Chapter 1

A dull ache pulled me from the fog, a sharp throb in my side I didn't understand.

My eyes fluttered open to a sterile white room, the beep of a monitor a steady, unwelcome rhythm.

Ethan sat beside me, his hand covering mine, his expression a careful mask of concern.

"Amy, thank God you're awake," he said, his voice soft. "You had an emergency appendectomy. You scared me."

Appendectomy? I tried to remember, but my head was thick, my thoughts slow. It didn't feel right.

Ethan squeezed my hand. "I'm going to grab the doctor, let him know you're up. Don't try to move too much, okay?"

He brushed a kiss on my forehead and slipped out of the room.

The door didn't quite latch.

A few moments later, voices drifted in, hushed but urgent.

Ethan's, and then another, deeper, angrier. Ben Carter, Ethan's best friend.

"You actually went through with it, Ethan?" Ben's voice was a furious whisper. "You drugged her and took her kidney for Olivia? Are you insane?"

My breath caught. Kidney? Olivia?

Ethan's reply was ice. "Olivia needed it. Amy's strong, she'll be fine. I'll make it up to her."

He paused, then added, his tone chillingly casual, "She wants to marry me, right? This will be my gift."

A gift. My kidney, stolen from my body, was his twisted gift.

The words slammed into me, a physical blow. This was the truth behind the appendectomy lie.

The final, unthinkable betrayal after ten years. Ten years of loving Ethan Cole, of believing in him, of sacrificing for him.

All for Olivia Vance, his obsession, the woman he always chose over me.

Ben's voice rose again, raw with disbelief and anger.

"Make it up to her? Ethan, are you even listening to yourself? She gave up everything for you! Remember Yosemite? When Olivia pushed you during that argument and you were paralyzed? Who dropped her surgical residency, a career she bled for, to nurse you for two solid years?"

My own legs ached with a phantom memory, bruised from practicing those experimental nerve stimulations on myself before trying them on him, desperate to get him walking again when all the doctors had given up.

"Who used her inheritance, every last cent, to help you start Cole Dynamics?" Ben continued, his voice cracking. "Who worked day and night beside you, using her contacts, her brains, to build your damn empire from nothing?"

I had. I did all that. Because I loved him.

"And what about the baby, Ethan?" Ben's voice dropped, heavy with accusation. "Our baby," I thought, a fresh wave of pain washing over me.

"Olivia couldn't stand the thought of another woman carrying your child, so she fed you that line, and you, you stressed Amy out, manufactured crises, made her life hell. And those 'supplements' Olivia gave you for Amy? The ones that caused the miscarriage? You think Amy doesn't know Olivia was behind that, even if she blamed herself?"

My hand instinctively went to my flat stomach. The miscarriage. He knew. He let Olivia do that.

"Amy accepted your excuses for every missed holiday, every forgotten birthday, every time you left her alone for Olivia," Ben pressed on. "She believed your lies because she loved you. And this is how you repay her? By mutilating her?"

Ethan's voice, when it came, was devoid of any warmth, any remorse.

"Amy will understand. She always does. Olivia is different."

He didn't care. He truly didn't care.

The pain in my side flared, a burning, tearing sensation. It wasn't just my appendix. It was a part of me, gone. Stolen.

My kidney. For Olivia.

A decade. Ten years of my life, poured into him.

My youth, my career, our child, and now, a part of my own body.

He thought I was a possession, a safety net he could always fall back on.

He thought my love was unconditional, unbreakable, no matter how much he took.

He was wrong.

The realization hit me with the force of a physical blow. I meant nothing. Less than nothing.

The organ he'd ripped from me wasn't just flesh and blood. It was the last piece of my love for him, carved out and discarded.

The door opened, and Ethan walked back in, his smile perfectly in place.

"The doctor will be in soon, honey. How are you feeling?"

His solicitous tone was a mockery.

Appendectomy. The word echoed in my skull.

He was still lying, looking me in the eye, after what he'd done.

The pain wasn't just physical anymore, it was a deep, corrosive ache in my soul.

"I'm tired, Ethan," I managed, my voice a rasp.

"Of course, you are. You rest. I'll be right here." He sat down, took my hand again. His touch felt like a brand.

He was lying. He wouldn't be here. He'd go to Olivia.

He stayed for another hour, making small talk, acting the devoted boyfriend.

Then, his phone buzzed. A glance at the screen, a quickening in his eyes.

"That's work," he said, a little too quickly. "Something's come up. I have to go, but I'll be back tonight. Promise."

He kissed my forehead again, a Judas kiss, and left.

I knew where he was going. To Olivia's luxury suite, to check on her recovery.

As the door closed, I heard the nurses outside hissing.

"He's finally gone. Poor Ms. Hayes."

"He's been spending all his time with Ms. Vance in the VIP wing. Flowers, champagne, the works. You'd think she was the one who had surgery."

"And he told everyone Ms. Hayes just had a simple appendectomy. The gall of that man."

Their words were like acid, burning away the last vestiges of my denial.

My heart, which I thought couldn't break further, shattered into a million pieces.

Ten thousand shattered vows. That's what our relationship was.

Enough.

My hand, trembling, reached for my phone on the bedside table.

My fingers fumbled with the screen, vision blurred by unshed tears.

I scrolled through my contacts, past Ben, past family.

My finger hovered over a name. Marcus Thorne.

We'd met at a medical tech summit years ago. I'd presented an idea Ethan had dismissed. Marcus had seen its potential. He'd kept in touch, subtly, a lifeline I hadn't realized I needed until now. He'd always looked at me with a respect Ethan never had.

I pressed call.

It rang twice.

"Amy? Is everything alright?" His voice was calm, steady. Concerned.

Tears finally broke free, hot and silent.

"Marcus," my voice was hoarse, broken. "I need your help."

A pause. "Anything, Amy. What is it?"

I took a shaky breath. This was it. No turning back.

"Marcus," I said, my voice gaining a sliver of steel I didn't know I possessed. "Will you marry me?"

Silence on the other end. I could picture his surprise.

"Not Ethan," I clarified, my voice flat, devoid of emotion. "You, Marcus. I want to marry you. Today, if possible."

Another beat of silence, then, "Amy... are you sure? What's happened?"

"I know you care for me, Marcus," I said, cutting through his concern. "I've seen it. For years. Am I wrong?"