry you once Jenny's recovered," he said.

He took out his car keys and said, "Be back in half an hour, and don't try anything."

The rain grew heavier. I sat in the back seat and looked at the side of his face.

The man I had spent my youth loving was as cold as ice at that moment.

The car passed through an intersection. I suddenly lunged forward and grabbed the steering wheel.

"You're so dead!" he yelled.

He slammed on the brakes. The tires skidded across the rain-soaked street before the car slammed into the roadside barrier.

I took the chance to open the door and bolt into the rain. His furious yells echoed behind me.

The rain and my tears blurred my vision as I stumbled through three blocks, until the flashing red-and-blue police lights came into view.

"Officer, I want to make a report…"

Before I could finish, I felt a sharp pain from the back of my neck.

The last thing I saw before I blacked out was Jenny Young standing there, bloodied wrench in hand. She had a cold and sinister smile.

"Sorry, Nora," her voice was sinister, "but your heart is mine."

…

The scent of disinfectant hurt my nostrils.

I found myself lying on an operating table when I opened my eyes. My wrists were strapped with leather restraints.

The overhead light blazed on me.

"Are you awake?"

I heard her voice from behind me. Jenny wore pale blue scrubs, she had a syringe in her hand.

"I was going to wait until you signed before giving you anesthesia, but you just wouldn't behave," she said.

I kept struggling, and my face was pale as panic surged through me.

"Where's Chance? He promised I could see my parents!" I yelled.

"Oh, him?"

Jenny pushed the syringe into the IV line, her smile laced with mockery.

"He's downstairs, saying goodbye to your parents' bodies," she said.

I froze.

"What did you say?" I asked.

The door swung open.

Chance stepped inside, his white shirt was splattered with dark red stains, and his blood-streaked phone clutched in his hand. There was a photo on his phone screen of my parents lying lifelessly in a pool of blood.

"They tried to run. The debt collectors beat them to death," he explained, tone so casual as if he were talking about the weather.

"Don't worry. I'll make sure they have a fine headstone after you donate your heart to Jenny," he said.

The world went black for a moment, and I nearly passed out.

"Let's begin," said Jenny.

She put on surgical gloves, and tapped against the scar beneath my collarbone.

"I heard this scar came from a surgery to save Chance. How touching, but this heart will belong to me now," she said.

Pain ripped through my chest when I woke up again.

"Nora?"

I could hear his voice from my bedside, softer than I had heard in years.

"The doctor says a mechanical heart takes time to adjust to, that's why it hurts. Your life is not in any danger, so don't worry," he said.

I turned my head to see him in an immaculate suit. His tie had swapped for the navy blue one I had given him.

His fingers brushed the back of my hand as if we were still the loving couple from eight years ago.

"Where are my parents?" I asked.

Whatever patience and tenderness I had been clinging to were gone the moment I heard my parents were dead.

He hesitated.

"The funeral is over. I bought the highest-grade grave plot for them…" he said.

"So they are dead?" I asked.

I sat up quickly, the searing pain from the mechanical heart shot from my chest to my limbs.

A flicker of panic crossed his eyes.

"I didn't mean for it to happen. I didn't think they would try to run after hearing about your transplant," he replied.

Perhaps he did not intend to kill them, but they were dead all the same.

"Don't get worked up. Your heart…" he said.

He tried to press me back down, but I shoved him off.

The red glow from the monitor reflected on his face, and I suddenly laughed.

"Chance Hart, do you think you can erase everything you've done by giving me a new heart?" I sneered.

His lips pressed tightly as he reached into his suit jacket and pulled out a check.

"Jenny's doing much better now," he said.

"Here's fifty million dollars. Once you've recovered, we'll have our wedding in the Maldives. You always said you wanted…" he said.

"Wedding?" I repeated.

I took the check and slowly tore it into pieces, hissing, "Do you think I'd ever marry a murderer again?"

…

A pair of high heels owned by Jenny was by the entryway when I returned to the Hart villa.

I could hear sweet laughter coming from upstairs.

"This necklace is gorgeous, Chance! It's so much prettier than the pearl necklace Nora has."

My fingers tightened weakly around the banister. The mechanical heart in my chest began to burn.

I heard his voice threaded with intimate laughter as he said, "Buy a few more if you like it."

He wrapped his arm around her waist, and he was twining his fingers through her hair. He did that with me eight years ago.

Jenny waved her phone at me.

"Nora. Look at what people are saying online. 'The socialite wife of a rich heir is actually the daughter of a call girl.' Haha! So your mom was a prostitute!"

My vision went black. The mechanical heart thumped in my chest. The pain nearly made me faint.

She had taken my heart, so why was she cruel still?

My mother was already dead!

Chance frowned at me and asked, "What now? Jenny has just recovered. Don't upset her," he said.

I lunged to snatch the phone.

"Enough!" he yelled.

He shoved me, causing me to stumble and fall down the stairs. The mechanical heart whirred inside me.

However, he turned to cradle Jenny in his arms, his voice tender as he said, "Don't worry. I won't let her come near you again."

I laid on the floor and stared at their embracing figures. I felt more than pathetic.

…

Jenny brought me to the seaside. She told me she was going to erase the online rumors of my mom if I went there.

The rain was pouring hard.

Jenny walked over with an umbrella. There was a victorious smile on her face, and she waved a yellowed diary at me.

"Guess what's written inside, Nora?" she asked.

She flipped the pages, rain drops splattering the yellowed pages.

"March 12, 2005. Day eighteen of being sold to a club by debt collectors. Today, a man named Mr. Hart paid my ransom. He said he wanted me to be his mistress… I'm grateful he saved me, but… I have a family. I have a wonderful husband and daughter. Turns out our family's debt was because of this man. He wanted to own me, and I was foolish enough to be grateful to him!" she read.

…

"In the end, I agreed to sell my daughter to him. I'm sorry, Nora. I had no other choice," she continued to read.

"Shut up!" I yelled.

I ran to get the diary, the pain from my mechanical heart tearing me apart.

Jenny only laughed and stepped back. Her heels sunk into the wet sand.

"What's wrong? Afraid I'll tell everyone you were sold to the Harts by your mom? Do you think Chance doesn't know? He knew all along. He thinks you and your mother are disgusting. Your mom was nothing but a wh*re who seduced his grandfather, and you're the same," she said.

I could hardly believe what I was hearing. It was ridiculous!

"Nora!" I heard Chance from afar. He ran through the rain but stopped abruptly when he saw the diary.

Jenny took the opportunity to shove me to the ground.

"Chance, she's trying to kill me!" she yelled.

He pulled her into his arms protectively, his gaze on me full of loathing as he said, "Since you like making up lies so much, why not go take a dip in the sea to clear your head?"

I stared coldly at the man I had loved for eight years, my chest tightening with anger and sorrow.

"You've killed four lives." I spat.

Without a second thought, I dove into the sea.