He Let My Heart Stop So I Called The Cops

Chapter 3

Grant shot me a furious look, then turned and ran out after Vanessa and the officers.

I spent the next week in the hospital alone. Grant never visited, not once, and he didn't send me a single text.

Vanessa, on the other hand, sent me a photo from a new number. In it, she was standing outside the police station with a huge smile on her face.

Vanessa: Nora, Grant's already got me a lawyer.

Vanessa: Right now, the evidence only proves I hid your backup battery. It doesn't prove I wanted to kill you.

Vanessa: He told me that no matter what I do, he'll always cover for me.

I didn't reply. I just sent screenshots to the officer handling the case. When I went back to my chat list, I couldn't help glancing at Grant's profile picture.

Our thread was empty. The last message was a week old from me.

Nora: I'm in the hospital.

He'd read it and never replied.

This wasn't the first time I'd tried to break up with him. 3 years ago, when doctors found a problem with my heart, I was afraid I'd drag him down, so I was the one who said we should split up.

Back then, he sat up with me all night, his eyes red. And once, when he couldn't reach me for a single day, he searched the whole city and nearly broke down my door.

I never imagined that the same man who'd gone crazy over one day without hearing from me would end up leaving our whole relationship on read.

The day I was discharged, Julian was packing up my medical records for me when his hand suddenly tightened around one of the test reports.

"Nora, the donor heart you've been waiting 3 years for just came through. It's at a hospital in Port Averly, clear across the country. They can only hold it for 3 days, so you need to get out there and sign the consent forms right away."

I'd waited 3 whole years for this chance. I'd still been on the fence about leaving, but now it looked like fate had made the call for me. I decided to tell Grant face-to-face and end things properly.

As I turned my key, the sweet smell of frosting and champagne drifted out. I pushed the door open and found the living room full of colorful balloons, with a huge three-tier cake sitting on the table.

Grant had promised to throw me a party when I got out of the hospital. Could he actually have remembered? For a moment, my throat went tight in a way it hadn't in ages. Then, I saw the bright red banner on the wall.

Welcome Home, Vanessa! Cheers to Your Freedom!

My face went blank, bit by bit. So he really had been too busy to text me all week. He'd been busy hiring Vanessa a lawyer, busy posting her bail, and busy celebrating her "freedom".

Photos covered the living room walls too, and every single one was of Grant and Vanessa together. They were at the beach, at a coffee shop, at an amusement park, grinning and cuddled up close in every shot.

One had been taken at the very top of a Ferris wheel. Grant was looking right at the camera while Vanessa kissed his cheek, and he was grinning so wide his whole face lit up.

I stood there staring for a long time. It wasn't until that moment that I truly saw how bright and bold their love had been, and how they'd never once tried to hide it. And he had never given me any of that.

In the 7 years we'd been together, Grant always said he didn't like having his picture taken, so we didn't have a single photo of the two of us.

I heard a noise at the front door, and Grant walked in. "Why didn't you tell me you got discharged?"

"Did I need to?" I pointed at the leftover party mess all over the room. "You were busy celebrating her walking out of the police station." I gave a bleak little laugh. "Grant, we..."

Before I could get the words out, Grant cut me off. "About that day... I checked the security footage and the storage room afterward. I really did put the backup battery by the door before I left. It was Vanessa. She snuck back late that night and hid it again."

I looked at him, and a slow smile spread across my face. "So you already knew, and you still went and picked her up from the police station?"

Grant was quiet for a few seconds. Then, unbelievably, he looked at me with a completely straight face. "Nora, think about it. She'd go that far for me. That means she cares about me way too much.

"With someone like that, the harder you push, the more likely she is to do something dangerous. The best thing we can do is keep her close, where we can watch her."

I didn't follow. "What do you mean?"

"I mean she should move in with us," Grant said.

For a second, I was sure I'd heard him wrong. "What did you just say?"

But Grant acted like it was the most obvious thing in the world. "I'm doing this to protect you."

The shock of how absurd it all was wore off faster than I expected. I sighed, "Okay. I'll go along with it."

Grant looked relieved. He probably figured I'd caved once again. But I was about to leave for good, so I couldn't care less who moved in.

That evening, Vanessa dragged three suitcases into the guest room. She even stuck her toothbrush in the same cup as Grant's. I'd already taken mine away, but he didn't even notice.

All he did was frown and complain to me, sounding completely fed up. "That woman is so high-maintenance. If it's not one thing, it's another.

"She's sleeping in the guest room tonight, and she says your machine's beeping creeps her out. Turn off the alarm on your heart monitor so she doesn't start another scene."

I looked up at him. "If I turn off the alarm and something happens to me in the middle of the night, I won't even get a chance to call for help."

Grant looked annoyed right away. "You've been hooked up to that thing for 3 years. What are the odds something goes wrong on this one night? Vanessa finally agreed to move in so I could keep her in line. Can't you work with me for once?"

I sighed. "It won't bother her tonight." I watched Grant walk away, and a sudden thought crossed my mind. What if something did happen to me the night I shut off the monitor?

Once his footsteps had faded away, I picked up my phone and called Julian. "Julian, go ahead and confirm the operation. I'm booking my ticket right now. I'll be on the first direct flight to Port Averly tomorrow morning.

"And there's one more thing I need your help with. Before I go, I want to give Grant a little 'surprise.'"