The Heart That Wasn’t Mine, the Life I Never Asked For Chapter 06

The Heart That Wasn’t Mine, the Life I Never Asked For Chapter 06

“My doctor friend told me everything. It was a termination procedure, not a heart extraction.”

“How could you end Mr. Shaw’s baby without telling him?”

Jasmine finished speaking. The grip on my arm turned to iron.

Ethan’s voice came low and disbelieving from directly above me.

“Savannah. You terminated the pregnancy.”

“Who gave you the right?”

Right.

A laugh worked its way out of me before I could stop it.

“As a woman, I have always had the right to decide whether or not to continue a pregnancy.”

“Besides, weren’t you the one planning to cut that baby’s heart out the moment it was born?”

I finished speaking and looked down at my still-ringing phone.

“We’re sorry, the person you’re calling is unavailable—”

I went to hit redial.

Jasmine held up her phone.

“Mr. Shaw, look.”

“This is Savannah going into the clinic for her termination.”

“And this is her buying a pig’s heart at a store this morning.”

Two photos. Jasmine zoomed in on both.

I saw immediately that the second image was AI-generated. The shadows were wrong. The background made no sense.

Ethan didn’t hesitate.

“You mocked my sister with a prop from a grocery store?”

“I gave you too much credit, Savannah.”

“This challenge is not optional.”

He grabbed my arm and pulled me toward the mountain bike.

“Hold her down. Get her on the bike.”

His friends shoved me into the seat and locked the harness.

“Ethan, open this! Let me out!”

“That heart is Vivienne’s. It’s real, Ethan!”

I slammed the handlebars. My redialed call connected.

“Ms. Cole, are you calling about the mechanical heart? Is something wrong?”

I thrust the phone toward Ethan through the frame.

He took one step back. His expression was ice.

“Go.”

The bike lurched forward over the crest of the ridge.

My phone slipped from my grip and landed at Ethan’s feet.

From the speaker, tiny and far away now, the doctor’s voice:

“Ms. Cole?”

“Are you there?”

Ethan didn’t move.

The bike screamed down the slope.

I locked down every emotion I had and gripped the handlebars.

Vivienne’s grave to the road was about two miles. I just had to get through two miles.

I kept telling myself that.

My hands shook. I steered around every rock, every rut, every loose patch of gravel.

Sweat stung my eyes. I blinked through it.

My mechanical heart kept its steady, indifferent beat.

Ten minutes in, I saw the road below.

I hit the brakes.

Nothing happened.

“Shaw. The wrong bike got sent up—”

The voice from the Bluetooth speaker, panicked:

“There are no brake pads on that bike!”

I stared at the highway rushing up to meet me.

A semi was coming.

My mechanical heart, for the first time, slammed against my ribs.

I wrenched the emergency brake with everything I had. The ringing in my ears became a roar.

The bike did not slow down.

One minute later, it hit the truck.