“Xander… how could you do this? Are you really going to trade your son’s life for Anais?”
“What kind of debt is worth that price?”
His movements paused.
He had not expected me to know.
Before the drugs dragged my consciousness into the abyss, he spoke softly.
“I will make it up to you later. Anais does not have much time left.”
In my haze, their voices drifted in and out.
“Why are you so anxious about her? It is just medication to keep her from standing up. The side effects are not unbearable.”
“It was my oversight. She almost entered the operating room today. That could have affected you. Do not worry. I will not let her get close to you again.”
“Xander, thank you for everything. With you here, I can hold on until now.”
At that moment, I finally understood.
My legs had healed long ago.
I had never suffered from delusions.
My child should have woken up long ago.
And he… had already decided to sacrifice both my son and me a year earlier.
When I woke up, the sky was dim and the surgery was long over.
The words I heard before losing consciousness stabbed into my mind again and again like blades. Even the smell of disinfectant carried a rotting, bloody stench.
My tears had dried.
At this moment, there was only one thing I regretted.
Not discovering the truth sooner.
Not seeing Jasper one last time.
Click.
The ward door was pushed open.
Xander walked in wearing casual clothes, holding a thermal lunch container. His movements were cautious and restrained, careful in a way that did not resemble his usual self.
Perhaps out of guilt, he avoided my gaze the entire time.
“Isadora, you are awake,” he said softly. “I made some medicinal soup for you.”
“Do not be too sad. The dead cannot come back to life. Besides… Jasper had agreed to donate his heart.”
I let out a cold laugh.
“Agreed? You told me his brain was damaged and that he would never wake up.”
The spoon in his hand trembled slightly, then quickly steadied.
“He woke up briefly some time ago. I was afraid it would upset you, so I did not tell you.”
“You do not believe me? I have a video of him agreeing to donate.”
Eagerly, he pulled out his phone and played the video without waiting for my response.
In that instant, my heart was nearly torn apart.
A year.
After an entire year, I finally heard Jasper’s voice again.
He sounded weak, but his tone was firm.
“Mom, I agree to donate my heart… as long as Dad…”
Before he could finish, the video was abruptly cut off.
“You saw it yourself,” Xander said expressionlessly. “He did it voluntarily. Rather than suffering, it is better to help someone else.”
He spoke with such confidence, as if he had truly done something noble.
If I had not already known the truth,
if I had not known that Jasper’s coma was something he personally engineered,
I might really have been deceived by him.
Bang.
I swept the thermal container off the table.
The thick soup spilled across the floor. In the scalding liquid, unmistakably, were white granules that had not fully dissolved.
In that moment, my whole body turned cold, as if I had been thrown into an abyss.
Slowly, I lifted my head and looked at Xander.
“You should go,” I said, my voice so low it felt forced out of my throat. “I want to be alone for a while.”
He seemed to sigh in relief, nodded lightly, and left.
As soon as the door closed, I pushed my wheelchair out of the ward.
The hospital morgue was cold to the bone. I searched for a long time.
Finally, in the most inconspicuous corner, I found Jasper.
My son’s body was icy and rigid. His small chest had been carved open, leaving a horrifying hollow.
That heart.
It was already beating inside Anais’s chest.
