Chapter 1

1

My husband's long-lost soulmate was dying of liver failure. In his desperation, he dragged me to a cold operating room and forced me to donate my liver to her.

I begged him, sobbing that our baby was already six months along. The life inside me was kicking, but Jasper didn't care.

He looked at me with nothing but pure, unadulterated disgust.

"You spent five years stealing me away from Rosalie. Haven't you taken enough from her?" he spat.

"Can you stop being so damn wicked for once in your life?"

Later, my heart finally shattered for the last time. I didn't survive that surgery. I died alone on that cold hospital bed.

Now, my soul is trapped, tethered to Jasper Emerson. The man who effectively killed me is also the man I spent five years loving with everything I had.

He's pacing back and forth outside the operating room, his face twisted with anxiety. He looks like his entire world is inside that room.

I let out a bitter, hollow laugh that nobody can hear.

In our five years of marriage, Jasper was always composed and distant. He treated me with the cool efficiency of a business partner, his face a mask of indifference.

But the moment Rosalie Vance appeared, he became human. He became a man with passions, fears, and a heart.

While I was dying on an operating table in this very building, he was standing guard for her. My baby and I were just collateral damage in his quest to save his queen.

I suppose a wife could never compete with a man's "white moonlight."

The lights above the surgery doors finally flickered off. The surgeon stepped out and told Jasper that the transplant was a complete success.

The doctor added that the donor liver was a perfect match, showing no signs of rejection.

Jasper paused for a split second, a flicker of something crossing his face. But then he saw Rosalie being wheeled out and every other thought vanished.

He followed her bed to the recovery ward, his eyes filled with a tenderness I had never once seen.

As soon as Rosalie opened her eyes, Jasper began typing a message to me right in front of her.

"Let's get a divorce. The papers have already been sent to the house."

"Since you actually did something decent and gave Rosalie your liver, I'm willing to give you a generous settlement. That includes the child."

His thumbs hovered over the screen when he mentioned the baby.

"It's better if you just handle it. I don't want that kid making things difficult for Rosalie later."

By "handle it," he meant get rid of it. He didn't want our child to exist.

After sending the text, Jasper immediately turned to Rosalie and promised her that he would be completely finished with me within two days.

I floated in the air, watching the man I once adored try so hard to scrub me from his life. A wave of complicated emotions crashed over me.

Jasper… my God.

The child I had prayed for for years was nothing but a "burden" to you. You told me to just "handle it" like I was taking out the trash.

I want to laugh. I really do.

There's no need to handle anything anymore. I'm gone, and so is the baby.

Rosalie reached out with a weak, fragile hand and grasped Jasper's fingers. Her voice was like honey, soft and trembling.

"Jasper, please don't fight with Elara because of me. You've been married for five years."

"I don't want… I don't want to be the reason she's sad."

She looked at him with eyes brimming with tears. She looked so innocent, so pure.

That one look was enough to melt Jasper's heart completely. He forgot every doubt he might have had.

He stroked her hair with heartbreaking gentleness.

"Rosalie, you're just too kind for your own good. You're always thinking of others."

"But Elara is a selfish, lying woman. She'll never appreciate your kindness."

He let out a cold snort, his expression hardening into a mask of hate.

"If I hadn't personally dragged her to that operating table, she would have let you die."