The Heart That Was Never Mine

g as I scanned the results again. The numbers didn't l

or crea

just as Nathaniel stormed in. His e

ers clamped around my wri

t? Wh

ulled me along, dragging me

oared as he floored the gas pedal, sAt the altar,

iling for the cameras. He stood

reached for his hand,

s shirt as if preparing for an execution rather than a honeymoon. I

uld make him lose cont

, we pulled in

n a hurry, not looking at me. "She's in urgent

words, a nurse grabbed my ar

to Nathaniel. "I'll do it. But I n

furrowed.

sisted, my v

n his jaw. "If thi

t," I cut

elationship with Freya. Af

ident. After his death, his heart was donated, and I, desperate to feel his h

d. Only after seeing a photo of his cousin Freya wi

a heart transplant. The do

one," he

completely unrelate

oftly, before walking

terile silence. I turned my head, every movem

w and tender. "You scared me, Freya," he murmured, brushing a str

squeezing his hand. "You'd

s pa

my bed, my fingers trembling from exhau

ra

e floor, splinters of it scatte

at them,

eft me in a whisper, fragile, lost. "W

lurred m

Ronan. but Nathaniel's h

month

thick with smoke, liquor, and som

d open the V

Then, the sight-Nathaniel, lounging on the couch, shirt

zy circles on his chest. She leaned in, her lips brush

slicing through the haze. "

indifference settled in. He took a slow s

to talk

leaned in closer to him, fingers pl

pulled out a file and s

against his glass, not bothe

" My tone was sharp. "He sent me to

h, finally shifting his

at's

glance at the paper, and tossed it back

rs, turned on my heel, and walked

d out into the night air. The wind br

, everything between Na