Chapter 2
The drawing showed Claire lying in a hospital bed, with a note beside her. [My girl, I won't let you die.]
I couldn't help the ache in my chest.
All that talk of revenge and making her fall into despair was a lie. None of it was ever real.
Allen brought her back, not to torture her, but to save her.
I rushed into the guest room and looked her in the eye for the first time.
She seemed to sense my gaze and slowly opened her eyes.
When she saw me, a flicker of fear flashed across her face, and she instinctively shrank back.
"Grace..." Claire's voice was rough, almost on the verge of tears. "Please don't blame Allen. He just... wants me to keep living. That's all."
With just those words, she completely shattered my illusions and the lies I'd been telling myself.
She knew everything.
The two of them had joined forces to put on a deeply emotional show for me.
I scoffed and turned to leave, only to run straight into Allen at the doorway. I hadn't even noticed he'd come back.
He was carrying a thermos, and his expression turned cold as soon as he saw me coming out of Claire's room.
"Who let you in?" he demanded.
I raised the sketchbook in my hand and hurled it at him.
"Allen, you make me sick!" I spat.
The pages scattered all over the floor, each one shouting proof that he was in love with someone else.
Allen's face went pale, but he quickly regained his composure and didn't even bother to bend down to pick up the pages.
He strode right past me, walked up to Claire's bedside, cracked open the thermos, and poured out a bowl of chicken soup.
"Claire, time to eat," he called gently.
He scooped up a spoonful, blew on it to cool it down, and held it carefully up to Claire's lips.
Claire shot me a nervous glance, then slowly parted her lips.
Watching them, it felt like someone had driven a needle right into my eyes.
I was made into a complete fool, a big joke.
"So what's your plan to save her?" I demanded, voice trembling with fury. "Are you going to sacrifice me for that? Does saving her mean I have to die?"
Allen froze, spoon still raised, but didn't look back.
"Grace, stop talking nonsense," he replied coldly.
"I'm not talking nonsense!" I practically screamed. "Her heart's failing. Unless she gets a new one, she's done for. Besides you and me, who else in this world could have a heart that's a perfect match for hers?"
The Wood family had handpicked us with the strictest standards. Our blood types, tissue matches, everything, down to the last detail, was a perfect fit for Claire.
And I was the one with the most flawless stats, the backup that was just too perfect to ignore.
Allen finally turned and looked at me. His eyes were eerily calm, almost unsettling.
"All you need to know is, I won't let you die," he said.
His promise sounded so hollow and meaningless.
"You won't let me die?" I laughed, tears running down my face. "Yeah, right. You only want my heart, and that's all. Allen, do you even remember how you helped me escape from the Wood family about ten years ago?"
Ten years ago, Claire's heart gave out for the first time, and the Wood family decided they'd use me as the perfect backup right then and there.
Allen begged Claire's parents and said he'd do it instead of me.
He told them he was still young, his body wasn't done growing, and his organs were fresher, and that he'd make a better donor.
Claire's parents hesitated.
Seizing that opportunity, Allen reached out to a doctor he trusted and helped me fake my own death so I could escape the Wood family.
I remember the night before the operation, when he held me tight and whispered, "Grace, don't be scared. I'm going to get you out of here. After this, neither of us will ever have to be used as someone else's donor parts again."
Back then, he was the only light in my life.
But that same light was the one throwing me back into the abyss.
Allen's eyes flickered, as if my words had hit him where it hurt.
"I remember," he said quietly.
"You remember?" I pushed back, my anger rising. "Then what the hell are you doing now? You shut me away for ten years, kept me from everyone, and stopped me from having any life of my own. Was all that just for today? So you could keep this heart, nice and healthy, to hand it to her?"
"That's not true!" Allen's voice finally cracked. He got up and came toward me. "I was trying to protect you."
"Protect me?" I snapped, stabbing a finger at Claire on the bed. "So you bring her back, keeping me around as a spare, ready to carve my heart out and give it to her anytime you want? Allen, your idea of protection is cheap!"
Before I'd even finished speaking, a heavy slap landed square on my face.
Allen slapped me.
My ears buzzed, and my cheek was on fire.
I stared at him, whom I'd loved and trusted for ten years. Suddenly, he felt like a total stranger.
His chest was rising and falling hard, and his eyes churned with the pain and struggle I couldn't even begin to understand.
"Grace," Allen said, his words cold and deliberate, "you just don't understand. I owe her."
"You owe her?" I pressed my hand to my cheek, staring at him in disbelief. "We don't owe the Wood family a damn thing! They raised us like livestock, just waiting to harvest our organs!"
"You don't get it!" Allen growled, his eyes red. "If it weren't for me, she never would've gotten sick."
I froze.
That was a secret I'd never heard before.
Allen took a deep breath, trying to steady himself, but the words he said next sent me straight to hell.