Chapter 1

I loved Pierce Sterling for five years, and for five years, he hated me with every fiber of his being.

He always said, "It's all because of you that Quinn had to run away and hide in Europe for five years."

On the day his soulmate finally returned to the country, he threw me out of our home like trash.

While I was taking my last breath on the operating table, Pierce was busy making sure Quinn's heart transplant went perfectly.

He impatiently hung up on the hospital's urgent call.

"What kind of drama is she stirring up this time? Tell her to stop annoying me!" he barked.

Then, he turned around and whispered tenderly to the woman in his arms, "I'm here, Quinn. Don't be afraid."

He didn't know that the heart beating inside her now was mine.

Pierce paced outside the OR, his face a mask of agonizing anxiety.

Quinn Young, the woman he had pined for over the last five years, was lying on the table waiting for a new heart.

"The donor organ is here!" a group of doctors shouted as they rushed past.

"Quinn is so lucky. We found a match at this hospital on the exact day she needed it."

"The surgery will be a success," another doctor added.

Dr. Lucas Graham sighed as he followed them. "I heard the donor was only in her early twenties. What a tragic, short life."

Suddenly, a phone rang, cutting through the heavy silence of the hallway. Pierce pulled his phone out, his expression darkening when he saw the screen.

It was my number.

He declined the call immediately and put his phone on silent.

But the screen kept lighting up, over and over, as if the person on the other end was desperate.

Dr. Graham frowned. "Maybe Sierra has something important to say? You should answer it."

"What could she possibly have to say!" Pierce sneered.

"She's just throwing another tantrum to make me go home and coddle her."

"She's either coughing up blood or faking a faint. She's nothing but a manipulative snake."

He swiped his screen and added my number to his block list.

"I can't stand her pathetic acting," he muttered.

I drifted in the air above him, watching everything with a strange sense of peace.

Pierce finally got what he wanted. He would never have to see me again for the rest of his life.

I was already dead.

That call was likely from the hospital staff trying to settle my final affairs.

After all, Pierce was still my legal husband and my primary emergency contact.

Five years ago, we were forced into a political marriage. Quinn left the country in a fit of grief and vanished without a trace.

Pierce blamed her disappearance entirely on me.

He refused to touch me or even look at me. Once he took control of the family business, he systematically dismantled my parents' company.

The stress and humiliation literally killed my parents.

By the time I was diagnosed with terminal cancer, I was already a ghost of a person. I just sat back and waited for the end.

Since I had no one left, I signed the organ donation papers.

I never imagined my heart would end up inside Quinn Young.

"You've been married for five years. You shouldn't be this cold," Lucas said, his brow furrowed. He had met me before and didn't believe Pierce's version of me.

"If you want a divorce, you should at least sit down and talk to her."

Pierce cut him off irritably.

"Enough! My only priority right now is Quinn."

He stared at the "Surgery in Progress" sign, his eyes never wavering.

People hurried up and down the hallway, but Pierce didn't move an inch.

Finally, his secretary ran up, looking nervous as he held out a folder. "Mr. Sterling, the clients have been waiting at the hotel for two days…"

"I don't have time for clients! Tell the office to handle it. I'm staying here until Quinn is out of the woods."

So, she was that important to him.

Even as a spirit, I felt a sharp, stabbing pain in my non-existent chest.

When my parents passed away, I had begged him to show up at the funeral just to give them some dignity.

Pierce had shoved me aside, pointing a finger in my face.

"I have a meeting. Nothing in this world is more important than my career. Stop being a nuisance!"