The Burning Love

After four failed matching attempts, I finally got a matching heart. Seth Jones, my brother, rushed back to the country, and I thought that he was going to operate on me. Suddenly, Jody Jones, the real heiress, was diagnosed with a heart condition. Seth came to me with an agreement and kept trying to convince me to sign it. “Elena, give Jody the heart, please! She’s frail and can’t wait. You can still last a little longer. You can get other donors in the future.” Trembling in rage, I chased him out. But on the second day, someone took my heart. I hung onto one last shred of hope and went to Julius, my fiance. I heard him talking to Seth in the corridor. “We did betray Elena. We took revenge for Jody during the first four matches and lied to Elena that those were failed matches. But this time, Jody’s really sick. The heart has to go to her. Once Jody has the heart transplant and recovers, we’ll make it up to Elena.” At that moment, I finally realized that they were the reason I had almost come close to death a few times before. I did not go in to demand answers. Instead, I cradled my chest and wiped my tears away. “System, activate the return procedure.” Chapter 1 A robotic voice rose in my mind. “Return procedure activated. 72 hours remaining…” I just needed to endure this for another three days, then I could leave this world. With a hand against the wall to support me, I shifted back to my ward. When I opened the door, a few caregivers were sweeping my belongings into a box. They were also moving my pacemaker outside. Seth Jones was giving orders to the caregivers, and Julius Shane remained silently by his side. I gasped for breath as I leaned against the door frame. “What… are you doing?” At the sight of my pale face, Julius curled his fingers before turning to Seth. Panic flashed in Seth’s eyes, but he still said stubbornly, “Elena, Jody just got her surgery, and she’s in a critical observation period right now. She needs this special care unit and the pacemaker.” I endured the pain as my heart spasmed. I teared up and said, “I’ve failed four matches, and my heart is already badly damaged. If I don’t have that pacemaker, I’ll die.” Seth’s face turned pale, but he gritted his teeth. “You’ve managed to make it through till now. I’m sure that you can do the same this time. Jody is different. She’s frail. I’m begging you, Elena. Be reasonable for once.” I stared at the two men I once loved with my whole heart. One was my brother who had doted on me for more than a decade, and the other was my fiance whom I grew up with. They had steeled their hearts and demanded that I make way for someone else to survive when I myself was dying. Suddenly, I felt exhausted. In any case, after dozens of hours, I could leave this world. I nodded weakly. “Alright, fine.” All the words Seth had prepared in protest died down in his throat as he stared at me in bewilderment. At that moment, my heart squeezed in pain, and my legs gave up. Just as I was about to collapse, Julius rushed over and grabbed me by the waist. “Elena!” When he saw that I was fine, he sighed in relief and said gently, “Be good, Elena. You’ve always been strong. Even without the pacemaker, you should be able to hold on for a while. Once Jody is over this critical period, I promise you that I’ll give you back the SCU and the pacemaker. When you get better, I’ll take you to Snowland to see the aurora.” If he had said this three months ago, I would have been touched. Back then, even if I scratched my finger, Julius would put aside everything and dress my wound with tears in his eyes. Even when he knew I was afraid of pain, he tricked me into going through surgery four times just to take revenge for Jody. “Stop this act, Julius.” Julius’ hand froze midair. Since I had exposed his lie, he felt frustrated and pulled his hand back. “Since you won’t listen, don’t say I didn’t warn you.” In the next second, he ordered the caregivers to shift my things to a normal ward. Sarah Miller, the servant who had taken care of me all this while, rushed in crying and shoved at the caregivers putting my things away. “Don’t throw that away!” Chapter 2 Sarah got so worked up that she started bawling. “That’s the diary Miss Elena wrote about her fight against her illness! When she couldn’t sleep from the pain, she relied on this diary to get through the day! How could you throw it away like trash?!” Seth’s and Julius’ expressions changed. Julius stepped forward, snatched the diary, and opened it. There was a stack of yellowing receipts inside. There were some words written in the margins. [Seth lost a lot of blood during the accident, but the blood bank didn’t have enough blood. Only my blood can save him. But the doctor said that if I give away too much blood, it’ll damage my heart. If Seth can survive, I’m willing to suffer through that.] Contained on another page were stacks of bills, along with more words. [Someone set Julius up today, and he needs to pay huge compensation. I used the foundation my grandmother left for him to pay for it. I also borrowed a lot of money for him. Every single day, when I wake up, I see the numbers go up due to interest. But I can’t tell Julius about it. He’s already under enough pressure. I can’t let him worry about me.] When they saw the receipts and bills, they were stunned. Soon, they recovered from their shock and looked at me in disbelief. “You prepared this diary ready to fight for our affection with Jody, didn’t you? It must have been tough for you.” As I remembered all the things I had done for them out of love, I decided not to defend myself. I simply bent down to pick up the diary from the floor. But the moment