I Gave My Heart to My Sister's Boyfriend

"I'd like to make funeral arrangements for one month from now," she said quietly. "The service is for myself. Burial at Hillcrest Cemetery, plot 301." The funeral director's pen paused against the paperwork. He looked up slowly. "Ma'am, are you certain you're arranging this for yourself?" Liora Carter nodded once, her expression calm and resolute. She completed the remaining forms with steady hands, then rose and walked out without another word. The director watched her go. When the door clicked shut, he shook his head and murmured to no one, "No one even to claim her body... how pitiful." The moment she stepped outside, a sharp pain lanced through her chest—right where the artificial heart pulsed beneath her skin. This heart had thirty days left. Maybe less. And she had no intention of replacing it. For Liora, death wasn't something to fear. It was deliverance. Three years earlier, on the eve of her wedding to Jayden Spencer, she'd taken his younger sister Evelyn out on the boat. A simple afternoon excursion. Then the boat capsized. In the chaos of churning water and desperate gasps, Evelyn had pushed her—shoved her toward shore with surprising strength before disappearing beneath the surface. They recovered Evelyn's body the next morning. The autopsy revealed what Liora hadn't known: Evelyn had been two months pregnant. That day marked the beginning of her personal nightmare. Jayden channeled every ounce of his grief into fury—aimed entirely at her. He canceled the wedding. Kicked her out of the home they'd shared. Then came the systematic cruelty: the late-night calls demanding she prove where she was, the public accusations, the constant reminders of what she'd cost him. When she learned Jayden needed an emergency heart transplant after a devastating car accident, she'd volunteered without hesitation. She'd given him her own heart, slipped out of the hospital before he regained consciousness, and accepted the mechanical replacement ticking in her chest as penance. But her younger sister, Isabella Carter, had other plans. She'd stolen Liora's identity as the donor, and within months, she'd moved into every space Liora once occupied—Jayden's home, his trust, his bed. Now she had two tormentors instead of one. What neither of them understood was that Liora had been dying by inches for three years. The guilt, the self-recrimination, the severe depression that had settled into her bones like frost—all of it had long since extinguished any desire to continue. So when the specialist told her the artificial heart was nearing the end of its lifespan, she'd felt something she hadn't experienced in years: peace. Her phone buzzed against her hip. She glanced at the screen—Jayden's name, still saved from a lifetime ago. "I sent you out to buy groceries," he snapped before she could speak. "Where the hell have you been? Isabella is starving. Get back here. Now." His voice sliced through her like a winter wind, leaving her cold despite the afternoon sun. Liora knew perfectly well that the villa's kitchen overflowed with snacks and fresh fruit. But she turned the car toward home anyway. Some habits couldn't be broken, even with only weeks left. She found them in the living room. Jayden sat with his arm around Isabella, holding her hand, tracing the lines of her palm with exaggerated concentration. Isabella giggled and leaned into him. Liora stopped mid-step, the grocery bags suddenly heavy in her arms. The scene pulled her backward through time—three years collapsing into a single heartbeat. Their first date. Spring, still cool enough for jackets. Both of them too shy to initiate anything, until Jayden had grabbed her hand with sudden determination. "Let me read your palm," he'd said, cheeks flushing. "I learned how." She'd laughed at his transparent excuse to touch her. "Jade, what does my palm say about my future?" "A future where we grow old together," he'd answered softly. "Naturally." The spring breeze had stirred the hair around their faces. They'd both blushed like the teenagers they barely were anymore. Everything had been perfect. But now, he was repeating the same act with Isabella. Liora's heart felt as though it were being ripped into pieces.