Chapter 4

The hospital corridor stretched before me like a tunnel to oblivion. I lay on the gurney, my body already feeling foreign—no longer mine but a vessel being prepped for harvesting. The orderly who wheeled me toward the pre-op room moved with mechanical efficiency, never meeting my eyes. To him, I was just another procedure on today's schedule.

As we passed a room with partially open blinds, a flash of movement caught my eye. I turned my head, wincing at the effort, and what I saw made my heart constrict painfully.

Nathan stood at Isabella's bedside, his tall frame bent toward…