I did, my heart clenched in pain. I cradled my chest and collapsed. Cold sweat soaked through my clothes. Seth only frowned. “You’re trying to buy our sympathy again, aren’t you? You’re just pretending to have an attack without the pacemaker, aren’t you?” Julius beckoned at the bodyguards behind him. “Take her out of the room. I can’t believe she’d still kick up a fuss here. This is so immature!” Numb all over, I let the bodyguards drag me to a cold, dark ward. “68 hours remaining.” I just had to wait a little longer, and I would be set free. I curled up under the blankets. Without the pacemaker, I could only suck in huge lungfuls of breath to ease the discomfort in my heart. Sarah saw me trembling in pain. While crying, she ran out and said that she was going to get some medicine for me, even if it meant that she had to beg for it. Soon, Jody walked in. Her face was a little pale, but she was in good spirits. There was even a smugness in her eyes. She came up to my bed and suddenly puffed her chest out when she was near me. “Hey, Elena, hear that? Listen to how strong this heart beats.” Elena giggled and whispered arrogantly, “Did you really think that you were just unlucky during the four failed matches? I told Seth and Julius that you made me angry, and they lied to you to take revenge for me. They even switched out your painkillers and other drugs to vitamins. You’re so pitiful. Your fiance and brother worked together to toy with you, and you’re still worried about them in your diary. You’re such a joke.” I trembled and glared at her. During the first four tries, I had gone into the operating room full of hope, only to be told that the match failed. I coughed up blood every night, and I lost large clumps of hair. I only thought that I was unlucky, but this was all because Seth and Julius wanted to take revenge for Jody. Hate burned in my heart. Out of nowhere, I gained strength and lunged at Jody like a mad woman to grab her neck. “Die!” Jody was not expecting me to suddenly attack her, and she fell on the floor. “Help! Elena lost her mind! Julius, Seth, help me!” The door swung open with a kick. Julius and Seth rushed in. “What are you doing, Elena?!” Julius strode over and shoved me away. I crashed into the wall before slumping on the floor. As for Seth, he hugged Jody and checked her neck. Jody leaned against his arms while crying. “I’m so scared, Seth. Elena said that she wants to kill me and take my heart away.” Julius then turned to me while I was spasming in pain. “Are you done with your tantrum, Elena? Jody has only just finished her surgery. Are you only going to stop after she dies?!” I lay on the floor. The pain in my heart was so bad that I had trouble breathing. My vision started blurring. As I watched them hug each other tightly, I sneered. “48 hours remaining…” ‘Hurry up, system. I can’t quite hang on anymore,’ I thought. Chapter 3 That night, Jody said that her heart hurt, and the cardiology department descended into chaos. As I lay in bed and listened to the chaos outside, my thoughts drifted back to the past. One year ago, I was told that I was a fake heiress, and Jody was brought back to the family. Since she had suffered greatly while living outside, Seth gave her all his love to make it up to her. “Elena, Jody’s suffered for more than ten years outside. We owe her too much. You need to be more accommodating of her.” Meanwhile, Julius’ family pressured him into marrying Jody instead of me. Julius decided that he would do whatever Jody asked because he believed that if he fulfilled every one of Jody’s requests, she would bless our relationship. That was when she started becoming even more brazen. She took my room and smashed all the gifts my parents had given me over the years. During winter, she pushed me into ice water, and I suffered from heart failure. Seth and Julius told me that they had their own difficulties and told me to be more tolerant. However, they forgot that once trust was broken, it could not be mended. I did not want to wait any longer. At that moment, Seth rushed into my ward with fury burning in his eyes. Without another word, he walked to my bedside table and started searching around. “What are you doing?” I asked weakly. Seth ignored me and finally found a bottle of pills from among all the stuff inside the drawer. He grabbed my collar and smashed the bottle against my face. “Elena, you’re a monster! There’s poison in Jody’s soup, and it’s from this, isn’t it?! You wanted to poison her because you couldn’t kill her!” My vision blurred from the impact. As I stared at the bottle of pills rolling on the floor, I felt immense sadness surge in my heart. Sarah had bought that medicine for me. Without the pacemaker, my heart could stop at any time. Honestly, I did not care anymore, but Sarah had insisted on begging for help and bought the medicine so I could continue to live. “That’s my medicine,” I said with difficulty. “You’re still lying?!” Seth burned in rage and slapped me. “Jody’s caregiver saw you sneaking around in her room, and you’re saying that you didn’t do it?!” My head snapped to the side, and I tasted blood in my mouth. I did not even have the strength to get out of bed. How could I possibly poison Jody? Also, the medicine’s name and effects were clearly written on the bottle, but Seth chose to ignore it. He only believed what he wanted to believe. Julius was the same. I heard rapid footsteps in the corridor. Julius stormed over. When he saw how pathetic I looked, pity flashed in his eyes, but he squashed it down. “Jody finally managed to survive. Are you only going to be satisfied if she’s dead?!” I stared at Seth. For a moment, I felt like I had returned to that winter day from ten years ago. Seth shielded me and was bleeding. He chased away the hooligans who had tried to hurt me. He smiled, patted my head, and said, “Don’t be scared, Elena. I’ll protect you for the rest of my life.” The very same person who had said that he would protect me forever threw a document in my face. “Elena, Jody is my real sister, and we owe her more than ten years of love and care. Since you refuse to get along with Jody, we won’t tolerate you any longer! This is a declaration of severance. Sign it, and we will no longer care about your survival.” He practically spat out the words but did not even hand me a pen. He was certain that I was going to beg him for forgiveness, just like in the past. I simply stared at the document quietly. “Sure.” Since I did not have a pen, I bit down on my index finger and signed my name with my blood. I even left a thumbprint behind. Seth’s eyes went wide with shock as he stared at me. “I only…” His mouth moved as if he wanted to say something more, but I could no longer hear him. A searing pain tore through my heart, and my vision spun. Then, there was only darkness. “24 hours remaining…” Just one day left. Chapter 4 As my mind swam in the darkness, I heard Sarah crying outside. “Let me go! Miss Elena’s heart is already badly damaged! She’ll die!” The bodyguard snapped, “Our captain has said that without Mr. Shane’s permission, no one’s allowed to go in.” “You’re killing her! I’m going to call the police and expose you! Let me go! Help!” I tried to save her, but my eyelids were so heavy. After a long time, I finally woke up, only to find Seth and Julius sitting by my bed and watching me. “What did you do to Sarah?!” A complicated look flashed in Julius’ eyes before he schooled his expression. “She bit my bodyguards, so I locked her up.” I tried to get up, but Seth put a hand on my shoulder and handed me a written speech. “The fact that you poisoned Jody has caused a huge ruckus, and someone discovered that you’re the fake heiress, while Jody’s the real one. Because of you, Jones Corporation’s and Shane Corporation’s shares have plummeted, and our reputation is ruined. You need to go live right now and say that you’re annulling your engagement with Julius, then apologize to Elena publicly.” I stared at the written speech and said nothing. When Julius saw this, he held my hand and said gently, “Elena, you know just how important the shares are to our families. If you do it, Sarah can return safely. I promise you that once the shares have stabilized, I’ll divorce her. By then, I’ll get you a new heart and marry you. This is the last time you have to suffer. Just be reasonable, alright?” I did not want to agree, but I wanted Sarah safe, so I decided to do it. The system told me once more just how much time I had left, and I shut my eyes in exhaustion. “Fine.” Half an hour later, I went live. As I stared at the camera, I recited the self-incriminating confession. I admitted that I was jealous and poisoned Jody. I was also going to annul the engagement and walk away with nothing. The chat went wild. [You took the real heiress’ place and poisoned her? You should just die!] [It’s no wonder no one wants you! Die!] As Julius saw the company shares rise again, he announced that he was going to marry Jody. Satisfied, he ended the livestream. I hung my head and gasped for breath. “I did as you asked. Please let Sarah go.” Just then, the door to my ward opened. Jody strolled in smiling, and her eyes shone with smug satisfaction. “You don’t need to look for her. Half an hour ago, I told Sarah that you were going to apologize in a livestream. She thought that she dragged you down with her. She said that if she’s dead, no one can ever threaten you. Then, she took her own life. You sure had a loyal servant.” My mind went blank, and tears spilled out of my eyes. Ever since Jody returned, the entire family shifted loyalties once they saw who was really getting all the favor at home. Sarah was the only one who had stayed by my side. She had been with me since she was ten. We grew up together. She shielded me even when she got hit. I once tried to convince her to leave the Jones family with severance pay, but she cried and shook her head. “You took me in all those years ago. Wherever you go, I’ll follow. If anyone tries to bully you, they’ll have to do it over my dead body!” She did as she promised. My last thread of rationality snapped, and I tried to slap Jody, but before my hand struck her face, Seth grabbed my hand, flung it away, and slapped me instead. I tasted blood in my mouth. As Seth glared at me, his gaze was piercing. “How dare you try to hit my real sister right in front of me?! I should’ve chased you away back then, you ungrateful brat!” Then, he shielded her. “Why are you throwing a tantrum?! Jody didn’t do it on purpose! Sarah’s just a servant. If she died by her own hand, so be it!” I glared at them with bloodshot eyes. At this point, I had shed all my tears. Even my heart had stopped hurting. I ignored them. Before they could react, I climbed up the window. Finally, Julius’ expression changed. “What are you doing, Elena?!” Seth panicked as well and rushed over. “Don’t do anything stupid, Elena!” But Jody only leaned against the door frame and snickered. “You’re still going to fall for her lies? She’s threatening to kill herself because she knows you care about her. I can bet my entire savings that she’d never jump!” As I watched their complicated expressions, I smiled. “Final countdown: three, two, one…” I spread my arms and fell back without hesitation. The howling wind filled my ears, along with hysterical screams. “No!!!”